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Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesNov. 12, 2018SANG-E-MASHA, Afghanistan One pickup truck after another arrived at the government compound in a district capital in Afghanistan on Sunday, pulling around to the back of the governors office to unload the dead, out of sight of panicked residents.Soldiers and police officers, many in tears, heaved bodies of their comrades from the trucks and laid them on sheets on the ground, side by side on their backs, until there were 20 of them.The dead all wore the desert-brown boots of Afghanistans finest troops, the Special Forces commandos trained by the United States. Four days earlier, the soldiers had been airlifted in to rescue what is widely considered Afghanistans safest rural district, Jaghori, from a determined assault by Taliban insurgents.Early on Sunday, their company of 50 soldiers was almost entirely destroyed on the front line. And suddenly, Jaghori a haven for an ethnic Hazara Shiite minority that has been persecuted by extremists appeared at risk of being completely overrun by the Taliban.A small team of journalists from The New York Times went into Jaghoris capital, Sang-e-Masha, on Sunday morning to report on the symbolic importance of what everyone expected to be a fierce stand against the insurgents.Instead, we found bandaged commandos wandering the streets in apparent despair, and officials discussing how they could flee an area almost entirely surrounded by the Taliban. By the end of the day, we were on the run, too.Officials told us that more than 30 of the commandos had been killed, and we could see, on the streets and in the hospitals, 10 other wounded commandos. An additional 50 police officers and militiamen were also killed in the previous 24 hours, according to the militias commander, Nazer Hussein, who arrived from the front line with his wounded to plead for reinforcements.This is genocide, Commander Hussein said. If they dont do something soon, the whole district will be in the Talibans hands.The disaster prompted a protest by Hazaras in Kabul, who railed against what they said was government inaction, but even that took a deadly turn. The demonstration had just ended on Monday when a suicide bomber struck, killing three women and three men, one of them a police officer, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.Afghanistans Shangri-LaJaghoris 600,000 people are poor and live in an isolated part of the central highlands, an area that has no paved roads or electric lines, with terraced wheat fields and abundant orchards of almond and apple trees.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesBut the district is famous for how peaceful it had been. Most people say they cannot remember the last time there was a murder or serious robbery. And the districts education record is aspirational for the rest of the country: Schooling is nearly universal among girls, and much higher than the Afghan average for boys.(Nationally, less than a fourth of Afghan girls complete high school.)Many of Afghanistans most prominent women are from Jaghori, where the sight of girls riding bicycles and even driving vehicles virtually unknown in major Afghan cities is common.In recent years, though, Jaghori District has largely been cut off from the rest of the country, since it is in Ghazni Province, much of which is controlled by the Taliban, and the main roads leading to the district have been blocked by the insurgents.Three years ago, a small airstrip was put in, but scheduled air service has yet to begin. People who have managed to get out of Jaghori are usually smuggled by drivers along remote tracks. That trip used to cost about $50 a person. In the past week, it has increased to $350.A week ago, the Taliban broke a longstanding truce and attacked Jaghori from three directions in what appears to be a determined effort to take the district, as the insurgents have done elsewhere with increasing frequency, inflicting steadily rising death tolls on government forces.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesThe Taliban attacked us because this is where all the schools are, and because here there are even more girls in school than boys, said Mubarez Nabizada, who works for the charity Shuhada, which runs orphanages and a hospital.Outnumbered and ReelingThe spot of hardest fighting has been Hotqol, a market town a few miles from the district capital, Sang-e-Masha. Starting on Nov. 5, the Taliban ambushed eight border outposts in Hotqol, all manned by local militiamen, an informal grouping of armed locals without official government support.A celebrated Hazara commander from the anti-Soviet jihad days, Gen. Habibullah Bashi, was among the dead on the first day, and 30 of his armed followers went missing, including three of his sons, all presumed killed, according to his 19-year-old son, Mohammadi Bashi.I buried my father, but we werent able to find my brothers, he said.General Bashis personal bodyguard, Sayid Hussein, also fled, and on Sunday was sitting dejectedly in the back of a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted on the cab. Like many local Hazaras, he was angry that the government had not given them more support.All they give us is promises, but what can we do with promises? he said. Twenty from my family are dead.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesThe governor of Jaghori District, Zafar Sharif, said that there had been no Afghan troops in the district before the commandos arrived on Wednesday only 250 police officers, plus the informal militia groups. About 1,000 Taliban had attacked, he said.As the bodies of the Afghan commandos began being lined up in the government buildings courtyard, Governor Sharif was upstairs in a meeting with a delegation from Kabul, sent by President Ashraf Ghani. From the top of a glass-fronted staircase, he had a clear view of the bodies being lined up below. He burst into tears, weeping uncontrollably.Even infidels would not do this, he said. This is another Karbala. The reference was to a historic massacre of Shiites by Sunnis.The 15-member presidential delegation began trying to work the phones to Kabul. The insurgents had blown up cellphone towers for two different companies, but a third was working intermittently.One of the delegation members, Qais Sargand, from the Interior Ministry, said the complaints that Jaghori District had not received enough resources were exaggerated for political reasons. He said that local leaders desire to have the government arm thousands of militiamen would undercut efforts to have a regular military under central authority. If we do that here, they will want it in Badghis Province and Kandahar, Nangahar and all over the country, Mr. Sargand said.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesMr. Sargand was also very emotional about the dead commandos. When I see their bodies, I remember their live faces, because I have met them one by one on the front line, he said.The local politicians wanted to show that commandos couldnt do it, he added. Our commandos said when they were fighting they got no support from the militiamen.Local officials did not appreciate what a sacrifice it had been to send the commandos at least 30 of whom had been killed in Hotqol alone, Mr. Sargand said. The Afghan Armys finest fighters, they number only 20,000 and are severely stretched. This year, an entire company of commandos was wiped out in Ajristan District in Ghazni Province, where they had been sent to guard the district headquarters the sort of garrison work they are not meant to do.Waiting for HelpAll over the district capital, Sang-e-Masha, people were waiting for military helicopters from Kabul. Both of the hospitals had critically wounded fighters who needed urgent evacuation.In Shuhada Hospital, one commando, Azizi Rahman, was bleeding internally from gunshot wounds and getting a blood transfusion. Wed rather evacuate him to Kabul, said Dr. Ramazan Hashimi. We can do the operation here, but it will be dangerous.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesJust a few hours later, Dr. Hashimi was surgically removing the commandos spleen and a kidney. The helicopters had not come.Mohammadi Bashi had been promised that a helicopter was on the way to evacuate all 32 surviving members of his family; as relatives of General Bashi, they were especially at risk if the Taliban captured the whole district.As the soldiers bodies arrived two and three at a time, officials with the presidential delegation warned that they should be kept out of sight so as not to create panic.The head of the delegation, the presidential adviser Asadullah Falah, left the meetings to grant an interview, in which he sought to play down the crisis. We have some casualties, but were still not definite about how many, he said.Told that the bodies of 20 commandos were plainly visible just outside the window of that room, he said that many must have been police officers and militiamen. They were all in uniforms with commando shoulder patches.Mr. Falah answered a phone call about the helicopters; four were on their way, so his 15-member delegation could also leave, he was told. Tell one of them to land in the governors compound, so people dont see the bodies, he told the caller, within earshot of a Times reporter. It will weaken morale here.But by the time it grew dark, the helicopters had not arrived. The Taliban mostly fight at night, and were expected to renew their offensive, especially in Hotqol, where the commandos were killed on Sunday.Escape from JaghoriCommander Hussein squeezed into a car with a half-dozen other fighters and left. If Hotqol falls, the whole of Jaghori will fall, he said.By late Sunday night, reports came that Hotqol was now undefended, and families were fleeing from there and the next town as well. Panic set in amid rumors that the Taliban were only an hour away from Sang-e-Masha.Governor Sharif went into hiding.We fled, too, along mountain tracks barely visible in the darkness. Nearly all of the traffic was one way, cars and even dump trucks packed with families escaping Afghanistans latest catastrophe.

World

Credit...Ryan David Brown for The New York TimesJune 25, 2018LAFAYETTE, Colo. The political rise of Colorados cannabis industry is, in essence, the story of Garrett Hauses alfalfa farm.Mr. Hause, a broad-shouldered, 25-year-old horticulturist who tills his familys land in the shadow of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, said he was never particularly interested in politics that is, until voters legalized cannabis in 2012. He started familiarizing himself with the stringent state regulations that govern the industry. He and a friend then created Elation Cannabis Company, which uses a section of the familys soil to grow hemp.One afternoon last week, ahead of Tuesdays primary in the Colorado governors race, Mr. Hause hosted one of the leading Democratic candidates, Representative Jared Polis, and reflected on his journey from political ambivalence to activism. As his grandmother passed out her signature peanut butter sugar cookies and Mr. Polis toured the facilities, Mr. Hause said that marijuana had become a political entry point for him and his friends, much like issues such as net neutrality and gay rights had been to other young people.Ive never been really political, but now that its affecting me personally Ive had to pay more attention, Mr. Hause said.For farmers like Mr. Hause and leaders of the ever-bigger cannabis industry nationwide, the next step in the legalization movement is achieving sustained electoral power, and many see their biggest opportunity as the governors race and several down-ballot races in a state where marijuana policy has taken center stage.In the 2018 midterm elections, industry leaders are hoping that the spread of marijuana legalization will lead to the birth of a new single-issue voter: People who, like some Medicare recipients or gun owners, are motivated to cast ballots based on the benefits they have received or fears about any government rollback of access.This emerging voting bloc not only includes typical cannabis consumers, but also people like Lily Lucas, a 30-year-old who does human resources for cannabis companies across the country, and Alena Rodriguez, a self-proclaimed medical refugee. Ms. Rodriguez moved from Florida to Colorado for better access to medical marijuana, which she uses to relieve gastrointestinal pain caused by a 2009 surgery.Marijuana legalization is also a major issue for farmers like those in Lafayette, and for suburban couples like Scott and Michelle Walker, two former Texas Republicans who moved to Colorado so their 10-year-old son, who suffers from severe autism, could have access to medical marijuana.The Walkers are now supporting Mr. Polis an openly gay liberal who backs a national single-payer health care system because hes the most vocally pro-cannabis candidate in the governors race.My sons life is a singular voting issue for me, Ms. Walker said. Either you want my son to live or you want my son to die.Peter Marcus, a spokesman for a cannabis dispensary group in Boulder, Denver, and Aurora, said we didnt just plant cannabis when legalization was passed, but also local roots.We embedded ourselves in these communities, Mr. Marcus said. Weve led community engagement efforts as an industry.Kevin Gallagher, the executive director of the Cannabis Business Alliance, added, People are motivated by survival.ImageCredit...Ryan David Brown for The New York TimesIndustry advocates estimate that about 40,000 Coloradans work directly in the states cannabis industry. That translates to many thousands of potential voters who, like Mr. Hause, have livelihoods dependent on the future of the industry. (There are more than 3.8 million registered voters in Colorado, according to state statistics.) In just six years, cannabis has gone from a drug of choice for black market growers to the center of an increasingly professionalized conglomerate, complete with governmental lobbyists, high-paid consultants and a supporter list that features one-time adversaries like former House Speaker John Boehner.More than 25 states and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing or decriminalizing some form of marijuana, though only nine of those, including Washington D.C., have adopted laws that allow for use of legal recreational marijuana, according to NORML, a nonprofit focused on changing public opinion around cannabis law.A test case for the industrys political muscle will be the campaign of Mr. Polis, a Boulder congressman who is running for governor as an unabashed supporter of the cannabis community. He tours cannabis testing laboratories with the ease of someone who could be a budtender himself, and signals to marijuana business owners that, if elected, he would ease the bureaucracy that many view as overly burdensome.Before his career in politics, Mr. Polis grew wealthy discovering untapped markets for his familys greeting-card business and an online floristry, and he has brought a similar entrepreneurial approach to the governors race printing campaign literature on hemp paper, spelling out his name with marijuana leaves on another flyer, and hiring a full-time cannabis outreach coordinator to tend to the industrys concerns.Other politicians must realize that this is a winning issue for candidates to run on, Mr. Polis said in an interview. He added that he wanted to open the door for other candidates to welcome the support of the cannabis industry who may keep them at arms length today.Mr. Polis, one of the founding heads of Congressional Cannabis Caucus on Capitol Hill, is the only Colorado candidate for governor in either party who supported marijuana legalization in 2012; his rivals have offered mostly reserved praise for the industry. Mr. Poliss main Democratic opponent, former state treasurer Cary Kennedy, once said the jury is out on the industry, and has largely shied away from making cannabis-related issues a campaign feature. The leading Republican candidate, state treasurer Walker Stapleton, has said repealing legalization was not a realistic option, but that he felt the industry needed better guardrails.Some members of the states marijuana industry see Mr. Poliss fate in Tuesdays primary as intimately vital to their own. Victory could lead to greater respect among lawmakers, they say the dawn of a new, THC-infused day.If Jared Polis doesnt win the primary, Ill be pretty disappointed in the cannabis community, said Christian Sederberg, a lawyer and one of the longtime figures of states pro-legalization movement. If this community stands up and supports him with the kind of support that hes given us, then he will win. Period.Nationally, advocacy groups like HeadCount, NORML, and Marijuana Majority have long attempted to organize cannabis consumers as an electoral force, but Novembers elections have intensified those efforts. HeadCount, the voter engagement organization that has registered hundreds of thousands of concertgoers since 2004, recently announced its Cannabis Voter Project, which aims to educate Americans about how voting can impact cannabis policy, according to the groups website.In Colorado, which has led the country in regulating the legal sale of recreational and medical marijuana, legalization has sought to transform the stoner stereotype of cannabis users (one of the fastest growing consumer markets currently are mothers interested in micro-doses of plants psychoactive effects). But across the country, in regions where cannabis reform once seemed unthinkable, members of both parties are beginning to integrate it into their platforms.We support a change in the law to make it a civil, and not a criminal, offense for legal adults only to possess one ounce or less of marijuana for personal use, punishable by a fine of up to $100, but without jail time, reads a new plank of the Texas Republican Party, just approved in recent weeks.Still, the industry has experienced some setbacks. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, recently vetoed three pieces of cannabis-related legislation, which would have, among other things, allowed dispensaries to apply for cannabis tasting rooms and allowed medical marijuana for those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.Its time for us to get off our knees and stop begging for politicians to not shut us down, said Wanda James, a former staff member for Mr. Polis and President Obama who is also the first African-American woman to own a marijuana dispensary in Colorado.If youre going to try and shut us down, were going to vote you out, she said. That simple.

Politics

Turning ventilated patients onto their stomachs, called proning, helps them by opening their lungs. Now doctors are testing to see if it can keep others off ventilators altogether.Credit...Lyndon French for The New York TimesMay 13, 2020Hospitals across the country are filled with a curious sight these days: patients lying on their bellies.Patients almost always lie on their backs, a position that helps nurses tend to them and allows them to look around if theyre awake. But for many patients, the coronavirus crisis is literally flipping the script.The surprisingly low-tech concept, called proning, can improve breathing in patients stricken by the respiratory distress that is the hallmark of the virus, doctors have found. It draws from basic principles of physiology and gravity. Lying on ones stomach helps open airways in lungs that have become compressed by the fluid and inflammation unleashed by the coronavirus infection.When patients are on their backs, the heart is now sitting on top of the lungs and compressing it even more, said Dr. Michelle Ng Gong, chief of the divisions of critical care and pulmonary medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Montefiore Health System in the Bronx. The rib cage cannot move in the usual way because its now up against the bed.But, she said, When you flip the patient onto the belly, now the back of the lungs can start to open, allowing more air sacs to function, she said.In addition, a larger share of the lungs is in the back of the body than the front, meaning that patients on their stomachs dont have to support as much lung weight.Before the coronavirus pandemic, proning had been used for some very ill patients on ventilators, but not nearly as frequently as it is being tried now. Thats partly because turning heavily sedated patients onto their bellies is a labor-intensive maneuver, previously done with medical teams of as many as eight people who must carefully avoid dislodging a patients breathing tube or intravenous lines.With the coronavirus producing an avalanche of patients with malfunctioning lungs, hospitals have been employing the maneuver not only for intubated and sedated patients, but for non-intubated patients who are having serious breathing trouble. In I.C.U.s, doctors are asking patients to turn onto their stomachs in hopes that the position will keep them from needing ventilators. In emergency rooms and regular hospital floors, doctors are trying tummy time with some patients whose condition is not as dire, on the theory that it might help them recover faster.Past experience has found that in ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS a condition that many seriously ill Covid-19 patients develop proning for many consecutive hours a day improves the medical outcome that matters most: survival.Theres a lot of evidence that it actually decreases mortality, and there are not a lot of things that actually do, said Dr. C. Corey Hardin, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]In many patients with ARDS, only some of the air sacs are collapsed, so while pressure supplied by a ventilator can open those air sacs, too much pressure can overinflate air sacs that arent collapsed, Dr. Hardin said. Proning allows the ventilator pressure to be set at a minimum, meaning that the flattened air sacs are reinflated, but theres no danger of overinflating somewhere else, he said.A 2013 study convinced many experts in the field of the advantages of proning patients on ventilators. It found that intubated patients with ARDS who were flipped onto their bellies for stretches of 16 hours were twice as likely to survive as patients who spent the entire time on their backs. The prone group also had fewer cardiac arrests than the supine group.Subsequent studies found similar benefits. Still, before the pandemic, the technique was being used for only about 15 percent of intubated ARDS patients, Dr. Gong said.One reason for the wariness was the potential risk involved in flipping patients over. Some of these patients who have very low oxygen in their blood, a simple act of just turning them to their side even, not even to their belly, can cause their oxygen level to drop, Dr. Gong said.Its a bit like going into battle, she said. The ability to turn these patients safely without dislodging a tube, without something accidentally falling out, without a patient going into cardiac arrest, that takes team coordination.Recently, she said, a coronavirus patients breathing tube fell out and the team had to hurriedly flip the patient back over so the tube could be reinserted. But, Dr. Hardin said, most complications can be avoided with training and experience.Theres certainly a lot of anxiety about that when you talk about rolling out something if you havent done it a lot, he said. But once youve done it a couple of times, people are like, Oh wow, this isnt that big of a deal.To limit medical staff exposure to infected patients during the pandemic, hospitals have been proning patients with much smaller teams, often just three or four people.Proned patients must periodically be turned onto their backs again, called supinating, because that position is better for some nursing tasks and because too much uninterrupted time facedown can cause the equivalent of bedsores on the face. Ventilated patients are typically proned for 16 hours, but at Mass General, Dr. Hardin said, some are proned for 24 or 48 hours.Some of these patients will lose the benefits once we supinate them and then we have to prone them again, Dr. Gong said. So some of these patients were supinating, proning, supinating, proning, and it can go on for days.Susan Zhang, 56, of Long Island, N.Y., was proned each of the seven days she was sedated and on a ventilator in April in Montefiores neuroscience intensive care unit.At first, Ms. Zhang needed 85 percent oxygen from the ventilator, but that level decreased almost daily and was down to 35 percent on the seventh day, according to her husband, Dr. William Liang, an internist, who created a handwritten flow chart of his wifes daily medical status.They proned her the whole day, then let her rest a little bit, and then proned her in the evening, he said. Ms. Zhang also received some medications, so its impossible to say how much the proning helped, but Dr. Liang believes it contributed to a very nice progression.In a telephone interview from a hospital recovery room earlier this month, Ms. Zhang, who was receiving nasal oxygen, said in a voice still weak from the intubation that she was grateful to the hospital for saving my life. She is now recuperating in a rehabilitation hospital.The benefits for intubated patients have prompted hospitals to examine whether proning can help prevent the need to put patients on ventilators. A clinical trial at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago is studying whether I.C.U. patients lying on their stomachs are less likely to be intubated than those who remain on their backs.People are saying go ahead and prone them, but we need to find out if that is truly something that stands out in terms of mortality benefit or I.C.U. length of stay or mechanical ventilation need or ventilation length, said Dr. Sara Hanif Mirza, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Rush, one of the trial leaders.ImageCredit...Lyndon French for The New York TimesEqually important is understanding whether proning can have negative effects for such patients, said David Vines, another trial leader and an associate professor at Rushs College of Health Sciences. He said that sometimes its better to intubate severely ill patients early, depending on how much their lungs can benefit from resting while a machine breathes for them.If by proning them, we may just be delaying them and they wind up getting intubated anyways, we worry about that because those people can end up having worse outcomes, he said. We would be concerned if theres a mortality difference because we didnt act fast enough.One of Dr. Viness recent patients was an older man in the I.C.U. on nasal oxygen. I went ahead and told him to prone, but I just delayed his intubation 24 to 36 hours and he ended up being intubated anyway, Dr. Vines said.Because of such concerns, Dr. Vines said the trial will evaluate patients soon after they prone themselves, and if we dont see improvement in an hour, we should intubate you.Another issue is that some patients, because of factors like weight or age, find lying on their stomachs uncomfortable or difficult, which can affect results. Some hospitals are using mattresses designed with cutouts for pregnant womens bodies to make patients more comfortable.Proning may have helped Leticia Espinoza, 50, of Elmwood Park, Ill., who went to Rushs emergency room in late March. After several days of fever and chills, her breathing problems became so serious that she was transferred to the I.C.U., where, Dr. Mirza said, it seemed likely she would need intubation.They asked me to lay down on the bed with my belly down. Ms. Espinoza said in a recent interview. It was not really comfortable. Its an unusual position for me. I did it because I wanted to improve.Ms. Espinoza, a participant in the clinical trial, managed to spend about 20 hours each day on her stomach, with interruptions only to use the bathroom or eat, or to turn briefly on her side when she needed a break. She ended up avoiding a ventilator, her oxygen needs steadily decreased, and after three days, she was moved out of the I.C.U. Soon afterward, she went home.

Health

Credit...Alberto Conti/Contrasto/ReduxMarch 8, 2017Dr. Carlo Croce is among the most prolific scientists in an emerging area of cancer research involving what is sometimes called the dark matter of the human genome. A department chairman at Ohio State University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Croce has parlayed his decades-long pursuit of cancer remedies into a research empire: He has received more than $86 million in federal grants as a principal investigator and, by his own count, more than 60 awards.With that flamboyant success has come a quotient of controversy. Some scientists argue that Dr. Croce has overstated his expansive claims for the therapeutic promise of his work, and that his laboratory is focused more on churning out papers than on carefully assessing its experimental data.But a far less public scientific drama has been playing out in the Biomedical Research Tower that houses Dr. Croces sprawling laboratory on Ohio States campus in Columbus.Over the last several years, Dr. Croce has been fending off a tide of allegations of data falsification and other scientific misconduct, according to federal and state records, whistle-blower complaints and correspondence with scientific journals obtained by The New York Times.In 2013, an anonymous critic contacted Ohio State and the federal authorities with allegations of falsified data in more than 30 of Dr. Croces papers. Since 2014, another critic, David A. Sanders, a virologist who teaches at Purdue University, has made claims of falsified data and plagiarism directly to scientific journals where more than 20 of Dr. Croces papers have been published.Its a reckless disregard for the truth, Dr. Sanders said in an interview.As a result of complaints by Dr. Sanders and others, journals have been posting notices of problems with Dr. Croces papers at a quickening pace. From just a handful of notices before 2013 known as corrections, retractions and editors notices the number has ballooned to at least 20, with at least three more on the way, according to journal editors. Many of the notices involve the improper manipulation of a humble but universal lab technique called western blotting, which measures gene function in a cell and often indicates whether an experiment has succeeded or failed.Dr. Croces story is a case study of the complex and often countervailing forces at work as science seeks to police itself.Findings of fraud in biomedical research have surged in recent years, whether from an actual increase in misconduct or from heightened caution inspired in part by an internet-age phenomenon: digital vigilantes who post critiques of scientific papers on anonymous websites. Yet the primary burden for investigating and punishing misconduct falls to inherently conflicted arbiters: universities like Ohio State that stand to reap millions of dollars from the federal grants won by star researchers like Dr. Croce.Despite the lashing criticisms of his work, Dr. Croce has never been penalized for misconduct, either by federal oversight agencies or by Ohio State, which has cleared him in at least five cases involving his work or the grant money he receives.At Ohio State, officials said they were unaware of Dr. Sanderss charges against Dr. Croce until asked about them for this article. Now, in the wake of those and other questions from The Times, the university has decided to take a new look to determine whether it handled those cases properly. The university is instituting an independent external review, a spokesman, Christopher Davey, said in a statement, adding that the review is not an indication that we have discovered any evidence of scientific misconduct or other issues raised in your inquiry.Whatever the outcome of that review, Mr. Davey said, decisions on research misconduct at Ohio State were based solely on the facts and the merits of each individual case, not a researchers grant money. Any other suggestion would be false and offensive, he said, adding that the university has spent significantly more to support his research program than he has brought in from outside sources.During an interview in October, and in a later statement, Dr. Croce, 72, denied any wrongdoing, said he had been singled out in some of the accusations simply because he was a prominent figure, and largely placed the blame for any problems with figures or text on junior researchers or collaborators at other labs. Academic papers often have multiple authors, with the scientists who perform the hands-on work listed at the beginning and the senior scientists in charge named at the end.It is true that errors sometimes occur in the preparation of figures for publication, Dr. Croce said in the statement, issued through the Columbus law firm Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter. Any mistakes with figures were honest errors, he said, adding that he did not condone plagiarism but that he must rely on co-authors to provide proper attribution.Even before his arrival at Ohio State in 2004, Dr. Croce had stepped beyond the generally expected bounds of cancer research. In 1994, he joined the scientific advisory board of the Council for Tobacco Research, which the tobacco companies created to fight the public perception supported by increasingly overwhelming scientific evidence that smoking caused cancer. Dr. Croce said in the interview and the statement that he had always believed that smoking caused cancer.During the same period, Dr. Croce and a colleague faced federal allegations that they had submitted false claims for payment of grant money for science that was never carried out and that was to be overseen by a scientist who had, in fact, left the United States and gone to Italy. After the case was combined with a second fraud investigation, a civil settlement forced Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where Dr. Croce worked at the time, to pay $2.6 million to the government. Neither Dr. Croce nor the other parties to the settlement admitted any wrongdoing in the case.In a world where most scientists are so wary of public conflict that they seem to apportion criticism with a pipette, the new doubts about Dr. Croces work draw carefully measured opinions from some towering figures.Randy Schekman, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said he had informally advised Dr. Sanders in 2015 on lodging a complaint about Dr. Croces work with the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which he once edited and which has been the most common venue for Dr. Croces work, according to the PubMed database. I am aware of the allegations, and I am aware of other concerns that have been raised about Croces work outside of these specific allegations, Dr. Schekman said.Another Nobel Prize-winning biologist, Phillip Sharp of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said he had been previously unaware of the misconduct allegations, offered qualified support.I would say Carlo has made some important contributions to the molecular causes of cancer, Dr. Sharp said. I cant condone the sloppiness he has in general. But if I look historically at what Carlo has done, if I delete Carlo from the scientific community, I think the scientific community is a little less, and that isnt true of everybody who publishes papers.ImageCredit...Greg Ruffing/ReduxAdvising the Tobacco IndustryDr. Croce is nothing if not confident. Wearing an untucked pink polo shirt and jeans, he expounded on his career last fall in the interview in his corner office, where a computer screen rose above mounds of papers blanketing a conference table.He said that he traveled professionally more often than he was on campus, in part because he disdained what he called the lack of culture in Columbus. Born and educated in Italy, he is noted for his private collection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings a testament to having an uncanny eye for spotting works by genuine masters and buying them for a fraction of their true worth, as Smithsonian magazine wrote in 2009. The hometown passion for Buckeye football leaves him cold. He also has little patience for scientific colleagues who are unwilling to part with accepted wisdom.Scientists are like cows, he said. They like to follow something which has already been established.Dr. Croce, who has a medical degree but no Ph.D., showed his own willingness to buck scientific consensus when he became an adviser to the Council for Tobacco Research. A federal court later found that the council was central to a conspiracy to deceive the public on the dangers of smoking. Dr. Croce stayed on until the council was disbanded in the industrys more than $100 billion settlement with tobacco plaintiffs in 1998.During the interview, Dr. Croce said he believed that smoking was the primary cause of lung cancer; that belief, he said in his later statement, dated from long before he joined the tobacco council.Still, some of the research Dr. Croce pioneered in those years was used by the tobacco industry to fight the assertion that smoking caused cancer.In 1996, Dr. Croce and co-workers made international news with their discovery of a gene called the fragile histidine triad FHIT for short. His claims for its importance could hardly have been more sweeping: Damage to the gene, Dr. Croce told The Associated Press, was probably the starting point of the most common human malignancies, including lung, esophagus and colon cancer.Dr. Croce was careful to point out in his scientific papers that carcinogens in cigarette smoke could in fact be the agents that damaged the FHIT gene, and there is no evidence that he publicly defended the tobacco industry. None of the work reflected in these papers suggested, stated or implied that cancer was caused by an inherited genetic condition, Dr. Croce said in his statement to The Times.But for the industry, it wouldnt have mattered, said William Farone, once a scientist for the tobacco industry who has repeatedly testified against it. He knows damn well what use of the genetic information there would be to someone in the tobacco industry, Dr. Farone said. And the litigation archive shows that the scientific advisory board and Dr. Croces name were repeatedly invoked to give credibility to the tobacco companies expert witnesses.Dr. Croce said he had been unaware at the time that his name was used to lend credibility to any assertion that smoking did not cause cancer or that the causality had not been proved. Any such use of his name, his statement said, was false and fraudulent.Among Dr. Croces peers, there was skepticism of Dr. Croces broad claims for the FHIT gene, and today some scientists say it seems more a marker of malignancy than the Rosetta Stone of cancer research, as some news reports called it at the time.During the interview, Dr. Croce continued to promote the FHIT research but conceded that its not fashionable anymore.Dr. Croce, chairman of the department of cancer biology and genetics at Ohio State, has since moved on to one of the hottest areas of genomics and cancer research. He has looked beyond the small fraction of human DNA that actually encodes for proteins less than 2 percent to the rest of the DNA, once all but ignored as contributing little to the workings of a cell.Scientists came to realize that this DNA could make short molecules that influence how genes, and therefore living cells, operate. If genes are the notes on a keyboard, those molecules act as volume controls regulators of gene expression.Some of those short molecules are called microRNAs. Dr. Croces work has linked various cancers to a deficiency or overabundance of certain microRNAs. Those effects, he asserted in a 2009 article, contribute to most, if not all, human malignancies. MicroRNAs, he posited, could lead to entirely new cancer therapies.Once again, the scope of Dr. Croces claims has left colleagues wary. While few researchers dispute the role of microRNA as a cancer marker, there is skepticism that the case has been made for its therapeutic potential.Youll find scientists who say its hype, said Graham Brock, a cancer researcher who has studied the molecules. While Dr. Croce is not the only scientist who may be overselling the findings, he added, hes probably the strongest advocate.ImageCredit...Greg Ruffing/ReduxAllegations Made, and Cases ClosedThe email, sent on Nov. 1, 2007, came from an official at the National Institutes of Health, the federal grant-giving agency, and it could not have been more straightforward: Major sections of a grant proposal by Dr. Croce were essentially identical to one submitted four months earlier by a junior colleague at Ohio State.We will be withdrawing the second application, the official wrote.At that point, documents show, two things happened that would become familiar in Dr. Croces record. First, the university was obliged to open what it called a review of potential research misconduct, in this case involving potential plagiarism in a federal grant proposal. Second, the university cleared him, largely because the junior colleague provided a somewhat circuitous explanation. The two had worked together on a previous project, the colleague said, and Dr. Croce appeared to have reused some of that material. As a result, Caroline C. Whitacre, then the universitys vice dean for research, concluded, The incident does not indicate possible misconduct as defined by the universitys policy.Over the next several years, there were other allegations, investigations and closed cases.A tipster alleged that over several years, an official at the Croce lab used Dr. Croces grant money for personal trips abroad and improperly pressured lab members to include the officials name on research papers.In another series of allegations and subsequent appeals, a former research colleague accused Dr. Croce of scientific misconduct involving, among other things, using the researchers work without credit on patents.Dr. Croce was cleared in both of those cases. But that was just the beginning.By 2013, officials at Ohio State and the federal Office of Research Integrity were receiving allegations that more than 30 papers on which Dr. Croce was an author contained improperly manipulated western blots and other data, according to official university correspondence.The new allegations came from a pseudonymous source both legendary and loathed in biomedical circles: a scientific gadfly known as Clare Francis. Whoever Clare Francis actually is, he or she has an uncanny knack for seeing improperly altered images, as well as smaller flaws that some editors are inclined to ignore.Clare Francis has a particular, high-strung style. You misunderstand that Carlo Croce is a great scientist, Clare Francis wrote in a note copied to John Dahlberg, then the deputy director at the research integrity office. My reply was that he has over a thousand papers. That is not the same thing. You simply misunderstand science. Please stop talking about reputations and look at the reality!Mindful of the hurdles that an investigation would face at Ohio State, as well as federal constraints like a six-year statute of limitations, Dr. Dahlberg trimmed Clare Francis initial list of allegations to the two he considered the most actionable. One paper was on the FHIT gene, another on microRNA research.Even then, Dr. Dahlberg knew that any investigation by Ohio State of what he called a rainmaker for the university would face serious obstacles. With the number of more junior researchers involved in the work, Dr. Dahlberg was also skeptical that Dr. Croces knowledge of any falsifications could be obtained in a straightforward way for example, from data and records on his own computer.My sense was, Carlo Croces too big to make findings of misconduct on, Dr. Dahlberg said in an interview. It just wasnt going to happen.A Tremendous Conflict of InterestWithin the realm of biomedical science, it falls to the Office of Research Integrity to issue formal findings of scientific misconduct, which can lead to suspension of federal financing and effectively end a research career. The office labors under an awkward constraint: It does not carry out its own investigations, but relies on accused researchers own institutions to forward their findings.With their own reputations on the line, institutions have a tremendous conflict of interest, said Dr. Richard Smith, former editor of The British Medical Journal and a founding member of the Committee on Publication Ethics in Britain. Theres a terrible temptation to bury it all, he added.There are also dollars at stake. Of the $29.1 million Dr. Croce has received in federal funding as a principal investigator while at Ohio State, university records show, $8.7 million has gone directly to the university in overhead payments, a fairly standard cut for research institutions.In an unrelated case at Ohio State, similar conflicts seemed to surface in 2011 after a whistle-blower accused a pharmacy researcher, Terry Elton, of fabricating data. The university cleared Dr. Elton after a brief inquiry, but the integrity office played the one powerful card it holds: refusing to accept what it considers flawed or shoddy investigations. Ohio State redid the investigation and Dr. Elton was found guilty.The initial inquiry was compromised by relying on Dr. Eltons own assurances, Dr. Dahlberg said, adding, When somebody is accused of being dishonest, why do you believe everything he says?As with the Elton case, and the universitys earlier handling of complaints against Dr. Croce, documents suggest little appetite for taking the Clare Francis allegations seriously.In May 2013, the universitys research integrity officer ostensibly an impartial observer wrote to Dr. Dahlberg largely to pass along disparaging information on Clare Francis, including the irritation that his or her persistence had caused for some journal editors. The officer, Jennifer Yucel, who had been involved in the initial inquiry into Dr. Elton, said the information had come from Carlo Dr. Croce.Among the attachments was an earlier note from Dr. Croce to the editor of a British journal who had received complaints from Clare Francis. Clearly we are dealing with a mentally deranged person who should be recovered in a mental institution, Dr. Croce wrote.With that preamble, what Ohio State called a preliminary assessment of possible misconduct went ahead. Two younger scientists working with Dr. Croce admitted that they had improperly duplicated, mishandled and mislabeled a number of western blot figures and other data in the papers, emails obtained by The Times show. The scientists called the problems unintentional.Ohio State took the scientists at their word. But in a July 2013 document marked confidential and sensitive, the university told Dr. Croce to generate a plan detailing how he would address the systemic deficiencies in data collection, handling and retention identified in this case. In addition, he was to assist his junior colleagues in correcting or retracting the two papers.In the statement issued through his lawyers, Dr. Croce said he and a colleague prepared and carried out a written action plan. But the university apparently never ensured that its demands were met.For example, no correction for the FHIT paper appeared until last November, after The Times contacted the journal, Clinical Cancer Research. A spokeswoman for the journal said that a reader, not the authors, initiated the correction, which had been delayed because of an administrative oversight. Dr. Croces statement said it was Dr. Croces understanding that a junior scientist had provided all the pertinent information to the journal back at the time the issue was raised.There was a final twist: Ohio State referred to its findings as an alternative resolution under the universitys policy meaning no formal finding of fraud or scientific misconduct. In fact, Ohio State decided not to convene a formal investigation committee, in part because there is very little data for the committee to review a reference to the failure of the scientists to locate almost any of their original data. Those decisions allowed the case to remain largely confidential. The integrity office accepted the result.Publicly, Dr. Whitacre, who had since become vice president for research, gave no ground. Little action had been required as a result of the allegations, Dr. Whitacre wrote to Clare Francis after the whistle-blower sent additional allegations in December 2013. Please note, Dr. Whitacre wrote, that the Institution considers continued activities in this vein as constituting frivolous allegations and a waste of university and state resources.In response to questions from The Times, Ohio State issued a statement on behalf of Dr. Whitacre and Dr. Yucel, saying they believe they followed all policies and procedures in their roles in responding to the matters involving Dr. Carlo Croce based on the facts that were available at the time.ImageCredit...Victor J. Blue for The New York TimesRaising Larger QuestionsDr. Sanders, the Purdue virologist, tests his analysis of data falsification in Dr. Croces papers in a particularly direct way: He teaches one of them to his sophomore biology students as an example of scientific misconduct. But instead of telling them what to look for, he simply flashes a series of western blots onto a screen and asks the students if they see anything amiss.The paper, published in 2005 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is on something called the WWOX gene, thought to be a tumor suppressor. Dr. Sanders said the students invariably noticed that lanes 6, 7 and 8 in one row of blots had apparently been duplicated into the immediately adjacent lanes 3, 4, and 5 which are supposed to have come from different experimental samples.This is the one I start with because its so obvious, Dr. Sanders said. Theres uncomfortable laughter. They say, Why would these people get away with that? When he adds that the journal declined to take action, he said, Theyre very stunned that that sort of thing happens.In response to questions from The Times, the journal said that two subject experts it consulted after Dr. Sanders challenged the paper in 2014 disagreed on whether the images were duplicates. Therefore, the journal said, editors could not conclusively determine whether to issue a notice.Dr. Sanders, 56, studies how modified versions of viruses, like Ebola, could be used to treat disease. He is also chairman of the faculty senate, a member of the city council and president of his synagogue. He ran several quixotic campaigns for Congress as a Democrat in a deep-red Indiana district. He lost.After receiving several tips on Dr. Croces work, Dr. Sanders said, he decided to undertake yet another moonlighting effort: as a freelance ethicist. A lab that is engaging in violating scientific norms is being rewarded for that very effort, he said.Dr. Croce said in his statement that until he was contacted for this article, he had not been aware of Dr. Sanders or of his role in sending allegations to journals. As for the WWOX paper, Dr. Croces response appears to have varied. Diane Sullenberger, executive editor of the Proceedings, said the journal had contacted Dr. Croce over the allegations of image manipulation in the paper.Dr. Croce disagrees, Ms. Sullenberger said.But in his statement to The Times, Dr. Croce responded differently. It is possible, but not certain, that an error was made, he said, adding that if there was an error, it affects nothing, because the results were confirmed in separate experiments.The Times showed the paper to four experts in the forensic analysis of images in research papers, and all agreed that the blots had almost certainly been duplicated by the authors.Maybe they would have an explanation for this, but I cant think of one, said James OBrien, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He said that while the evidence of duplication was overwhelming, he could not say for certain whether the operation was deliberate. Still, he said, the findings raised larger questions about the lab.Its hard for me to believe that they cant keep their images straight, but they can keep their science straight, Dr. OBrien said. How can I trust their results, their conclusions?Concerns about falsified data in the scientific literature run far deeper than Dr. Croces papers.In a finding published last June, scientists examined over 20,000 biomedical research papers and found that nearly 800 showed evidence of improperly manipulated images of western blots essentially, blots obtained in one experiment that were duplicated to prove a point in an unrelated experiment. In at least half of those instances, the scientists found signs of deliberate manipulation.The Times provided an author of that study, Elisabeth Bik, then at Stanford, with a list of published corrections involving the blots in Dr. Croces papers. Yes, the image problems in most of these are very similar to the ones we encountered, she said.Because the study focused on a tiny slice of the literature that allowed researchers to see immediate problems duplications of western blots the potential implications are distressing, said another author, Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chairman of the department of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Universitys school of public health.Science is built on science, Dr. Casadevall said. Nothing new stands alone. Incorrect or fraudulent papers, he said, could be slowing the pace of everything.Dr. Bik vouched for the difficulty of pushing journals to act on evidence of bad data. As of October, this was her box score after contacting journals about all of the papers with problematic images: 32 retractions; 111 corrections; 52 notices that the journals had decided to take no action; and nearly 600 cases with no reply, basic acknowledgment of the message or general statement that the journal would look into it.Another author of the study, Dr. Ferric Fang, a microbiology professor and journal editor at the University of Washington, said improper images began turning up in the 1990s. Then came a steep rise around 2003.Previously, to present their research, scientists had to take Polaroid pictures of their data to an outside production specialist. Without pinning blame on any specific software package, Dr. Fang pointed out that Adobe Creative Suite was released in 2003, allowing scientists to produce their own images on a laptop.There was a burgeoning of software tools, he said, increasing the ease and perhaps the temptation to tweak or fabricate images.David E. Wright, a former director of the federal integrity office, said cases of fraud could reverberate through whole fields of research.When you find somebody whos a leading figure in a field like that, its kind of a pail of cold water on that part of the community, he said. It wouldnt stop colleagues from following their own research, but its pretty discouraging. It impugns the reputation of science in general and scientists in that field in particular.As for Dr. Croces work, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reversed its stance.After being contacted by The Times, the journals editor, Ms. Sullenberger, consulted with Dr. OBrien at Berkeley and other analysts. The expert who in 2014 thought the duplication was unlikely, she said, now accepts the new analyses because of their sophisticated nature.The journal, Ms. Sullenberger said, is now planning to issue a notice to readers about concerns regarding the WWOX paper.

science

Credit...Leigh Vogel/Getty ImagesMarch 9, 2017WASHINGTON Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has accepted President Trumps offer to be ambassador to Russia, people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, taking on a diplomatic assignment that would be challenging in the best of times but is more so now, given the questions swirling around the Trump campaign and its links to Russia.Mr. Huntsman, a former Republican governor of Utah, served as former President Barack Obamas ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011. Experts said he will need his political dexterity to navigate Moscow at a time when Mr. Trump has called for better ties even as Russias role in the 2016 presidential election remains under intense scrutiny.Not only is there this mess with the investigation that will complicate his assignment, theres a lot of incoherence within the Trump administration regarding its policy toward Russia, said Michael A. McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration.The F.B.I. is known to have examined possible contacts between Russia and Trump advisers. Congress also has opened an inquiry.While Mr. Trump vowed during the campaign to defrost the relationship with Moscow after the chill of the Obama years, senior officials in his cabinet have so far signaled less change than continuity. The administration, for example, has said it will not lift sanctions until Russia withdraws from Crimea and stops destabilizing Ukraine.The prospect of further investigations into Russia and the Trump campaign may make it politically impossible for Mr. Trump to pursue a new start. And any new disclosures could make Mr. Huntsmans life on the diplomatic circuit in Moscow awkward.Russias ambassador to Washington, Sergey I. Kislyak, was thrust into a media maelstrom in recent weeks after two of Mr. Trumps most senior advisers, Jeff Sessions and Michael T. Flynn, acknowledged previously undisclosed meetings with him during the campaign and the transition.Mr. Huntsman, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, had no ties to the Trump campaign.Although Mr. Huntsman endorsed Mr. Trump for president in April 2016, he later called on the Republican nominee to withdraw from the race after the release of a videotape from the Access Hollywood program, in which Mr. Trump made demeaning comments about women.But in December, Mr. Huntsman defended the president-elects decision to take a phone call from the president of Taiwan, which broke decades of diplomatic protocol and aggravated tensions with China.As a businessman, Donald Trump is used to looking for leverage in any relationship, Mr. Huntsman said. A President Trump is likely to see Taiwan as a useful leverage point.Though his family company has holdings in Russia and he made business trips there many years ago Mr. Huntsman has no special expertise in the country and spent his career honing an expertise in China. He is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker; he and his wife, Mary Kaye, adopted a girl from China. And he was ambassador to Singapore under former President George Bush.Still, some said Mr. Huntsmans experience dealing with autocrats in Beijing would translate to Moscow. He worked in another authoritarian country with which the United States also has a complex relationship, said Dimitri K. Simes, the president of the Center for the National Interest, a Washington research organization.Mr. Simes was in Moscow last week, as word of Mr. Huntsmans nomination circulated through the foreign policy establishment. Most Russian officials reacted favorably, he said, though some expressed concern about Mr. Huntsmans ties to the Atlantic Council, a think tank of which he is chairman of the board, because it is perceived in Moscow as anti-Russian.Russian officials would be a little worried about that part of Huntsmans background, Mr. Simes said. What they will like about him is that he was a former ambassador to China, he is independently wealthy, and he will have access to the president.Mr. McFaul said Mr. Huntsman would have one advantage he did not when posted to Moscow in January 2012 for what proved to be a turbulent two-year stint: President Vladimir V. Putin is not facing as much domestic political opposition, which eases tension with Washington and its emissary to Moscow.

World

Credit...Gael Turine for The New York TimesNov. 5, 2018MONT-SAINT-GUIBERT, Belgium The migrants while away their days in Brussels at Maximilian Park, near the busy Gare du Nord, playing soccer on the durable artificial grass, checking their smartphones, dodging the police and trying to find a way to Britain.Roxane Hauzeur, a designer for a fashion house, began volunteering to help them a year ago, working with a new organization that provides housing and other assistance for the migrants, most of them from Africa and seeking asylum.She found herself swept away, transported.Ms. Hauzeur started bringing food, then giving rides, but soon she was playing host to up to five people a night in her small Brussels apartment. The experience has transformed her, she said.It was like a tsunami in my life, she said. You come and meet these people and you realize theyre just like you.The latest refugee crisis, which peaked in 2015, brought hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe. And though the numbers have dropped considerably, many in Belgium, as elsewhere in Europe, see the migrants, often young and male, as a threat.ImageCredit...Gael Turine for The New York TimesMs. Hauzeur and her fellow volunteers at Citizens Platform for the Support of Refugees, have a different view. I feel ashamed of my country, she said. I heard so many times that Europe is the land of human rights, but its not true.Citizens Platform was the idea of Mehdi Kassou, a 35-year-old Belgian of Moroccan ancestry who left his job with a Korean company to found the group. Roughly 7,000 Belgians volunteer there to help migrants and asylum seekers.When Mr. Kassou walks through the park, he is greeted like a rock star. He gets warm hellos, fist bumps and conversation in French and the various Arabic dialects he is trying to learn.The migrants who come to Belgium see it as their best way to slip into Britain. But they face a variety of legal complications.Under the current rules of the European Union, migrants are supposed to register and seek asylum where they first land. But hoping to move onward, they dont want to register in Belgium, or having already been registered where they landed, in Italy, Greece or Spain, they dont want to be sent back.And they have more basic needs.We now house about 650 people a night, Mr. Kassou said, 300 in a building the group got permission to use last December, serviced by some 15 employees. The rest are housed by volunteers.ImageCredit...Gael Turine for The New York TimesMr. Kassou urges those most likely to qualify for political asylum to apply in Belgium; those who are rejected often appeal.The government estimates that only a few thousand illegal migrants are here now, and that just a few hundred roam Maximilian Park.Officially, the number of asylum seekers in Belgium in 2017 was 19,688, down from 44,760 in 2015. Asylum is granted to fewer than half of those who apply, Mr. Kassou said, but more easily to those from Syria, Eritrea and other areas torn by violence.Jails and detention centers are full, and the government is exploring renting a 300-bed prison boat from the Dutch.Some volunteers say the experience of meeting the migrants, and feeding and helping house them, has altered their own lives.Ms. Hauzeurs grandmother is from Congo; her father is half-Congolese and came to Belgium at the age of 4. Both are proud of her for her volunteer work, she said, even if my grandmother is jealous that I know more now about Ethiopia and Sudan than the Congo.ImageCredit...Gael Turine for The New York TimesAnother volunteer, Anne-Catherine de Neve, 45; her husband, Yves Hallet, 46; and their three children take in four to six migrants a night, five or six nights a week.One recent night, at their modest home here about 40 minutes drive southeast of Maximilian Park, they sat down with their migrant guests to a dinner of chicken and rice.I want to fight against all the fascism were seeing, Ms. de Neve said as she cooked. Its a fight for social rights, and its quite a fight for Belgium, for Europe, for all countries.Ms. de Neve read about the migrants in the park in the news and started volunteering a year ago. She takes in the migrants in part, she said, to educate her children.Now they hear, they see, and they understand something, but I think theyll have a better understanding later.At first, she said, her oldest son, Robin, now 16, wanted to have nothing to do with the migrants. Then one day, she said, he called me in the park and asked: How many tonight? Ill make up the beds.ImageCredit...Gael Turine for The New York TimesMs. de Neve has learned something about herself, too.Before I would tell myself I wasnt racist, she said. Its easy to tell yourself that. Being around these migrants in my house I learned a lot about them, and about my own views.Her husband said he had been nervous at first, even afraid. I worried about my children and hid my laptop, he recalled.No longer.Weve lost maybe 20 euros and some headphones, Mr. de Neve said of the past year. They are very good people.He prefers not to name his employer, but said, We decided that if we do nothing, then we will be responsible for what happens.Charity has, however, created a financial strain. It has been hard for the couple to pay school fees for their own children. So they collect extra and unused food from shops and restaurants to help with the 28 or so dinners they provide every week.Were completely out of money, Ms. de Neve said, laughing. Well figure it out later.One of her guests on a recent night was a Libyan migrant named Maamar Isneebir, who is known as Omar.ImageCredit...Gael Turine for The New York TimesNow 18, Mr. Isneebir left his home in Khoms, a coastal city east of Tripoli, a year ago. He claims that when he was 11, he fought against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.There is no safety now, he said. There are militias, there is ISIS.There is also little work.Mr. Isneebir spent three days at sea, terrified, before reaching Italy, where he was registered. He then made his way to Nice, then Paris, and then to Germany for eight months.The Germans told him to return to France, and when the police came to arrest him, he said, he jumped from a window and made his way to Belgium five months ago. He had hoped to go to Britain, but now says hed like to stay.Its unbelievable to have someone open their house to someone they dont know, Mr. Isneebir said in Arabic, translated by Mr. Kassou, who noted quietly that Libyans have only a 20 percent chance of getting political asylum here. They treat me like their own child.Also at the de Neve home that night was Said Adam, 18. He comes from Darfur, and has been in Belgium nearly 10 months, he said.When Mr. Adam came to Italy by boat, he said, I didnt know where Belgium is. Now, he, too, hopes to stay though he still seems a little lost.Ms. de Neve has few illusions about how much she can do for her guests.I cannot help them, really, she said simply. The rules are made for them to lose.

World

The announcement came after lawmakers and advocates argued that Medicare recipients had been passed over in the push to require insurers to cover the tests.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York TimesFeb. 3, 2022Medicare, which covers roughly 60 million Americans, will provide free over-the-counter rapid coronavirus tests beginning in the spring, according to the federal governments Medicare and Medicaid agency.The policy would allow Medicare beneficiaries to pick up tests at no cost at the point of sale and without needing to be reimbursed, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Thursday, adding that it would be the first time Medicare covered the whole cost of an over-the-counter test.The announcement followed weeks of clamor from lawmakers and health care advocates, who argued that Medicare recipients had been passed over in the administrations push to require private insurers to cover the tests.Under the plan, which will also apply to Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, Medicare will pay eligible pharmacies and health providers to offer the tests. The administration did not say how many pharmacies would participate.Enrollees will be able to get up to eight tests each month, the same number covered for privately insured Americans as part of a set of new requirements the Biden administration announced last month.The new Medicare program will not begin until the early spring, the administration said. The surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant, already declining, may have waned considerably by then. Even so, the tests could help Americans in possible future surges, perhaps driven by different variants, and as people begin to congregate more frequently with fewer virus cases around.The free tests covered by Medicare would go to some of the most vulnerable parts of the U.S. population. The vast majority of Medicare enrollees are 65 or older; others are younger people with disabilities.Because new treatments for the virus must be given early in the course of infection to be effective, testing and identifying cases quickly is critical to their use.After the Biden administration announced new guidelines for test reimbursement under private insurance plans, lawmakers called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to extend coverage to Medicare enrollees. Frequent use of rapid tests, which typically cost around $10 each if paid for out of pocket and are usually packaged in pairs, can be prohibitively expensive for many Americans.The cost of paying for tests and the time needed to find free testing options are barriers that could discourage Medicare beneficiaries from getting tested, leading to greater social isolation and continued spread of the virus, Nancy LeaMond, an AARP official, said in a statement on Thursday commending the administration for the new policy.The plan is the latest move in a patchwork of federal efforts to deliver more rapid tests, after President Biden received sharp public blowback over a shortage of the tests around the holidays, when cases of the Omicron variant skyrocketed and demand for the tests soared. As the Biden administration hunted for tests to purchase, manufacturers scrambled to meet the demand from public and commercial buyers across the world.The administration has already mailed tens of millions of free rapid tests as part of a new Postal Service program, the White House said last week. Every American household can order four tests through that program for now. At least 60 million households, nearly half the total number in the United States, have ordered tests from the program, which uses a website and hotline for orders. Like all Americans, Medicare enrollees are eligible to receive those tests.The Biden administration said on Thursday that Medicare enrollees were also still able to get free coronavirus tests at more than 20,000 community sites, and also when tested by health providers.

Health

UFC's 1st 'Superfight' Belt Hits Auction Block ... Gracie vs. Shamrock!!! 1/19/2018 Great news for rich UFC fans -- the iconic "superfight" belt from UFC 5 is about to hit the auction block ... and you can add it to your mantel if you're willing to drop a small fortune! Backstory -- UFC legends Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock threw down to crown the company's first ever superfight champ back in '95 ... but their 36-MINUTE bout was declared a draw, so neither of 'em took home the gold. Now, Goldin Auctions -- consigning the strap for a collector who got it from UFC co-founder Art Davie -- is bringing it to a bid ... and expects it to go for $25k-$100k (if not more). G.A.'s founder Ken Goldin tells TMZ Sports -- "It's the most significant UFC item ever to be auctioned" ... so expect a lot of action before bidding ends on Feb. 17.

Entertainment

Business|Treasury Auctions Set for the Week of Dec. 21https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/business/treasury-auctions-set-for-the-week-of-dec-21.htmlDec. 20, 2015The Treasurys schedule of financing this week includes Mondays regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.23 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.46 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.15 percent.

Business

Tim Tebow Accepts Spring Training Invite ... Gunning for the Majors!! 1/25/2018 TMZSports.com HALLELUJAH!! Tim Tebow is headin' back to baseball! The ex-football superstar tells TMZ Sports he's going to accept his invite to the NY Mets spring training in February ... and he's swingin' for the fences. Tebow -- who played for Class A St. Lucie last season -- got the invite to return to the Mets' major league camp last week, but hadn't officially said whether he would take another shot at baseball until now. BTW ... the 2007 Heisman winner had a .226 batting average with 8 dingers and 52 RBI in the minors last season. We also asked Tebow if he's gunning for the majors this season ... you gotta check out his answer.

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Credit...Tsafrir Abayov/Associated PressNov. 12, 2018JERUSALEM On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Israelis weary of conflict with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that he was doing everything I can in order to avoid an unnecessary war.A day and a half later, Israel appeared to be on the brink of just that.After a botched intelligence mission by undercover commandos left seven Palestinian fighters dead, the militant group Hamas and other armed factions mounted an intense and escalating rocket and mortar barrage across much of southern Israel that continued into Tuesday morning.With air-raid sirens wailing from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, and after a Palestinian anti-tank missile blew up an Israeli bus, seriously wounding a 19-year-old soldier, Israel retaliated with airstrikes and tank fire that grew steadily more destructive.Israel hit scores of military posts and weapons caches across Gaza, and also leveled a Hamas television station, radio station and office building, and the groups military intelligence headquarters. Another target, in a densely populated area, housed both Hamas military and intelligence forces and a kindergarten. It was the heaviest fighting between Israel and Gaza since their war in 2014.The fighting threatened to scuttle months of multilateral talks aimed at calming the Israel-Gaza border, where protests since March have been met with a lethal Israeli response. Some 170 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more wounded.The talks, mediated by Egypt, had already produced concrete steps to ease tensions in Gaza, including increased electrical power and the influx of millions of dollars in aid.So why, some Israelis were asking, with the Israeli government under pressure to ease tensions in Gaza and the talks showing progress, would the government risk it all for what officials described as a fairly routine surveillance mission?ImageCredit...Mohammed Saber/EPA, via ShutterstockThe answer, analysts said, may be that it was so routine. No one expected the Israeli commando squad to be exposed.The real assumption is that the operation will not be revealed, said Giora Eiland, a retired major general and former national security adviser. Its not 100 percent, but it can be estimated that 99 percent of these operations are not revealed, and 99 percent is good enough to make a decision assuming that the force will enter, execute and go out without being detected.The cost of that tiny risk became evident on Monday and Tuesday. More than 400 rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel, and the Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 military targets in Gaza belonging to Hamas, which governs the territory, and to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israels Iron Dome system intercepted more than 100 projectiles, it said.The authorities in Gaza said five Palestinians had been killed in the Israeli airstrikes and 15 others wounded. On the Israeli side, one man was killed in Ashkelon a Palestinian from Hebron, in the West Bank, according to local reports and at least 16 people were wounded.Each side repeatedly warned the other to back down, but refused to do so itself. After Israel threatened Monday night to begin leveling Gaza high-rises, and then did, Hamas warned that millions of Israelis would soon come under its rocket fire.Israels security cabinet was meeting on Tuesday, and officials said the government was spurning, for the moment, offers by Egypt and the United Nations to try to broker a cease-fire.For the moment I think that we need to deal with the situation directly, said a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Emanuel Nachshon. Its a security challenge, a security threat to the southern part of the state of Israel. And before discussing the issue with any international organizations, we need to make sure that we can protect our citizens. This is why the priority now is to military action, in order to send across a very clear and strong message.To embrace talks prematurely would send the wrong message, Mr. Nachshon suggested. Rather, he said, militants in Gaza needed to understand that they cannot shoot whenever they feel like it and then stop shooting as if nothing happened.ImageCredit...Gil Cohen-Magen/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesDespite Israels efforts to degrade their arsenals, Hamas and Islamic Jihad appeared in no danger of running out of ammunition. The Israeli military said it believed the two groups had amassed more than 20,000 rockets and mortars.Overnight, the Israeli military ordered all residents in the south, including in the cities of Ashdod and Beersheba, to remain in bomb shelters, some of which were opened as far as 25 miles from the Gaza perimeter. Residents were allowed to leave shelters late Tuesday morning but told to stay close to them. Air-raid sirens were heard Monday as far away as Hebron.The United Nations envoy to the region, Nickolay Mladenov, who has sought a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza, wrote on Twitter that both sides needed to step back from the brink of war. Rockets must stop, restraint must be shown by all! he wrote.But deep into the night, both sides were still ratcheting up the conflict.Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, Israels coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories, warned Gaza residents that Hamas had crossed a red line, and said that Israel will dial up its response.In Gaza City, employees of the Hamas television station Al Aqsa were warned to evacuate its offices, and the building was soon destroyed by multiple missile blasts that were captured on video by onlookers. A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, called the stations destruction an act of barbaric aggression.The Israeli military said the station was a legitimate target. It contributes to Hamas military actions, including by providing operational messaging to militants, directing and explicitly calling for terror activities against Israel, and providing guidance on how to carry out such terror activities, the military said in a statement.Soon after, airstrikes demolished the Al Aqsa radio stations offices and Al Amal Hotel, a Hamas office building.The fighting began hours after Palestinians and Israelis buried combatants who were killed on Sunday night, after an Israeli intelligence mission inside the Gaza Strip went awry when a team of covert operatives was challenged by Hamas fighters. A gunfight erupted, and the team called in airstrikes to cover their escape.ImageCredit...Tsafrir Abayov/Associated PressSix Hamas fighters, including a commander of forces in the Khan Younis area, and a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, another armed faction, were killed. An Israeli lieutenant colonel in the elite Maglan unit, a commando brigade, was also killed in the clash and was hailed as a national hero at his funeral.According to a former Israeli official with knowledge of the operation, the missions goal was surveillance, not an assassination. Such missions, usually aimed at installing surveillance equipment, are extensively planned and are considered at a low risk of exposure and confrontation.But they are perilous enough that the prime minister has to approve them personally, Mr. Eiland said.Israeli officials have not publicly explained the mission or what went wrong with it.The aim of the operation was not to abduct or to kill a Hamas operative, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israel military spokesman, said Monday night. He said that once the Israeli force met trouble, it acted swiftly, professionally, was able to defend itself, exfiltrate in a very professional manner, making sure that all soldiers got back to Israel, that none were left behind.He added that the operation on Sunday had not been a deliberate provocation but was a routine part of the Israeli militarys efforts to contend with terrorist threats across its borders.Just as terrorist organizations dont stop to plan, and to harbor weapons and try to strike against Israeli civilians, neither do we in our preparations, in our collection efforts, and in our operations that we conduct in order to mitigate the capabilities of the different terror organizations around us, he said.Proponents of a cease-fire had warned for months that the militarys best efforts to keep a lid on tensions with Gaza could prove for naught because of the unpredictability of cross-border clashes.The cease-fire talks had appeared to show meaningful progress in recent days before the turn of events that led to Mondays fighting.ImageCredit...Mohammed Saber/EPA, via ShutterstockWith both sides eager to address Gazas collapsing economy, electrical shortages and a deepening humanitarian crisis, Israel had agreed to let new shipments of diesel fuel be delivered to Gazas power plant, sharply increasing the availability of electrical power for residents of the beleaguered coastal enclave and allowing sewage treatment plants to resume operation.Then, last week, Israel allowed a donation of $15 million in cash from Qatar to be driven into Gaza, where Hamas distributed it as back pay to thousands of its civil servants who have received only a fraction of their salaries for months.On both sides of the Gaza border, civilians caught up in the fighting said they felt terrorized by it.Moatasem al-Aloul, a driver from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, said he was stuck in traffic when he suddenly saw people running away from the rocket launches, as explosions crackled overhead.The bombing is everywhere, he said.By nightfall, during a lull in the fighting, the streets in parts of Gaza City were almost empty, with many residents staying indoors. Few cars were on the road, and the loudest sound was that of Israeli drones hovering overhead.In Kibbutz Alumim, less than two miles from the Gaza border, Sara Mash, 32, a secretary, said Monday night that her three children and husband had been in their safe room their childrens bedroom since 4:30 p.m., when they first heard an explosion and then an air-raid siren.Weve had times like this, but you could at least step out of the safe room and breathe, she said by phone. This is a situation where we could not, because every second there was a boom, nonstop and you have no idea what is going on outside: Is it our side or theirs?Then she suddenly shouted, Red alert, red alert pick him up! and ended the call.

World

A clinical psychiatrist, she showed that suicide was often a result of mental illness, and that it could be avoided with the right treatment and public education.Credit...via Washington University in St. LouisOct. 7, 2021Early in her time as a medical student in the late 1950s, Paula J. Clayton watched a psychiatrist analyze a patient with clinical depression.The doctor, who had herself been analyzed by both Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and now taught at Washington University in St. Louis, asked the patient to explain his dreams, and the two spent time discussing what they meant.But when the session was over, the doctor did something that Freud would never have done: She prescribed electroshock therapy.It was something of a revelation for Dr. Clayton: The old methods of psychiatry, steeped in Freudian theory, had their limits, and physiological treatments were needed too. She came to believe that a new approach was necessary, beyond analysiss reliance on talk therapy, one based not in philosophy and speculation but in empirical research and data and a conviction that mental illness, like any illness, can be diagnosed and treated.She was at the right place at the right time. Dr. Clayton was part of a generation of clinical psychiatrists who, in the decades after World War II, revolutionized their field by applying medical rigor to the diagnosis of mental illness. And nowhere was this revolution more apparent than at Washington University. Her mentor, George Winokur, drilled into his students the commandment Data Shall Be Your God.Dr. Clayton joined the Washington University medical faculty in 1965, and in 1969 she and Dr. Winokur, along with their colleague Dr. Theodore Reich, published Manic Depressive Illness, one of the first books to study manic depression through a rigorous, outcome-based approach.She was a very careful empirical researcher at a time when empirical research did not hold much sway, Richard Friedman, a psychiatrist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said in an interview.ImageCredit...via Washington University in St. LouisDr. Clayton and her co-authors found, for example, that manic depression was most likely hereditary, that it affected men and women differently, and that it had a high morbidity rate that is, many patients, left untreated, died by suicide.The untreated part is important, because Dr. Clayton went on to become one of the leading voices for destigmatizing depression and suicide in America.She moved beyond the academy to become something of a public figure, adept at translating the latest research on mental illness for a broad audience at a time when issues like mania and suicide were still shrouded in mystery and myth.Dr. Clayton died on Sept. 4 in Pasadena, Calif., at 86. Her daughter, Clarissa Weirick, said the cause was complications of a non-Covid viral infection.First as a professor at the University of Minnesota where she was the first woman to chair a psychiatry department in the country and later as the medical director at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Dr. Clayton worked tirelessly to show the public what medical researchers already knew: that suicide almost always resulted from an underlying mental illness.When youre feeling sick from cancer or heart disease, you certainly call your doctor first, and yet with suicide you dont think of treatment as a solution, she said in a 2007 interview with a reporter for McClatchy. I think its just that they dont recognize it as a serious illness.Dr. Clayton reveled in the role of mythbuster. Suicides do not peak around the holidays, she told reporters, audiences and congressional hearings April and May see the highest numbers. Women attempt suicide twice as often as men, but men are four times as successful.She was a pioneer and a force in suicide prevention in part because she believed people should know and understand that suicide can be prevented, Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, the vice president for research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said in an interview. That didnt happen before. People ran away from the topic.ImageCredit...via Clayton familyPaula Jean Limberg was born on Dec. 1, 1934, in St. Louis. Her father, Oscar Limberg, worked for a clothing company. Her mother, Dorothea (Pflasterer) Limberg, was active in the womens suffrage movement, something Dr. Clayton later cited as an inspiration for her own career.Her marriage to Charles Clayton ended in divorce. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her sons, Matthew and Andrew, and seven grandchildren.Dr. Clayton studied pre-med at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1956, and enrolled in medical school at Washington University, graduating in 1960. After joining the universitys faculty, she moved to the University of Minnesota in 1980.Her work around bipolar disorder was especially groundbreaking. Though its broad contours were well understood, it was still seen as a mystery even by many psychiatrists. And too many people still saw manic outbursts of energy in somewhat romantic terms, as a seedbed for great art and ideas.There was a bit of glamour attached to bipolar disorder, which was wholly inaccurate theres no glamour to that disease, John Greden, a psychiatrist at the University of Michigan and the founder of the Eisenberg Family Depression Center, said in an interview.Dr. Clayton helped show that bipolar disorder and unipolar depression were two ends of a spectrum, a view that has led to breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of both conditions.She also demonstrated that while bereavement and grief can trigger major depression, periods of grief, even lasting a year, were not in themselves depressive episodes. And she showed that grief, far from progressing along a neatly described five-stage process, was personal and idiosyncratic an insight that changed the way doctors and the public understand how people deal with loss.Dr. Clayton stepped down as chairwoman at Minnesota in 1999, and after moving to Santa Fe, N.M., began teaching part time at the University of New Mexico.Just six years later, though, a recruiter contacted her: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention needed a medical director, someone who could take the work of its network of researchers to the general public.Dr. Clayton jumped at the chance, leaving her life of semiretirement in New Mexico for New York. She created films for schools and parents, and she became a constant presence at government hearings, from Congress to City Councils.She was especially vocal about suicide among Native Americans and members of the military and veterans, the rates of which spiked after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. She urged insurance companies to improve mental health coverage. And even after she retired in 2015, she continued to write and speak, convinced that with enough public education, the country could start to lower its tragically high suicide rates.Before her, people talked about suicide like it was this mystical, horrifying behavior, Dr. Friedman said. Her work destigmatized depression, and because of that, so many people owe their lives to her.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

science

TrilobitesThe only known cannibal among dinosaurs replaced its pearly whites more often than scientists expected, and so did some other carnivores.Credit...Corey Ford/AlamyDec. 6, 2019If there was a tooth fairy in the Cretaceous, dinosaurs kept it busy. Unlike humans, which lose just one set of teeth over a lifetime, dinosaurs often lost tens or even hundreds of sets.Plant-eating dinosaurs had to chew lots of tough material to sustain their large bodies, causing them to frequently replace their teeth. But researchers were surprised to discover fossil evidence recently that showed that a carnivorous dinosaur the only known cannibal replaced its chompers even more frequently than some herbivores. The dinosaurs propensity for chewing on the bones of its prey might have even contributed to its rapid tooth replacement rate, scientists hypothesized. These results were published late last month in the journal PLoS One.The research centered on several meat-eating dinosaurs, but Majungasaurus crenatissimus was really the star of carnivorous dinosaur dentition. This roughly 20-foot-long apex predator, which lived on what is now Madagascar about 70 million years ago, left behind a particularly plentiful fossil record. Several complete skeletons, hundreds of fragmentary skeletons and tens of thousands of shed teeth have been found.Thats pretty unheard-of, said Michael D. DEmic, a vertebrate paleontologist at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, who led the study.He and his colleagues also studied fossils of Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus, carnivores that prowled what is now the western United States about 150 million years ago.Dr. DEmic and his team started by cutting 21 Majungasaurus, Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus teeth into thin slices using a diamond-tipped saw. They counted fine lines in the dentin, the erstwhile living tissue of the teeth. These lines, each about a fifth the width of a human hair, reflect new layers of tooth tissue that were laid down each day, Dr. DEmic said. Thats how much the tooth extended in length per day.By counting these lines, the researchers built a mathematical model to predict a tooths age based on its length.The scientists next used computed tomography scanning to image tooth-bearing jawbones of the three carnivores. They found multiple teeth on top of one another in tooth sockets, much like nestled ice cream cones. Crocodiles and sharks continually replace their teeth in the same way.Theyre basically stacked and ready to go, Dr. DEmic said.ImageCredit...DEmic et al./PLOS One, 2019The researchers measured the lengths of roughly 140 of these stacked teeth and estimated the ages of the teeth using their mathematical model.By taking the difference between the ages of successive stacked teeth, Dr. DEmic and his colleagues calculated the dinosaurs tooth replacement rates. Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus both had rates of roughly 100 days, meaning that, on average, a socket would get a fresh tooth about every three months.But Majungasaurus went through teeth about twice as fast, every 56 days on average, the team found.That wasnt predicted, Dr. DEmic said. All of the carnivorous dinosaurs with estimates of tooth replacement rates measured to date, albeit only three genera, had rates topping 275 days. Tyrannosaurus clocked in at 777 days.Its really surprising to see such elevated tooth replacement rates in a meat-eating dinosaur, said David Evans, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto who was not involved in the study. This is on the level of what wed expect to see in bulk feeding, high-fiber herbivores.Majungasaurus was clearly an outlier, Dr. DEmic and his collaborators concluded. But why?To answer that question, the researchers turned to bones. Fossil records from Madagascar have revealed scratches and gouges on the bones of other dinosaurs that match the tooth spacing of Majungasaurus. Its likely that Majungasaurus crenatissimus was chomping down on the bones of its prey, which included its own species.Their teeth were contacting bone a lot, said Dr. DEmic. They were wearing their teeth out so quickly that they were having herbivore-like replacement rates.These results shed light on Majungasaurus diet and help breathe life into a long-extinct animal, said Dr. DEmic. Were always learning things about dinosaurian biology that surprise us.

science

Credit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesTech Were UsingMiriam Jordan, who covers immigration for The Times, says that migrants crossing the border often use WhatsApp and that Google Translate can break the ice.Miriam Jordan said recording devices could make migrants uncomfortable during interviews, so she prefers using a notebook.Credit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesMay 29, 2019How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Miriam Jordan, a national immigration correspondent, discussed the tech shes using.What tech tools do you use most on the job?My Lenovo laptop, printer and iPhone are the main tools of my trade. And I use the Voice Memos app exclusively to record news conferences.But let me step back. While technology is great, theres no substitute for building a rapport with someone, especially as an immigration reporter. I prefer face-to-face conversations, whenever possible.Because I am frequently in the field talking to Spanish speakers in sometimes precarious situations, I find that just jotting down what people say in a notebook is more discreet than using the Notes app or recording a conversation. There is a formality inherent in recording that I feel inhibits folks from speaking freely, and many of the people I interview are undocumented. Keeping a record of what they tell me in a device makes them worry about being exposed to immigration authorities, especially in the current political climate.You travel a lot for work then. What gadgets help with that?I always carry an extra battery pack for my mobile phone. Especially if I am in a remote location, I want to know that I can reach the photographer with whom I am traveling (sometimes we end up separated), as well as my editor and family.When I am driving just about anywhere that is new, I rely on the Waze app to guide me. I wonder how I would manage without it! If I am somewhere without a car, then a ride-sharing app like Uber or Lyft does the trick.ImageCredit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesImageCredit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesHow about social media?Twitter enables me to stay abreast of the conversation surrounding my immigration beat, as well as to be a part of it, if I desire. I have also been contacted by readers on Twitter with tips or complaints. Twitter is also indispensable to promote my pieces and to amplify them, if I write threads that include aspects that didnt make it into the story.Facebook Groups can be treasure troves of information about what activists are doing, and they help me find ideas as well as sources for stories. For example, after a judge ordered the government last year to reunite families who had been separated at the border, volunteer groups helping parents and children converged on Facebook to discuss their observations.I also often use WhatsApp to talk with sources on sensitive topics, because all communication is encrypted.What technology do migrants use?Like most families from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Latin America, as well as other parts of the developing world, migrants crossing the border use WhatsApp to communicate with their loved ones back home and among their family in the United States.WhatsApp can be used to transmit photos of police reports, birth certificates and other documents that migrants may need their relatives to send them after they have arrived in the United States to help build their asylum case. Once upon a time, people in far-flung areas would have to find an internet cafe to email material from their home country to the United States. WhatsApp is also invaluable because you can send voice memos to people who are illiterate.Some migrants arrive at the border with smartphones, but not all of them. The greater the distance they have traveled, the more likely they are to carry one. Brazilians, Indians and Africans tend to have smartphones more than Central Americans do. Once they are settled and working in the United States, they often use their smartphones to send money to their family back home.And migrant children are as addicted to video games and entertainment on cellphones as other kids.ImageCredit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesHow is technology used by Americans communicating with migrants?I was recently at a respite center in Tucson, which on some nights sleeps more than 300 Central American migrants who have just been released by the Border Patrol. It is staffed by an army of well-intentioned volunteers, who provide food, clothing and medical care to the migrant families.But often they dont speak Spanish, and rely on Google Translate. The funny way that things get so literally translated often breaks the ice between migrants and their helpers as they erupt in laughter.Outside of work, what tech do you love to use or to avoid?I use my iPhone to listen to music when I run and when I walk the dog. I also use it to tune in to the Times podcast The Daily as well as other podcasts. I have an internet-connected exercise bike.ImageCredit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesHow do your kids help you with digital tools and the internet?My 22-year-old twins, Maya and Danny, are definitely my tech-support team when they are around.Danny helps me with basic functions on Microsoft Word, Outlook and Facebook. I have a knack for accidentally deleting sections or material in my files, which he helps me restore (Alt Z?). My computer also seems to freeze not infrequently, and he comes to the rescue.Maya helps me buy music on iTunes and download music onto my phone. She helped me to discover new text actions, such as laughing or loving. She has helped me post certain things to Facebook and keep my profile picture more or less current.Neither seems interested in pricey wearable tech, like smart watches. Thankfully!

Tech

Science|Dont Be Fooled by a Climate Change Pausehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/science/climate-change-misconception-pause.htmlMisconceptionsCredit...James YangMarch 31, 2016Misconception: There was a global warming pause, so climate change is bunk.Actually: Thats like saying a temporary dip in the stock market means that the best long-term investment strategy is keeping your cash under the mattress.Those who deny the science of climate change and the role of human activity in causing it often claim that global warming paused for more than a decade until recently, and that the pause means that climate change is not happening.There is, in fact, an active debate among scientists about whether the pause even happened at all. Data on global temperature appeared to show a slower comparative rise in the years following 1998, the end of the last El Nio event. But last June, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a paper in the journal Science stating that the pause probably didnt occur at all, or was at least greatly overstated; they blamed inaccurate data for giving a misimpression of a hiatus in warming.Because that isnt complicated enough, the paper became the target of a political attack by a member of Congress, Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas who heads the House Science Committee, and disputes the overwhelming scientific evidence underlying climate change. He called the paper evidence of the Obama administrations suspect climate agenda.Then in February, yet another paper in the journal Nature Climate Change took the opposite view, claiming that a slowdown, at least, is real.Feeling whipsawed yet? Dont. This kind of disagreement among scientists happens every day, and when the subject is less politicized it can be fascinating to watch. This is how scientific inquiry moves forward: Putting hypotheses out there and testing them. Most days, it makes a lot more sense than politics does.In any case, whether or not there was a pause in warming for a dozen years or so has no bearing on the underlying scientific validity of climate change. Even the lead author of the February paper that argued the pause is real says that the findings do not undermine global warming theory. Besides, record global temperatures for 2014 and 2015 suggest that warming has resumed. But even more important, the long-term trend is clear: Climate change is about the long haul, not short-term variability.A post by Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist, on the blog of the Union of Concerned Scientists put it this way: Even as a car slows down to go over a speed bump, there is no question the car is still advancing down the road.

science

White Collar WatchCredit...Craig Ruttle/Associated PressDec. 28, 2015White-collar defendants seem to be emerging as the new media stars, generating publicity sometimes rivaling that of social phenomena like the Kardashians.For example, Martin Shkreli, the small-time hedge fund manager and pharmaceutical company executive, was featured in front-page headlines for his arrest on fraud charges only weeks after a wave of negative publicity for increasing sharply the price of old patent drugs. In a new twist, rather than remain silent in the face of criminal charges, Mr. Shkreli has taken to social media to proclaim his innocence, a tactic The New York Times noted was something defense lawyers believe can be highly risky.As athletes and movie stars have found, social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook let one connect directly with the public while bypassing the close questions asked by the traditional media. Rather than hide behind a phalanx of high-priced lawyers with nary a word emerging, we may see more defendants act like Mr. Shkreli by offering themselves to the public to counter the bully pulpit used by prosecutors like Loretta Lynch, the United States attorney general, and Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, to announce their latest cases with great fanfare.Beyond the publicity, the past year brought its usual array of developments in white-collar crime that continue to make this one of the more fascinating areas of the law. Here are a few to watch play out in the coming year:Daily Fantasy Sports There may be no more uninteresting segue in a conversation than, Hes on my fantasy team. But the two leading providers of fantasy sports contests, DraftKings and FanDuel, have made themselves ubiquitous with heavy advertising and tie-ins with the leading professional sports leagues.Now come the legal challenges because daily fantasy sports is offered as something akin to a lottery with the prospect of quick riches based on a few picks, which any winner will proclaim is an exercise of skill even though there is a healthy dose of luck. The attorneys general in New York, Illinois, and Nevada have issued opinions finding that these contests are a form of gambling, and therefore subject to prohibitions under state law.There have not been any criminal prosecutions related to daily fantasy sports yet, although Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent DraftKings and FanDuel from allowing residents to participate. A New York State Court judge agreed, but an appeals court issued a stay that allowed the companies to continue to operate until at least next Monday while it reviews the case conveniently coming after the end of the N.F.L. regular season.In one of the Republican presidential debates, when the issue was raised about government regulation of daily fantasy sports, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey criticized the question, saying enough on fantasy football. Let people play, who cares? Like it or not, it is something that a lot of people who play these games do care about. Leaving the issue to the states to decide whether the contests constitute illegal gambling would mean a hodgepodge of regulations that could effectively drive the companies out of business.ImageCredit...Justin Lane/European Pressphoto AgencyGiven the popularity of daily fantasy sports, we may well see something emerge from Congress on the subject if DraftKings and FanDuel get shut out of major markets like New York and Chicago. Their efforts to remain legal will be aided if the professional leagues throw their weight behind an effort to preserve something that is both appealing to fans and potentially quite lucrative for teams.The Feinberg Solution When a company faces a potentially disastrous situation in which a number of consumers and businesses have been harmed, whether economically or physically, there has emerged a new means to deal with the fallout. The ingredients include issuing multiple apologies, especially when called before Congress, and then hiring Kenneth R. Feinberg, who is provided with a virtual blank check to settle claims voil, the Feinberg Solution.Volkswagen is the latest company to follow this path in response to its use of software intended to evade pollution emission standards in the United States that have exposed it to billions of dollars of penalties. Mr. Feinbergs appointment is an important signal that Volkswagen is serious about dealing with the issue, a sharp turn from its initial response in which a few engineers were blamed for what its former chief executive called irregularities.Mr. Feinberg has established a sterling reputation through his work to help victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing. He has since come to the rescue for BP in response to the gulf oil spill by distributing a $20 billion fund, and General Motors gave him carte blanche to settle injury claims related to defective ignition switches, even allowing payments in cases that had already settled or would have been blocked by the companys 2009 bankruptcy. The Feinberg Solution provides significant public relations cover because a company can defer all inquiries to the program he develops.The approach taken by the Takata Corporation over claims that its airbags were defective provided an interesting counterpoint to how Volkswagen responded. Takata has not tried to settle claims about its product, even as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identified an eighth death caused by a rupture of an airbag inflater. Will we see whether the company might offer up the Feinberg Solution, or a reasonable facsimile, in 2016.Spoofing Spoofing almost sounds like a party game in which one person tries to get others to guess wrong by pretending to do one thing while engaging in the opposite. But when it comes to the securities and commodities markets, putting out orders to mislead other traders into thinking that there is more activity than really exists so you can make trades on the other side can be a crime.The Justice Department obtained a conviction in the first trial of a defendant, Michael Coscia, for violating the anti-spoofing law adopted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act that prohibits bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution. The jury returned its guilty verdict after deliberating for only one hour, concluding that he engaged in spoofing through an algorithm that entered in a high volume of orders that were canceled within 400 milliseconds, the equivalent of a blink of the eye.As the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission pursue more spoofing cases, the message to high frequency trading firms is to tread carefully in how they use orders that will go unfilled to mask their true intentions. The law does not say how many orders have to be canceled to show spoofing, and trading strategies that generate a high volume of canceled orders will be closely scrutinized.S.E.C. Administrative Hearings The Dodd-Frank Act gave the S.E.C. the choice of pursuing most cases in a federal court or before one of its in-house judges in an administrative proceeding. In a prime example of be careful what you wish for, the agencys decision to route more cases through administrative proceedings, including complex fraud and insider trading charges, provoked a powerful backlash that may change significantly how it pursues cases in the future.ImageCredit...Drew Angerer for The New York TimesFiling charges in a federal court provides a defendant with much more extensive rights to discover evidence through depositions and subpoenas, along with the opportunity to have a jury decide the case. An administrative proceeding is much more streamlined, with the current rules requiring the hearing to begin within four months and restricting the evidence for the most part to what the S.E.C.s staff gathered in its investigation.This purported uneven playing field resulted in a number of defendants going into court in 2015 to challenge the procedures. The one claim that has gained traction before federal judges in Atlanta and New York is that the in-house judges were not properly appointed under the Constitution, and therefore the entire proceeding was improper. Those cases are on appeal, along with others in which the agency was victorious in putting off challenges to how administrative proceedings operate until the appeal of an initial decision goes through the S.E.C.s internal review process.As different federal appeals courts consider these challenges in the next few months, there is a looming possibility of conflicting decisions, which would in all likelihood require the Supreme Court to resolve the split. If that were to happen, it would probably not be until 2017 that there would be a resolution regarding the propriety of administrative proceedings.In the meantime, Congress has started paying attention to the use of in-house judges amid claims of unfairness, and the S.E.C. has proposed rules to respond to criticisms that administrative proceedings fall short of providing a fair forum. There are sure to be substantial changes in how the S.E.C. pursues cases emerging in the coming months.Insider Trading There is no more hardy perennial in the garden of white-collar crime than insider trading. I started writing the White Collar Watch just a few weeks after the arrest of Raj Rajaratnam and others in October 2009 for trading on material nonpublic information, and insider trading remains in the news even as defendants serve long sentences for violations.The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan in December 2014 in United States v. Newman upset the long run of successful prosecutions by Mr. Bhararas office, resulting in the dismissal of charges against a number of defendants. The opinion has made it more difficult for prosecutors and the S.E.C. to pursue cases against those who receive inside information, called tippees.A brief filed with the Supreme Court seeking further review of the Newman case by Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the solicitor general, asserted that opinion would hurt market participants, disadvantage scrupulous market analysts and impair the governments ability to protect the fairness and integrity of the securities markets. Despite such claims of impending doom, the court rejected the Justice Departments request to review the lower courts decision, meaning that the status of insider trading law will be in flux as judges try to figure out how far the Newman decisions reasoning should be applied.There is no way of measuring how much of an effect the Newman case will have because prosecutors and the S.E.C. do not make public announcements about the charges they decide not to file. Suffice to say that the case has caused its share of consternation, and the next year will start to provide an answer about whether the decision prompts a major reordering of cases involving tippees or becomes little more than a speed bump on the road to pursuing charges for misuse of inside information.Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!

Business

Credit...Moises Castillo/Associated PressMarch 15, 2017MEXICO CITY The most severely disabled children were moved to an institution where 43 of them were housed together in one room. Many of the 130 children brought to a special education school had psychiatric and other problems, and the schools staff quickly found itself overwhelmed.And all the youngsters had just lived through a terrifying experience a fire that killed 40 girls at the Virgen de la Asuncin childrens home near Guatemala City.Those were among the details in a report to be published on Wednesday by Disability Rights International, an advocacy organization in Washington whose representatives had gone on a scheduled trip to Guatemala to visit the home and other institutions when the disaster occurred last Wednesday.The rush to place children in new facilities after the fire put them at risk of suffering the same abuse they endured at the home, the report said, because the new institutions were unprepared to take them.These institutions are the last place you would want to put a child who survived trauma, Matthew Mason, the clinical director of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development and a member of Disability Rights Internationals team, said in the report.These are the dumping grounds of society, for people who are not wanted by society, whether they are disabled or gay or happen to get there through the criminal justice system, Eric Rosenthal, the organizations executive director, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.The fire broke out after a group of residents who had escaped from the home were rounded up by the police and brought back. Investigators have said that they believe the girls who died were locked in a small room as punishment. Mr. Rosenthal said that boys interviewed at the home last week said that they had been part of the breakout and that afterward they had been locked up and beaten.Allegations that children and adolescents had been abused at Virgen de la Asuncin had been public since 2013, when Guatemalas human rights ombudsman declared that the residents rights were being systematically violated.ImageCredit...Disability Rights InternationalLast year, the ombudsman called on the government to shut down the center, where 700 young people were housed, and asked the attorney general to investigate claims that some residents had been sexually abused and forced into prostitution in Guatemala City.On Monday, the authorities arrested the former minister of social welfare, Carlos Rodas Meja, the former deputy minister, Anah Keller Zabala, and the homes former director, Santos Torres Ramrez. They were charged with culpable homicide, negligence and child abuse. All three resigned or were dismissed after the fire.Last week, Mr. Rosenthal and his team raced to keep track of the disabled residents who were moved out.They said they found alarming evidence of the severe neglect resulting from Guatemalas policy of institutionalization, a policy that has been repeatedly criticized by advocacy groups.According to the report, the most disabled children were dropped off at the residential home, known as ABI, and left to spend their days lying on mats, tied to metal doors, or belted into wheelchairs.The report continued: Children are self-abusive, hitting themselves, poking themselves in the eyes, or regurgitating stomach fluids.At the special education school, Alida Espaa de Arana, the teachers reported that the children from Virgen de la Asuncin were shouting, screaming and hitting each other, and with few resources and no medical records, they had little choice but to medicate them.The rest of the residents who were housed at Virgen de la Asuncin have been moved to other facilities across the country. Health Ministry officials told Disability Rights International that seven of the girls were pregnant.Many of the children at the home were abandoned; others had been placed there by their families. Last year, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities called on Guatemala to end the institutionalization of children.But without any support from the government, families often have no choice. Its absolutely a question of political will, Mr. Rosenthal said. It never occurs to them that kids should be with their families.

World

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World

Credit...Edward S. Boyden et al.June 1, 2017Pulses of electricity delivered to the brain can help patients with Parkinsons disease, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and possibly other conditions. But the available methods all have shortcomings: They either involve the risks of surgery, from implanting electrodes deep within the brain, or they stimulate from the skulls surface, limiting the ability to target electricity to the right brain areas.Now, a team of neuroscientists and engineers has devised a method that might achieve the best of both worlds: skipping the surgery while reaching deep brain areas. The research, published Thursday in the journal Cell and led by a prominent neurobiologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was conducted in mice, and many questions remain about its potential application to people. But experts say if the method proves effective and safe, it could help a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders more cheaply and safely than current approaches.They have this clever new way to deliver current to a spot of interest deep in the brain and do it without invading the brain, said Dr. Helen Mayberg, a professor of psychiatry, neurology and radiology at Emory University, who was not involved in the study and who pioneered the still-experimental treatment of deep brain stimulation for depression. If you didnt have to actually open up somebodys brain and put something in it, if it could do what were doing now just as well sign me up.Edward S. Boyden, the studys senior author and co-director of the M.I.T. Center for Neurobiological Engineering, said he and his colleagues are already testing the method on people without disorders to see if it works in human brains. If those results are promising, at least one clinician, Dr. Alexander Rotenberg, a neurologist who directs the neuromodulation program at Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said he would collaborate with the team to evaluate the technique for epilepsy.This is something that many of us in the field have wished for for a long time, said Dr. Rotenberg, who said it might also eventually help tens of thousands of epilepsy patients for whom medications fail. Dr. Rotenberg and Dr. Mayberg said they could also envision the technique as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint the best brain location to target for electrical stimulation before surgically implanting electrodes for deep brain stimulation.At a time when scientists are developing sophisticated technological approaches to look inside the brain and manipulate brain cells including a celebrated technique called optogenetics that was created in part by Dr. Boyden the new study uses a basic and long-established tool: electricity. But it adds a brand new twist.Rather than try to prove another way to modulate the brain, they take a very simple technology and are using it in a unique way, said Dr. Casey Harrison Halpern, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University who uses deep brain stimulation for Parkinsons and O.C.D. and was not involved in the study. Now we just have to see where it plays out best in the clinical arena. I could rattle off 10 potential ways that it could and should be tested.The method, called temporal interference, involves beaming different electric frequencies, too high for neurons to respond to, from electrodes on the skulls surface. The team found that where the currents intersected inside the brain, the frequencies interfered with each other, essentially canceling out all but the difference between them and leaving a low-frequency current that neurons in that location responded to, Dr. Boyden said.Very high frequency electronic fields are much faster than the brain can actually follow for the same reasons that you and I cant hear sonar, he said. But if you deliver 1,000 hertz and 1,001 hertz to the brain, the neuron will react as if you were delivering 1 hertz. And only the region where the two interfere is where you get the signal.That means other regions would be unaffected by the electricity, in contrast to what happens with other surface techniques, like transcranial magnetic stimulation, a federally approved treatment for depression.When the team used electricity to stimulate the hippocampus in mice, theres no evidence whatsoever that the neurons were activated, in the cortex and other structures closer to the surface, said Li-Huei Tsai, director of M.I.T.s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, who led the mouse experiments.Before you see the results, youre like really? she said. But we saw the extremely precise localized signal only in the region we stimulated.To further test whether they could target the electricity, the researchers aimed at certain spots in the motor cortex causing mice to move forepaws, whiskers or ears. The technique caused no safety problems, Dr. Tsai said.Several experts raised potential limitations and questions. Dr. Mayberg said it would have to deliver frequencies like 130 hertz, higher than those in the study, and would need to work among complex brain circuitry, like the white matter bundles her work involves.Dr. Michael Okun, a neurologist at the University of Florida and medical director for the Parkinsons Foundation, said delivering electricity to people who need it occasionally or even once a day seemed more feasible than for people with complex diseases like Parkinsons who have a need for near-continuous stimulation.All the experts wondered about logistics: Would patients use a portable, wearable electricity-delivery device? And they emphasized a need to direct electricity to smaller, more precise brain locations, a limitation Dr. Boyden said he hoped could be addressed by using more electrodes.Weve got to avoid areas of the brain that might cause motor contractions or weakness or problems with speech or vision, Dr. Okun said. A couple of millimeters in brain space could be the distance between Florida and Australia.Still, he said, so far theyve accomplished something thats fairly remarkable.

Health

Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesMay 30, 2019SAN FRANCISCO Last year, Apple announced that it had created tools to help people limit the time they and their children spent on their iPhones. Around the same time, Apple began purging from its App Store a number of apps that offered similar services.Now 17 companies affected by that purge say they have a technical answer to the privacy concerns that Apple cited for dropping them.The companies on Thursday proposed the creation of an application programming interface, or A.P.I., a common bit of software that enables computer programs or apps to work with one another. The companies said the A.P.I. could tap Apple technology that would allow them to track screen time without invading privacy.Right now, technologically, only Apple has the right to do it on their devices, and we believe Apple should let everybody get a go, said Viktor Yevpak, the head of Kidslox, a parental-control app that has been targeted by Apple.The companies move puts added pressure on Apple ahead of its annual developers conference next week, when the iPhone maker interacts with thousands of app makers and lays out its vision for the year.Apple is increasingly on the defensive over its tight control of the App Store. The high fees for selling services in the App Store and competition from Apples own apps are drawing accusations that the tech giant is abusing its power.Spotify recently complained to European regulators that Apple used the App Store to give its Apple Music service an unfair advantage. Dutch regulators are investigating whether Apple abused its control of the App Store. This month, the Supreme Court allowed an antitrust class action to move forward, saying consumers have the right to try to prove that Apple used the App Store to raise apps prices.And Kidslox and another parental-control app, Qustodio, filed a complaint with European competition officials over Apples forcing changes to their apps. Another parental-control app complained to Russias antitrust authorities.Apple declined to comment on Thursday.Apple has frequently created A.P.I.s to encourage app developers to use its technology. While the 17 app makers released a technical proposal on how it could work, a new A.P.I. would have to come from Apple itself.This week, Apple published a web page explaining its approach to the App Store, saying it strives to create a safe and trusted place for customers and a great business opportunity for all developers.ImageCredit...Christophe Morin/IP3, via Getty ImagesApple said it reviewed about 100,000 apps a week and rejected roughly 40 percent, typically for minor bugs or privacy concerns. (Security experts say the approach has made iPhones safer than Android devices.) Apple stressed that it welcomed competition in the App Store.Andrew Armour, a developer whose screen-time app was rejected by Apple, said he and the other developers had begun to collaborate after The New York Times reported last month on Apples purge. He and Mr. Yevpak said they were upset that Apple had said in its response to the article that it removed their apps because they put users privacy and security at risk.Mr. Armour said Apple had never said that when it removed or rejected their apps. All they said was it went against one of their rules, he said. None of us were doing anything malicious.The developers said they were encouraged to act by Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive and one of the creators of the iPhone. Mr. Fadell spoke out about Apples actions against the screen-time apps and suggested the technology that the companies are now proposing.Mr. Fadell corresponded with several of the developers. I will push it out to the world just make sure its done BEFORE WWDC, he said in one message seen by The Times, using the abbreviation for Apples developers conference next week.A spokeswoman for Mr. Fadell said he had encouraged the effort but wasnt immediately available for comment.Because Apple has demonstrated that it can enable people to track the time they spend on their phones as well as what their children are doing without invading privacy, the developers said Apple should give them an A.P.I. that would allow them to do the same.The companies said they had wanted such an A.P.I. for years but were forced to use workarounds.Many of them used a technology called mobile device management, or M.D.M., which enables one iPhone to control another. Apple allowed the practice for years but changed its policy last year. Apple said M.D.M. gave the apps too much access to childrens devices.This isnt a matter of competition, Apple said in a response to The Timess article. Its a matter of security.Apple has removed or restricted more than two dozen screen-time and parental-control apps, according to a review by The Times. Still, Apple has left up at least three apps that use M.D.M., according to Sensor Tower, a firm that tracks information about apps.Several apps that Apple purged didnt use M.D.M. but were told they had been removed for using a separate technology, virtual private networks.Apple declined to comment on why it had removed those apps.

Tech

A group of laboratories and scientific journals is trying to simplify the process of attaching authors new names to their previously published papers.Credit...Smith Collection/Gado/Getty ImagesJuly 28, 2021Published papers are an important part of a researchers rsum. But for those who change their names partway through their careers, the disconnect between the old name and the new can lead to serious problems.It is a hurdle for transgender scientists in particular, many of whom say that it is not only inaccurate when publishers fail to update their names on past work, but also hurtful and discriminatory.On Wednesday, a group of laboratories and major scientific publishers announced an agreement that aims to simplify the process of applying new names to old papers, essentially by shifting much of the administrative labor from the researcher to the laboratory.This change eliminates an enormous burden on researchers, emotionally and administratively, to correct the record, Lady Idos, the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which spearheaded the agreement, said in a statement.The agreement is not limited to transgender authors; it is meant to ease the process for anyone who wants old work to reflect a changed name.A network of 17 national laboratories that conduct research in a variety of scientific fields signed on to the agreement, along with 13 publishing organizations including the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, arXiv, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Springer Nature and Wiley.As a trans scientist, having publications under my birth name causes me to have mixed feelings about past work of which Im otherwise proud, Amalie Trewartha, a scientist at the Toyota Research Institute and research affiliate at the Berkeley Lab, said in the statement. I am faced with the dilemma of either hiding certain parts of it, or outing myself. Having my name updated on my previous publications would be enormously meaningful.Traditionally, an author hoping to change a name on past documents has had to ask individual journals, who could object on principle maintaining, for example, that published papers are part of the historical record and should not be retroactively altered without alerting readers or because of practical concerns, such as whether the paper has already been referenced by other authors who might then have to change their citations, or how to register the change smoothly in metadata and across various networks.While many journals have been updating their policies independently in recent years, the agreement announced on Wednesday is meant to streamline the collaborative process so that research authors can make their name-change request to the laboratories where they work, which would then work with the journals to process the change.Theresa Jean Tanenbaum, an associate professor in the department of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, welcomed the news.Her work she studies interactive storytelling, play and identity had been published in several journals before she changed her name in 2019. Pushing each publisher to update their records accordingly has been a long and painful process, Dr. Tanenbaum said. Some of the objections she encountered stemmed from editors reluctance to rewrite history, or from concerns that name changes might open the door to fraud.She founded the Name Change Policy Working Group in hopes of easing the name-changing process for others.Many trans people find their previous name harmful, she said. And the act of disclosing a trans persons previous name is often used to attack us.Having a different name on past work can also lead to unwanted disclosures by making a persons trans identity apparent to readers, colleagues and potential employers. And it can expose people to danger, since researchers often do public-facing work that may involve sharing their contact information like a lecturer whose email is shared on a university website or even their physical location.And then there are pragmatic problems: If a persons academic work is attached to two different names, that can complicate data about the authors readership or citations, or make it difficult for readers to access all of a researchers work in one place.It makes it much harder to claim credit for scholarship that youve done, Dr. Tanenbaum said.Joerg Heber, the research integrity officer for Berkeley Lab, said that he encountered the name-change issue while working as the editorial director at Public Library of Science. I used to get requests, mainly from transgender researchers, about the possibility of changing their name as it appeared on their published research articles, he said.The process can be especially daunting for researchers who have published work in several outlets. If youve been in research for a long time, Dr. Heber said, thats a lot of articles that youve written.For publishers, the correction can involve technical work like updating metadata or search indexes. Pronouns, biographies or photographs may need to be updated as well.It can take a long time for publishers to regenerate that published paper, Dr. Heber said. Its not just like changing something on a website.But publishers play an important role in the entire knowledge ecosystem, Judy Verses, an executive vice president at Wiley, a major publisher based in New Jersey, said in the statement on Wednesday.This partnership shows the power of scientific collaboration not only to move the world forward with new discoveries, but also to drive inclusivity with impact, she added.Dr. Tanenbaum said she was interested to see how the agreement would play out, adding that laboratories would have to be diligent about respecting authors agency while interacting with publishers on their behalf and that publishers would need to be thorough about the technical aspects of name changes, which might involve digging through old databases, rethinking their reliance on PDF formatting or working with outside vendors who handle their data.Weve seen a large uptick in the adoption of name-change policies, she said. Now, we are seeing exactly how much work that entails, and exactly how inflexible our platforms are.

science

DealBook|Icahn Wins Bidding War for Pep Boyshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/business/dealbook/icahn-wins-bidding-war-for-pep-boys.htmlCredit...Mike Blake/ReutersDec. 30, 2015After a tug of war between the activist investor Carl C. Icahn and the Bridgestone Corporation, the auto-parts retailer Pep Boys on Wednesday officially picked its suitor.Icahn Enterprises won the bidding for Pep Boys, announcing a definitive agreement to buy the chain in an all-cash deal for $18.50 a share, or roughly $1 billion. The boards of Ichan Enterprises and Pep Boys have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, the companies said.The bidding war ended on Tuesday when Bridgestone, based in Japan, said it would not counter the raised offer Icahn Enterprises made on Monday, despite raising its bid in two earlier rounds, including one late last week. Bridgestone, the largest tire and rubber company, was the first to announce a deal for Pep Boys in October, for $15 a share, or $835 million.Pep Boys is based in Philadelphia and has more than 800 retail locations in 35 states, selling a range of products and services including tires, accessories, maintenance and repair. Mr. Icahn, who bought Auto Plus in June, has said he was looking for another acquisition that could build that business. Icahn Enterprises owns 12.1 percent of Pep Boys.Scott P. Sider, Pep Boys chief executive, said the deal provides new opportunities for Pep Boys employees and allows Pep Boys to benefit from the significant expertise and resources of Icahn Enterprises.Icahn Enterprises is paying a $39.5 million breakup fee to Bridgestone.

Business

Credit...Zach Gibson for The New York TimesJune 26, 2018WASHINGTON More than 35 people were charged with selling drugs on the so-called dark web, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday, marking the first time that federal prosecutors made the sellers of illegal goods their primary focus rather than the operators of illicit online marketplaces.Investigators seized opioids, cocaine and other drugs, more than 100 guns and assault rifles, a grenade launcher and five cars in a broad federal inquiry in which prosecutors opened more than 90 cases. They also took nearly $24 million in cash, gold, and Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Criminals who think that they are safe on the dark net are wrong, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, said in a statement, using another term for the dark web, where people can use encryption and electronic currencies to hide their identities. We can expose their networks.Homeland Security investigators posed as a money launderer who exchanged virtual currencies on the dark web, the authorities said.Special agents were able to walk amongst those in the cyberunderworld to find those vendors who sell highly addictive drugs for a profit, said Derek Benner, acting executive associate director of Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations. H.S.I. has infiltrated the dark net.The suspects were mostly in their 20s and 30s. Scattered across the country in states like New York, Maryland, Ohio, California and Vermont, they sold a variety of drugs including opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, prosecutors said.In most cases they accepted Bitcoin as payment, then attempted to launder that money through undercover agents who exchanged the coins for cash. The agents then had mailing addresses for the vendors, and were able to obtain data about who had owned the coins.Bitcoin has long been the currency of choice for those looking to purchase illegal goods online. Its appeal is obvious: The currency is controlled by no bank or government, and it can be difficult to conclusively link a Bitcoin to a person.But every Bitcoin transaction is recorded on what is known as a ledger called the blockchain. If you know what to look for, the transactions are essentially public. Cybersecurity experts have predicted that Bitcoins structure would eventually allow law enforcement to use it to make arrests.The government could also compel companies who trade in Bitcoin to hand over information about those using the cryptocurrency, cybersecurity experts have said.Online drug trafficking, which has long provided easy access to illegal commerce, has emerged as one of the most pernicious issues that drug enforcement officials face, James J. Hunt, the Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge, said in a statement.Drugs, weapons, child pornography, stolen financial data and other illicit materials have been bought and sold on black market websites like the Silk Road and AlphaBay, online bazaars that have been targeted by law enforcement authorities.Some of those marketplaces have become hubs for sales of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that has become a driver of the nations opioid addiction crisis.But the government has generally targeted the founders of those websites, rather than the vendors selling goods on their platforms.The government shut down the Silk Road and prosecuted its founder, Ross W. Ulbricht. Mr. Ulbricht is now serving a life sentence for overseeing a global, online drug-trafficking business. Some vendors on Silk Road were also prosecuted.Last July, the Justice Department seized AlphaBay, then the worlds largest criminal online marketplace. Authorities arrested Alexandre Cazes, the creator and administrator of the site, on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and fraud. Mr. Cazes committed suicide while in custody in Thailand, the Justice Department said.Newer forms of cryptocurrencies are designed to evade detection, Greg Nevano, an ICE official who investigates them, said during a hearing this month before a House Financial Services subcommittee.Some newer cryptocurrencies have features that make the tracing of them quite complicated, he said. These new anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies are clearly ripe for illicit use in an effort to subvert legitimate law enforcement inquiries.While these cryptocurrencies are more difficult to trace, it is not impossible, Mr. Nevano added. He said law enforcement agencies could press companies to hand over customer data or devices.

Politics

Helmets Alpine Skiing Ski helmets are designed to be lightweight and low-profile. Biathlon A hat comes in handy. Biathlon races are canceled for cold only when temperatures reach minus 20 degrees Celsius. Luge Sliders fight G-forces as they round turns. When athletes say they lost their head during a run, it means they were struggling to keep their neck aligned under the pressure. AP Photo They Arent From France At the 1976 Innsbruck Games, the West German team arrived with innovative conehead helmets. The aerodynamic headgear helped the team win three medals. Similar helmets were outlawed in subsequent Olympics. Skeleton Sliders descend face-first at speeds that can exceed 85 m.p.h. Short-Track Speedskating Helmets are required for short-track speedskating, an event that is sometimes compared to roller derby. In long-track, skaters move in lanes, and there is less risk of injury; athletes wear an aerodynamic hood. Hockey Goalies often customize their masks, but advertising and propaganda is prohibited on Olympic equipment. Text from the United States Constitution had to be removed from the mask of the American goalie Jessie Vetter in order to comply with I.O.C. rules. Snowboarding At the womens slopestyle final in Sochi, the Czech snowboarder Sarka Pancochova crashed so violently that her helmet split apart. She was not seriously injured. Bobsled The driver wears a visor, but the other sledders often remove it theres no need to see with your head tucked down. Boots Bobsled The sprint at the start determines the speed of the sled. (Former track and field stars often make good pushers.) Spikes on the toes give traction on the ice. Biathlon Only the toe of the boot attaches to the ski. The free heel allows athletes to take full strides across the snow. Luge Sliders lead with their feet. The streamlined shape forces the toes into proper position. AP Photo/David Longstreath Booties Make the Man At the 1998 Nagano Games, the United States and Canadian teams lodged a complaint against Georg Hackl, a German luger known as the speeding weisswurst (white sausage). Hackl, the favorite and winner of two previous gold medals, was wearing a pair of new aerodynamic boots designed to improve his time. Officials rejected the teams protest, and Hackl won a third gold. Curling Curlers glide behind the stones they send across the ice. The bottom of one shoe is covered with teflon to help them slide. Figure Skating Athletes have been undone by even the simplest technology. At the 1994 Olympics, Tonya Harding interrupted her free skate program in order to fix a shoelace. She was granted a reskate, but placed eighth. Hockey The padding inside a hockey boot may take a long time to break in. To speed up the process, new skates are baked in an oven and the warm boot is molded to the players foot. Short-Track Speedskating Skaters lean deeply into their turns. The skates blades are set off from the center of the sole in order to compensate for the angle of the body. Long-Track Speedskating Long-track racers use a clap skate. The mechanism allows athletes to push through the toe, gaining more leverage from each stride. Ski Jumping A jumpers body is nearly horizontal in midflight. Boots are flexible in front to allow for a big lean forward. The high back helps the jumper stick the difficult landing. Snowboarding Hard boots help racers maintain control while carving down a slope. Snowboarding Softer boots, with a flexible ankle, allow freestylers to grab the board. Boards AlpineStiffer and narrower than the halfpipe board built like a ski for speed. HalfpipeUnlike an alpine board, this board moves both forward and backward. SlopestyleAthletes slide down skate-park-style rails. A flexible board helps with balance. The Snurfer In 1966, Sherman Poppen filed a patent for a device that combined popular features of seashore surfing, skate boarding, and slalom water skiing into a new winter sport. The Snurfer was born. The early surf-type snow ski was essentially a childs toy a sled designed for standing. Foot treads and a long tether at the front helped the rider keep balance. Skis Stiff skis with straight edges facilitate speed good for jumpers. Flexible, curved skis are better for turns. The light, narrow blades of cross-country skis allow racers to glide over the snow. Ski Jumping Super-G Giant Slalom Freestyle Aerial Freestyle Mogul Cross-Country Sticks In cross-country events, skiers propel themselves forward with long, straight poles. In super-G, the poles curve to wrap around a skiers tucked body. In slalom, shorter poles are used to initiate turns. Biathlon Cross-Country Super-G Giant Slalom Slalom Curling Sweepers vigorously brush the ice in an attempt to modify the stones curl its distance and trajectory. International Olympic Committee Out of the Kitchen At the first Winter Olympics, in 1924, many of the sweepers used corn brooms, similar to ordinary household brooms. Gloves Short-Track Speedskating As skaters turn, their fingers touch down for balance. Bulbous tips, added to the glove, help the hand glide smoothly. Curling Stopwatches are used to gauge the stones speed. As the match progresses, the time also helps indicate the changing condition of the ice. Hockey A blocker helps the goalie deflect the puck. Luge Athletes use their fingers to launch themselves into a run. The spikes help grip the ice. Accessories Short-Track Speedskating The razor-sharp blades of a skate can cause serious injury. Athletes protect themselves with full-body, cut-resistant suits. Figure Skating At the first Winter Games, in 1924, modest, calf-length skirts were not uncommon. Shorter hemlines have freed skaters to execute more complex moves. AP Photo But Not Too Short At Calgary in 1988, Katarina Witts high-cut costume became cause for complaint. (A rival coach compared it to a G-string.) Witt won the gold, but a dress code the so-called Katarina rule was established for subsequent Olympics. Ski Jumping The size of the suit is regulated; a baggier suit would help the jumper stay aloft longer. Hockey A goalies protection may reflect his or her style of play. Stiffer pads send the puck farther away on rebound. Softer pads absorb the impact, keeping the puck closer to the goalie for better control. Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images The Butterfly Hockey great Vladislav Tretiak was a pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending. Rather than standing up straight, he used his knees to create a horizontal wall of coverage. Tretiak, who led the Soviet team to gold in 1972, 76 and 84, was chosen to help light the caldron at the opening ceremonies in Sochi. Slalom Skiers often hit the gates with their shins as they seek the optimal line down the slope. Curling Most of the curling stones in the world are quarried from a single source: Ailsa Craig, in Scotland. The rare form of granite found on the island is water-resistant and does not crack or pit easily. Some stones last decades. Biathlon Biathletes bring ammunition specially designed to remain accurate in cold weather. The wind alone may blow bullets off course. Vehicles Skeleton This sled has no brakes. Sliders steer with their knees, shoulders and feet alone. Luge The temperature of the runners is measured before a race. In 1968, the defending gold medalist was disqualified when it was found that her runners had been heated to increase her speed. Bobsled Like skeleton, bobsled is a gravity sport: the heavier the sled, the faster the team. To keep competition fair, a maximum weight is set for the sled plus its riders. Lighter teams add metal plates in order to compensate. Bobsled, unlike luge or skeleton, was among the original events contested at Chamonix in 1924. 1924Chamonix, France 1932Lake Placid, N.Y. 1948St. Moritz, Switzerland 1956Cortina dAmpezzo, Italy 1976Innsbruck, Austria 1994Lillehammer, Norway Getty Images (1924); AP Photo More on NYTimes.com

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Health|Recent studies underscore the dangers of pregnancy complications for unvaccinated women with Covid.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/health/new-studies-underscore-the-dangers-of-pregnancy-complications-for-unvaccinated-women-with-covid.htmlCredit...Sergio Flores for The New York TimesPublished Feb. 11, 2022Updated Feb. 12, 2022Two new reports lay out the added difficulties that unvaccinated women with Covid have during pregnancy and childbirth, adding to research showing that they face elevated risks.One study, published Thursday in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, suggests that the coronavirus can invade and destroy the placenta, through which the mother passes nutrients to the fetus.The other, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that pregnant women infected with the coronavirus are about 40 percent more likely to develop serious complications or die during pregnancy than those who arent infected.The study of the effects of the virus on the placenta found that infection may deprive the fetus of oxygen in unvaccinated pregnant women, leading to a higher risk of delivering stillborn babies. While other infections can cause stillbirth by passing through the placenta and damaging the fetus, Covid-19 takes a different, dangerous tack.It causes extensive damage to the placenta, and stillbirth occurs from lack of oxygen, said Dr. David Schwartz, a perinatal pathologist in Atlanta and the lead author of the study. The placental destruction is so severe that whether or not the fetus becomes infected might be irrelevant.Dr. Schwartzs research team analyzed 64 stillbirth cases and four neonatal deaths in 12 countries. All the pregnant mothers were unvaccinated, and all were thought to have been infected with the Delta variant. In the 68 cases, an average of 77 percent of the placenta had been destroyed.Although stillbirths attributed to Covid-19 are uncommon overall, about 24,000 babies are stillborn in the United States each year a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released in November found that pregnant women who had Covid-19 when they delivered their babies were almost twice as likely to have a stillbirth as healthy women who did not have Covid.The new study about complications for mothers found that the severity of their Covid symptoms was the key factor in their heightened risk. The most severely ill women were three times more likely to develop pregnancy complications than those who tested negative or had milder symptoms.The researchers analyzed electronic medical records of about 14,000 pregnant women between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, before vaccines were widely available. Of those, about 2,350 tested positive during pregnancy or within six weeks of delivery.The study also pointed to increased danger for newborns: Covid-19 was significantly associated with premature birth and admission to newborn intensive care units.We know from other studies that vaccination prevents the most severe symptoms of the disease, said Dr. Torri D. Metz, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Utah Health, who led the study. So, this is just another piece of the puzzle that should encourage pregnant people to get vaccinated.The new studies add to research showing the danger of Covid-19 to pregnant women and their babies. The C.D.C. has strongly encouraged vaccination for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning to become pregnant. But vaccination rates are low among pregnant women, even though early research has found no evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines pose serious risks during pregnancy.

Health

Media|Apple Gains Exclusive Streaming Deal With Taylor Swifthttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/14/business/media/apple-gains-exclusive-streaming-deal-with-taylor-swift.htmlCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesDec. 13, 2015Apple has won an exclusive streaming deal with Taylor Swift to show a concert film from her world tour.On Sunday, Apple and Ms. Swift announced that subscribers of the companys new streaming service, Apple Music, would have access to a film directed by Jonas Akerlund that was taped two weeks ago at Ms. Swifts show at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia. The film, which will become available next Sunday, includes backstage scenes as well as those of the many musical guests she brought onstage throughout the tour.Ms. Swifts tour for her latest album, 1989, finished its worldwide run on Saturday. It had more than $240 million in gross ticket sales, according to Pollstar, a trade publication that tracks concert data.The deal deepens the ties between Apple and Ms. Swift, who in June wrote a blog post criticizing the company over its plan not to pay music royalties during free trials of Apple Music. Within hours of her post, Apple reversed course on the royalties, and later Apple Music became the only streaming outlet to offer 1989.On Monday, Beats 1, Apples Internet radio station, will also broadcast an interview with Ms. Swift conducted by Zane Lowe, the influential BBC D.J. who joined Apple this year to lead the station.Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it follows other arrangements that Apple has struck with star musicians to publicize Apple Music and produce programming for its service. The rapper Drake and the producer Pharrell Williams have been involved with Apple Music since its introduction in June, and last month Apple introduced a television commercial featuring the country singer Kenny Chesney.Ever the skilled promoter, Ms. Swift announced the deal on Sunday, her 26th birthday, on her Twitter account. Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes, she wrote. I have a little surprise for you.

Business

Dec. 6, 2015The Treasurys schedule of financing this week includes Mondays regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.22 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.48 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.18 percent.The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week: MONDAYKing County, Wash., $175.7 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.TUESDAYChandler, Ariz., $70 million of revenue bonds. Competitive.Hempstead, N.Y., $67.1 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. Las Vegas, $164.4 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.New York State Urban Development Corporation, $1.14 billion of revenue bonds. Competitive. Newport News, Va., $53.4 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.Puyallup School District, Wash., $70.5 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. WEDNESDAYClemson University, S.C., $191 million of higher education revenue bonds. Competitive. ONE DAY DURING THE WEEKBrighton School District, Colo., $160 million of general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Clayton, N.M., $57.3 million of jail project improvement and refinancing revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Columbus, Ohio, $155 million of sewerage system revenue refinancing bonds. Bank of America.Cuyahoga County, Ohio, $60.5 million of excise tax revenue bonds. KeyBanc Capital Markets.Fulton County, Ga., Development Authority, $51.5 million of arts center project revenue bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, $200 million of bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.Hartnell Community College District, Calif., $88.9 million of general obligation refinancing bonds. Morgan Stanley.Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, $340 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Indiana Municipal Power Agency, $385 million of power supply system revenue bonds. Citigroup Global Markets. Kaweah Delta Health Care District, Calif., $97 million of debt securities. Wells Fargo Securities.Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority, $106.1 million of refinancing revenue bonds. Jefferies.Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, $197 million of debt securities. Raymond James.New Haven, $53.8 million of general obligation refinancing bonds. Piper Jaffray.New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority, $266.7 million of revenue and refunding bonds. Morgan Stanley.New York City Housing Development Corporation, $180.7 million of multifamily housing revenue bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities.New York City Housing Development Corporation, $197.3 million of multifamily housing revenue bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.New York State Housing Finance Agency, $145 million of affordable housing revenue bonds. Citigroup Global Markets.Northwest Local School District, Ohio, $66.8 million of school improvement general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Park Creek, Colo., Metropolitan District, $252.7 million of revenue refinancing bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Phoenix Industrial Development Authority, $84.7 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Shreveport, La., $120 million of water and sewer system revenue and refinancing bonds. Siebert Brandford Shank.Water Replenishment District of Southern California, $160 million of debt securities. Wells Fargo Securities.Southwestern Illinois Development Authority, $50.8 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Union County, N.C., $50 million of general obligation bonds. PNC Capital Markets.Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority, $91.2 million of grant anticipation revenue bonds. Jefferies.

Business

VideoA distribution deal with Walgreens appeared to be part of J. Michael Pearsons strategy to try to reassure investors that the drug maker was able to replace its reliance on a mail-order pharmacy .CreditCredit...CNBCDec. 15, 2015Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has agreed to distribute many of its drugs through Walgreens stores in a new way and, in some cases, for lower prices, the companies announced on Tuesday.The agreement appeared to be part of Valeants strategy to replace its reliance on Philidor Rx Services. Philidor, a mail-order pharmacy, had played a big role in keeping insurers and corner drugstores from substituting less expensive alternatives for Valeants high-priced dermatology drugs.Valeant severed ties with Philidor in October after questions were raised about its practices and about why Valeant had hidden its relationship with that pharmacy, which it had an option to buy. Philidor, which is shutting down, accounted for about 7 percent of the companys revenue.Valeant announced the new deal the day before a scheduled big meeting with investors to outline its business prospects.Investors, who were worried about how Valeant would fill the gap in sales created by the closing of Philidor, reacted positively to the news about the Walgreens deal. Valeant shares closed up more than 16 percent, to almost $110.We believe this bolsters managements credibility, as investors had expressed skepticism that Valeant would be able to replace Philidor, especially this quickly, Shibani Malhotra, an analyst at Nomura Securities, wrote in a note.The shares of once-highflying Valeant have plummeted from a high above $260 a share in early August, because of concerns about Philidor and because of growing criticism of Valeants practice of buying the rights to old drugs and then immediately raising their prices significantly. It and some other drug companies have come under the scrutiny of Congress and federal prosecutors for some of their pricing practices and have stoked public outrage about the high cost of certain drugs.As part of its announcement on Tuesday, Valeant said it would reduce the wholesale list prices of its brand-name prescription drugs for dermatology and ophthalmology by 10 percent over the next six to nine months. This includes drugs like Jublia for toenail fungus and Solodyn for acne. That price reduction appears to apply across the board, not just to drugs dispensed through Walgreens.We have listened to what the marketplace is saying and weve taken positive steps to respond, J. Michael Pearson, Valeants chief executive, said in a statement. Our goal is to create a system that allows prescription medications to be dispensed and insurance claims adjudicated in an efficient manner while allowing physicians to focus their efforts on what matters most: patient care.ImageCredit...Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesPatients could already get prescriptions for Valeants drugs filled at Walgreens. But Walgreens, as is common practice, would buy the drugs from wholesalers and have responsibility for the inventory it owned.Under the new arrangement, which is supposed to last for 20 years, Valeant will ship drugs directly to Walgreens, which will dispense them but never take ownership of them. Walgreens will be paid dispensing and distribution fees for this, according to a Valeant executive.With Valeant retaining ownership of the drugs, it will have better control over prices when drugs are dispensed at Walgreens. It said that it would sell 30 of its brand-name drugs that have generic competition at the prices of the generics. Included is the diabetes drug Glumetza. Valeant acquired the rights to that drug this year and quickly raised its price by about 800 percent.Valeant will also be able to offer discounted prices to patients who pay cash at Walgreens. At other drugstores, patients who pay cash have to pay what the drugstore charges. Valeant said it would also be in a better position to offer co-payment assistance to commercially insured patients.Valeant said it would offer the same distribution model to some independent pharmacies. But it apparently will not be available to other big pharmacy chains.The company estimated the discounts announced on Tuesday would save the health care system up to $600 million a year.Because Valeants drugs, particularly for dermatology, often have generic or other less expensive alternatives, insurers often will not pay for them and drugstore pharmacists will sometimes try to substitute a generic.So Valeant urged dermatologists to transmit their prescriptions to Philidor, rather than send their patients to the corner drugstore. Philidor would mail out the prescription, making sure not to substitute a generic. It would also handle negotiations with the insurance company, relieving doctors of the paperwork they might otherwise face by prescribing an expensive brand-name drug.Now Valeant is apparently counting on Walgreens and the independent pharmacies that join its new program to fulfill orders with Valeant products.But insurers and pharmacy benefit managers would still have a say in what drugs they will pay for, and it is not clear how much Walgreens will take on the burden of trying to win reimbursement. Valeant is hoping the lower prices will make that task easier.Adam J. Fein, who publishes the Drug Channels blog, said the deal gave Valeant a credible pharmacy partner and would also help Walgreens by drawing traffic to its stores.Dr. Fein, who is president of Pembroke Consulting, said the deal would also help Walgreens Boots Alliance win government support for its bid to buy a rival chain, Rite-Aid. This is a way to demonstrate they can use their size and scale to drive prices lower, he said.

Business

Meek Mill Scores Legal Win ... We'll Know if Judge Was Biased 1/26/2018 Meek Mill might have gotten a spectacular break, because a judge has just ordered the release of documents that could prove the trial judge in his probation violation case was biased. As we reported, Meek and his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, say Judge Genece Brinkley asked Meek in chambers to fire Roc Nation and hire Charlie Mack, whom Meek claims was a friend of hers. Meek says his refusal to change pissed her off. For the record, Mack has told TMZ he doesn't know the judge. Tacopina says the hearing in chambers was on the record and it will show inappropriate judicial conduct by Judge Brinkley asking Meek to change managers. Tacopina tells TMZ, later the same day at that hearing, the judge called Meek and Nicki Minaj into her chambers without anyone else present and asked Meek to redo the Boyz II Men song, "On Bended Knee," and requested that he re-record the song and give her a shout-out in the lyrics. As we reported, Meek believes the judge is a failed actress who had it out for him when he refused. The transcript of the hearing could prove Meek's point and it could trigger his release if the probation violation hearing was tainted. Meek's serving 2 to 4 years for the probation violation.

Entertainment

Olympics|Indian Olympic Association Is Reinstatedhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/sports/olympics/indian-olympic-association-is-reinstated.htmlFeb. 11, 2014SOCHI, Russia The International Olympic Committee has reinstated the Indian Olympic Association, officials said Tuesday, the first time a countrys governing body has been reinstated during a Games.The Indian committee was suspended in 2012 for what the I.O.C. said were chronic violations of the Olympic Charter and internal corruption.Robin Mitchell, a member of the I.O.C., reviewed changes undertaken by the Indian delegation since its suspension and the elections that took place on Feb. 9, Mark Adams, a spokesman for the I.O.C., said Tuesday.The I.O.C. was happy with the changes, Adams said. Everything was as correct as it should beAmong the changes the Indian officials made is barring candidates with criminal records. (An Indian secretary general spent more than 10 months in jail for corruption related to the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games.)In December 2012, the I.O.C. suspended the Indian association because of its failure to comply with the Olympic Charter and its statutes, failure to inform the I.O.C. in a timely matter, and as a protective measure against government interference in the I.O.A.'s election process.The reinstatement of the Indian Olympic Association will call for a change in flags. Three Indian athletes competing in Sochi Shiva Keshavan, a luger; Himanshu Thakur, an Alpine skier; and Nadeem Iqbal, a cross-country skier marched into the Olympic Stadium on Friday behind the Olympic flag.With the reinstatement of their committee, they will walk behind the Indian flag at the closing ceremony.

Sports

DealBook|Junk Bond Fund That Barred Investors Reaches S.E.C. Dealhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/business/dealbook/junk-bond-fund-that-barred-investor-redemptions-reaches-deal-with-sec.htmlCredit...Fred R.Conrad/The New York TimesDec. 16, 2015Third Avenue Management reached an agreement with its regulator on Wednesday over its abrupt move last week to bar investors in a stricken bond fund from taking their money out.The deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission makes official the decision that Third Avenue made last Thursday to close the door on what had become a panicked run by investors on its high-yield credit fund.The funds portfolio is made up of hard-to-sell corporate bonds either in bankruptcy or emerging from it, making it impossible for portfolio managers to meet mounting redemption demands.As a result of the agreement, the remaining assets of the Focused Credit Fund will be transferred from a liquidating trust back into the original mutual fund structure. This will allow remaining investors to track the funds value on a daily basis via its ticker, TFCVX.But the move is not expected to hasten the return of investor assets, which company officials said could take a year or more.A spokeswoman for the S.E.C. said that the agency required the fund to put in place investor and market protections, including ongoing commission oversight and provisions involving an orderly and fair process as a condition of its approval of the order.Third Avenues general counsel, W. James Hall, said that he did not think there would be any additional delay in investors in the fund getting repaid.The after-the-fact agreement between the S.E.C. and Third Avenue underscores how fast events were moving last week. While the investment firm had been in communication with Washington before the shutdown, Third Avenue felt that it did not have the time to wait for official approval, people briefed on the discussions said.In its filing, Third Avenue said that its credit fund had experienced $1.1 billion in redemptions this year through Dec. 9. That figure was almost one and a half times the funds remaining assets of $788 million on that date.In November alone, the company said, redemptions totaled $317 million quite a sum for a fund where a sizable chunk of its securities do not even trade.By early December, the fund had raised $200 million in cash to meet investor requests, the filing said. The remains of this cash position were being distributed to investors on Wednesday, Third Avenue said.The filing provided additional details explaining Third Avenues unorthodox strategy. The board overseeing the fund, which is led by Third Avenues founder, Martin J. Whitman, had a call with management on Nov. 30 and was informed of the difficulties the fund was having in satisfying sales requests.On Dec. 9, the board unanimously agreed to move the securities into a liquidating trust, to keep sales from pushing bond prices down even further.According to the filing, regulators expressed concerns over the move, no doubt fearful of the precedent that Third Avenue was setting, and the prospect that it could cause runs on other bond funds.While bond funds with similar investment strategies have experienced a fall in their net assets since the Third Avenue closure, there has not been a broader panic. Analysts have noted that Third Avenues credit fund was something of an outlier in that it had a much higher proportion of assets in private equitylike investments, which cannot be readily converted into cash.Moreover, large exchange traded funds in junk bonds have efficiently absorbed record levels of buying and selling, easing investor fears that the junk bond market will seize up.Complaints and queries also came in large numbers from investors. In its filing, Third Avenue said that after moving the securities into a trust, it asked the S.E.C. for so-called exemptive relief, which would allow assets to be returned to the fund but keep investors from removing them.

Business

The president-elect also plans to pursue a follow-on negotiation with Iran over its missile capabilities if Tehran re-enters compliance with the nuclear deal.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York TimesJan. 3, 2021President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s incoming national security adviser said on Sunday that the new administration would move quickly to renew the last remaining major nuclear arms treaty with Russia, even while seeking to make President Vladimir V. Putin pay for what appeared to be the largest-ever hacking of United States government networks.In an interview on GPS on CNN, Jake Sullivan, who at 44 will become the youngest national security adviser in more than a half century, also said that as soon as Iran re-entered compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal which he helped negotiate under President Barack Obama there would be a follow-on negotiation over its missile capabilities.In that broader negotiation, we can ultimately secure limits on Irans ballistic missile technology, Mr. Sullivan said, and that is what we intend to try to pursue through diplomacy.He did not mention that missiles were not covered in the previous accord because the Iranians refused to commit to any limitations on their development or testing. To bridge the impasse, the United Nations passed a weakly worded resolution that called on Tehran to show restraint; the Iranians say it is not binding, and they have ignored it.Taken together, Mr. Sullivans two statements indicated how quickly the new administration would be immersed in two complex arms control issues, even as Mr. Biden seeks to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the economic shocks it has caused. But the first issue to arise, renewing the New Start, will be made more complex because of Mr. Bidens vow to assure that Moscow pays for the hacking of more than 250 American government and private networks, an intrusion that now appears far more extensive than first thought.Mr. Biden has said that after the government formally determines who was responsible for the attack, we will respond, and probably respond in kind. But that means moving to punish Russia while keeping New Start a remnant of the era when nuclear rather than cyber was the dominant issue between the two countries from lapsing and setting off a new arms race.Mr. Sullivan cited arms control as one of the few areas where Moscow and the new administration could cooperate. Extending the treaty, which would not require Senate action, would be the first test of whether that cooperation is possible.President Trump, who withdrew from several other treaties with Russia over the past four years, had initially insisted that China also join the bilateral agreement, or the United States would not renew it when it expires on Feb. 5. He later backed away from that demand. But in the weeks before the election, negotiations over extending the agreement lost momentum, either because of new American demands or because the Russians concluded that Mr. Trump was likely to lose.We will have to look at extending that treaty in the interest of the United States, Mr. Sullivan said.So far, there have been no discussions between Mr. Bidens representatives and the Russians about the treaty, transition officials said, because of what Mr. Sullivan referred to as the tradition of one president at a time.Conversations four years ago between the Russian ambassador to the United States and Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trumps first national security adviser, led to the initial investigations of the administrations dealings with Russia. Mr. Bidens team said it was scrupulously avoiding contact with foreigners on any issue of significance until the afternoon of Jan. 20.The idea of moving forward with a separate agreement with Iran on missiles is not new, but Mr. Trump made no effort to negotiate any limits after pulling the United States out of the nuclear accord in mid-2018.Mr. Sullivan and Daniel Benaim, who was a Middle East adviser to Mr. Biden when he was vice president, argued in a Foreign Affairs article in May that the United States should, under a new president, immediately re-establish nuclear diplomacy with Iran and salvage what it can from the 2015 nuclear deal, and then work with allies and Iran to negotiate a follow-on agreement. At the same time, the United States would support what they called a regional track of negotiations that would include Saudi Arabia, Irans chief rival in the region, and one of the main targets of its missile program.Any effort to resuscitate the Iran deal will undoubtedly open a new breach with Republicans, who have already argued that Mr. Biden was tied to a flawed nuclear accord. But the deal was never a treaty it was an executive agreement, which Mr. Trump abandoned by declaration and its restoration could also be done by executive order.The key question is whether the Iranians are willing to go back to the old deal. It was widely unpopular in the country, where many believed that the United States never intended to allow Tehran to enjoy its economic benefits. And Iran is about to plunge into a presidential election of its own, in which a hard-line Air Force officer from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is one of the leading candidates. Re-entering the limits of the existing deal, without extracting some kind of reparations from the United States for Mr. Trumps decision to reimpose sanctions, may be politically impossible before the election.When pressed by his interviewer, Fareed Zakaria, on why the 2015 deal did not bring about an easing of tensions and new cooperation with Iran, Mr. Sullivan rejected the idea that the Obama administration had expectations beyond limiting the nuclear program.Its not like we went into this thinking, hey, well get the nuclear issue plus, well just assume Iran changes its behavior overnight, he said. We did believe that if you had the Iranian nuclear program in a box, you could then begin to chip away at some of these other issues.But it was Mr. Obamas bet, in 2015, that if the nuclear issue was off the table and Iran had new leadership Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the countrys supreme leader, is 81 a broader accord could be reached. Obviously, that did not come to pass, Mr. Sullivan said.

Politics

Credit...Amir Cohen/ReutersNov. 13, 2018An eruption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas militants, once again, raised the specter of war in the Gaza Strip in recent days.But by sundown Tuesday, Israel and Hamas the Islamic militant group that controls the impoverished enclave signaled a willingness to end clashes in a deal brokered by international parties. The tensions threatened a tenuous dtente in the slow-burning conflict.While the deal allowed a fragile calm to take hold, the violence was the worst since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. And it raised questions about how the two sides got here again and what the implications might be for any potential peace process. Here are some key things to know about the conflict. Why did tensions rise?The latest clashes started after a botched intelligence mission by undercover Israeli commandos over the weekend. The covert operation ended in a firefight that left one Israeli soldier and seven Palestinian fighters dead. Hamas and other armed groups responded with force, launching rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel. One Palestinian civilian was killed inside Israel on Monday and Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and Tuesday.Since March, tensions have run high as large-scale Palestinian protests against Israel at the Gaza border fence erupted into violence. At least 170 Palestinians were killed over the months of clashes, mostly as Israel fired live bullets at protesters who approached, or tried to damage or breach, the border fence. Palestinian demonstrators torched Israeli farmland. But in the months since the border clashes, multilateral talks aimed at resolving the standoff have eased the tension. Days before the latest clashes, Israel had shifted its tactics, alleviating a blockade of Gaza and allowing aid, food and cash to flow into Gaza. A narrow strip of land five miles wide and 25 miles long, Gaza is home to nearly two million Palestinians who live largely cut off from the world behind a border fence strictly controlled by Israel and Egypt.How did Gaza get here?Gazas borders were drawn up as part of the 1949 armistice agreement between Egypt and Israel that halted a conflict over the creation of the state of Israel a year earlier. Egypt occupied Gaza until the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, when Israel seized the territory, sent in troops and established Jewish settlements. In 1994, after the Oslo Accords which aimed to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the first Gaza-Israel fence went up. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, removing its soldiers and vacating settlements. But it maintained tight control over the border. The border fence, which critics say virtually turns Gaza into an open-air prison, has been a source of friction ever since. So have the blockades imposed by both Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized power 11 years ago. Conditions for Palestinians living in the territory have steadily worsened. The area is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled there after Israels founding. The 2014 Israel-Hamas war ravaged the territory further and left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead. The humanitarian situation was already disastrous, said Christopher Gunness, the chief spokesman for Unrwa, the United Nations agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees. Theres more than a decade of an illegal blockade. Its collective punishment.For those living in Gaza, the threat of war and isolation are near constants. War between Hamas and Israel has broken out three times since 2008.How could this impact a potential bid for long-term peace?ImageCredit...Mohammed Saber/EPA, via ShutterstockIn the current climate, a solution that leads to broader Israeli-Palestinian peace appears to be out of reach, experts say. Long-term, internationally supported peace negotiations have been stalled since 2014, said David Makovsky, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Youve had kind of an utter impasse, Mr. Makovsky said, describing any attempt at peace as a multilayer chess game that would have to involve the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas. A Trump administration plan for peace, which the White House has pledged repeatedly to release, is believed to rely heavily on Mr. Abbas. He is the political leader of the second Palestinian territory, the West Bank, and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the main representative of the Palestinian people. He is seen as an important participant in peace in the region. After Hamas won election in 2006 and seized control of Gaza a year later, the two Palestinian territories have operated under different administrations. Any attempts at reconciliation so far, seen by many as a prerequisite for any comprehensive peace, have failed.Somehow, Gaza would have to become part of that Palestinian Authority orbit. But right now, they are completely two different systems, Mr. Makovsky said. Meanwhile, monthslong multilateral talks aimed at calming the more immediate issue have had some short-term success. There were good efforts here to have what I would call calm for calm, where the Palestinians would get more electricity and more fuel and in return, the protests that are going on at the Gaza fence would abate, at least somewhat, Mr. Makovsky said. With what happened in the past 48 hours, it all seems to be up in smoke now.Could this lead to another war?Leaders on both sides have indicated they are ready for the latest flare-up to end. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he was doing everything he could in order to avoid an unnecessary war.Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas, said Tuesday that if Israel stops its aggression, it would be possible to return to the cease-fire understanding of before. The parties involved in brokering the latest truce were Egypt, the United Nations Middle East peace envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, and diplomats from Qatar and Norway. Some say the willingness of Israel to allow aid into Gaza recently could indicate a new effort to resolve the conflict peacefully.The Israeli security establishment is kind of an interesting player here because they have fought three wars with Hamas and Gaza, Mr. Makovsky said. Their view is they are not looking for a fourth one.Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.

World

Al Michaels Patriots Can Win Without Brady 1/20/2018 TMZSports.com Al Michaels thinks the Pats have what it takes to beat the Jags and make it to another Super Bowl ... with or without their legendary quarterback. We got one of the voices of 'Sunday Night Football' at Madeo Restaurant in Weho Friday night, and talked shop about some NFL matters. Al suggests it's no sure thing Tom Brady plays Sunday due to his hand injury, but even if he's out New England can prevail ... because there's no 'Tom' in 'team.' Michaels also chats with us about Brady's former backup, Jimmy Garoppolo, and says he'll be happy for whoever replaces Jon Gruden in the booth for 'MNF' ... as long as it's not his 'SNF' partner.

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Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 18, 2018TIJUANA, Mexico After more than a month on the move, a caravan of migrants from Central America has come to a halt just a few yards from the border wall that divides Mexico and the United States.The metal barrier looms near the sports center where Tijuanas city government has set up a shelter for the migrants, whose numbers are swelling as buses arrive almost daily. On the other side beyond floodlights, motion sensors, cameras and a second fence lies their goal: the United States.But it is dawning on many of them that the shelter could be their home for months if they decide to seek legal entry into the United States.We have to wait for how long? asked Lenin Herrera Batres, 20, who joined the caravan with his wife and their 2-year-old son to escape threats after the couple witnessed a murder in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesWe dont have the money to stay here for one month, two months, he said, his voice trailing off.Less than a week old, the shelter has assumed the squalor of an overwhelmed refugee camp, and the rhythms of enforced idleness have taken hold. One group spends hours watching karaoke singers at an end of the basketball courts there, while men bet on cards at the other. Children dart around a playground. Women fold donated blankets in the reflexive gestures of tidying up at home, now just a tiny patch under a large tent.City officials, who fear that as many as 10,000 migrants from this caravan and two more behind it may ultimately alight in Tijuana in the coming weeks, are scrambling to provide for them.I sleep only three hours a night, and when I close my eyes I count migrants, not sheep, said Csar Palencia Chvez, the director of migrant services for Tijuana. No city can be prepared for the arrival of 5,000 people over three to four days. We are doing whats humanely possible.The number of migrants at the shelter swelled to almost 2,500 this weekend, with room for only 1,000 more.But an estimated 3,400 are waiting in Mexicali, a border city two and half hours to the east, and most of those are expected to reach Tijuana on Monday, said Maggie Nez, who was working with Pueblo sin Fronteras, an advocacy group that is assisting the caravan.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesTijuanas mayor, Juan Manuel Gastlum, has estimated that if all of the Central American migrants traveling north come to the city and seek asylum in the United States, it could take six months for their claims to be heard at the main port of entry to San Diego.They must take their turn behind about 3,000 others from Mexico, nations across Central and South America, and even West Africa who are waiting for an interview with a United States asylum officer. The delay may last as long as two months.New rules issued by the Trump administration this month are designed to funnel asylum seekers to an official port of entry rather than allowing them to present themselves to the Border Patrol if they make it across the border illegally.As the bottleneck in Tijuana has grown, it has threatened to try the patience of a city that is itself the creation of migrants and typically provides for them through church-run shelters.Some Mexicans ask why Central Americans are receiving special treatment, when the government offers no help for Mexicans fleeing violence in other states or for those deported from the United States.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesThere are so many undocumented people who do not have Mexicos help, said Rosa Guadalupe Martnez, 61, an optometric technician, who on Sunday joined a protest march of several dozen people waving Mexican flags. Others were openly hostile, alleging that some of the Central Americans would turn to crime.It is impossible to square the listless mood of the shelter with what President Trump railed against as a caravan invasion before this months midterm elections.By banding together, the migrants sought protection against the criminal gangs and corrupt officials who prey on people trying to reach the United States border. But they had little sense of the political firestorm their trek had set off.Many of the migrants repeat the magical thinking that has sustained them through their journey and brought them right up to the edge of the border: a belief that once all of the caravan has reached Tijuana, the gates may by flung open.God wants Trumps heart to be touched, said Francisco Naum, 27, who was traveling from Honduras with relatives. If God gave us the possibility to get all the way here, he will continue to open doors.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesOthers have begun to deal in practicalities, walking a mile from the shelter to enter their names on a waiting list for an asylum interview. Some clustered around volunteer American lawyers who arrived at the shelter to explain the basics of asylum law.People dont flee their country and go through the arduous trip on foot unless the situation is desperate, said Gilbert Saucedo, a Los Angeles lawyer who helped organize the volunteers through the National Lawyers Guild.I have talked to maybe 100 people today, he said on Saturday, and maybe 70 percent had credible cases on the surface. Yet many lack the documents they need to provide evidence.The migrants often reveal little emotion when recounting the violence they have fled, as if admitting grief could lead to a despair that would paralyze them at the very moment they need to keep pressing ahead.They killed my whole family, my father, my mother and my two brothers, said Jose Miguel Martnez, a rail-thin 18-year-old from El Salvador. He said he had been spared because he was in the military at the time but never received a police report or death certificate.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesOrbelina Melndez, 36, watched as her husband was shot in front of her in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, and then received death threats. She has no police report. When you are poor, they do not investigate and it remains unpunished, she said.Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture, who has flown to Mexico to meet with caravan members, called the situation a refugee crisis.These individuals are not here by choice, he said. In fact, they believe they have no choice.Melissa Guzmn, 33, from Honduras, was one of those who turned up early Saturday to put her name on the interview waiting list. She had joined the caravan with her daughter, Laura, 6, and son, Mynor, 11. Whatever the decision, she said, she wasnt going back to Honduras.As she walked back to the shelter with her cousin Yeni Palma, 37, and Ms. Palmas 13-year-old daughter, Yesselin, Ms. Guzmn seemed to perk up at their surroundings. Vendors were setting up a street market, and the women gazed at the secondhand appliances.Ms. Palma has begun to consider staying in Tijuana if she cant reach the United States. Pressing her hand down on a bed at the street market to test the springs, she said, Its been a long time.Yet some of the migrants insisted that they will get to the United States, come what may.Jos Adan Nez, 24, was ready to take his chances to get across the border. After only a few days in the shelter, he declared, If I die on the way, at least I will have fought for something.

World

Fiona the Hippo It's My 1st Bday!!! Pass the 600-Pound Cake 1/24/2018 She was a long shot to make it this far, but Fiona the hippo turned 1 year old Wednesday ... and the Cincinnati Zoo is having a phat fat celebration! You'll recall, Fiona was born 6 weeks premature and weighed a mere 29 pounds -- a record for any hippo born in captivity. The good news is she's a very healthy 600 pounds one year later. Naturally, Fi got a cake for her bday. No ice cream cake though ... strictly fruits and veggies, but she's a herbivore so it's cool. She's so damn cute, we'd almost forget the whole thing about hippos being seriously deadly animals. Almost. Happy bday, Fiona! Don't eat us.

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Nov. 7, 2018LIMA, Peru Police arrested 14 people in Peru and took a five-month-old baby into protective custody, dismantling a human trafficking ring suspected of selling children taken from vulnerable women.The arrests were the result of an early morning raid on Tuesday that targeted a group dedicated to the sale of minors and abortions, the Public Ministry of Peru said. Hundreds of police officers raided 18 homes and businesses in the city of Arequipa as part of the operation.Prosecutors had been investigating the organization since May and dubbed it the Heartless Human Traffickers.One of the men arrested in the raid is the former head of the national police service, General Ral Becerra Velarde, according to the public prosecutor. Mr. Becerra ran the police force from 2010 to 2011 before retiring.Mr. Becerras girlfriend, Cintia Tello Preciado, was also arrested. Local news reports said she was suspected as the mastermind of a plot to buy and sell children.A pediatrician and a gynecologist were also among those arrested. The baby who was taken into protective custody during the raids was found in unsanitary conditions and is currently under the care of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations.Rosmery Mendoza Palomino, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said the group paid vulnerable pregnant women to give up their babies, who would later be sold for a profit. Officials also seized a large number of documents, nearly $30,000 in cash, two vehicles and cellphones from the group.Investigators said it is still unclear how many children may have been trafficked, who the group intended to sell them to and why.Local news reports said that at least one woman, a field worker who was eight months pregnant but felt she could not afford to raise the child, was visiting Arequipa to get prenatal care when someone involved with the trafficking group offered to pay her for the baby.Abortion is illegal in Peru except in cases when the life of the mother is directly at risk. So that was not an option for this woman and she agreed to hand her child over in exchange for the equivalent of around $1,200, officials said.Jorge Chavez Cotrina, the coordinating prosecutor for the state attorneys office in Lima specializing in organized crime, said the group likely targeted poor women in desperate straits.He said the traffickers went to these places that exist in different cities where they perform abortions and offered to pay women to have the babies and give them up, or approached destitute women who were in the last months of their pregnancy and offered to pay for their expenses in exchange for the child. Prosecutors suspect two other children had been recently sold.He also said that the biological parents of the baby taken into custody have been detained for selling their daughter.Being in an economic crisis, these women are more easily convinced, Mr. Cotrina said.The arrests came a day before the American Embassy in Lima held an event highlighting a new program in which the United States and Peru would cooperate to provide protections for vulnerable women and children in an effort to prevent them from becoming victims of trafficking.Elvia Barrios Alvarado, a Supreme Court judge, said the countrys judicial system is committed to holding human traffickers accountable and highlighted the disproportionate toll that trafficking takes on women.Its main victims are women, she said. If victims do not find support, if they collide with an adverse judicial decision, the lack of confidence in justice will favor the business of traffickers and impunity to perpetuate this type of crime.Peru has made strides to combat human trafficking, according to a 2018 State Department assessment, but must still improve its record.Complicity of some government officials undermined efforts to combat trafficking, the report said, indicating that the government maintained weak victim protection efforts.

World

The president-elect is turning to trusted former colleagues to manage complex negotiations with Iran and Russia.Credit...Alex Wong/Getty ImagesJan. 5, 2021WASHINGTON President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is turning to more veterans of the Obama-Biden administration to fill senior positions on his national security team, including two former officials who played crucial roles in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, an agreement the Biden administration will seek to restore.Mr. Biden plans to name as deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, a former chief of staff to Secretary of State John Kerry, and to nominate as deputy secretary of state Wendy R. Sherman, who was Mr. Kerrys lead negotiator during the Iran talks.In a clear sign that he intends to take a tough posture against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Biden plans to nominate Victoria Nuland, a retired career diplomat and former top State Department official for Russia affairs under Mr. Kerry, as under secretary of state for political affairs. Ms. Nuland, a fierce critic of Mr. Putin, is despised by the Kremlin, and her confirmation is sure to anger the Russian president as Mr. Biden plans to both firmly confront and seek to find common ground with Moscow.The appointments further illustrate Mr. Bidens desire to surround himself with experienced and trusted former officials with whom he worked closely during the Obama years, even as some Democrats and foreign policy analysts complain that he has yet to infuse his national security team with fresh and more diverse faces bearing unconventional ideas.The upcoming appointments were reported earlier on Tuesday by Politico. People familiar with the transition confirmed the personnel plans, but Biden transition officials say they plan to unveil a fuller national security team soon, one reflecting greater diversity.The picks also underscore the weight that Mr. Biden places on his stated goal of restoring the nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by the Obama administration along with several other major nations. Under the deal, Tehran accepted strict limits on its nuclear program for many years in exchange for sanctions relief. After President Trump withdrew from the deal and placed a growing load of sanctions on Irans economy, Tehran accelerated its program. It is now within a few months of producing enough highly enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb, although assembling a deliverable warhead would take many months longer.In choosing Ms. Sherman as deputy secretary, Mr. Biden is turning to a longtime diplomat and Democratic operative who has deep experience dealing with the Iranians.As under secretary for political affairs during President Barack Obamas second term, Ms. Sherman was the driven, detail-oriented architect of the 2015 Iran deal, and the central figure in negotiating its terms. While she openly acknowledged its shortcomings, including the fact that limits on Iranian production of uranium would be lifted in 2030, she argued that the accord was the best way to forestall Irans drive to a bomb and that Mr. Trumps abandonment of the deal was deeply misguided.ImageCredit...Denis Balibouse/ReutersIf formally nominated, she is likely to be a lightning rod for Republicans, who will argue that she helped route the Iran deal around the Senate by working to make the accord an executive agreement rather than a treaty. If confirmed, she will have the difficult task of putting the deal back together and negotiating a tougher follow-on arrangement that limits Irans missile development.Ms. Sherman, 71, is also deeply familiar with another state sure to consume large amounts of the Biden administrations attention: North Korea.During the Clinton administration, Ms. Sherman was counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, and together they traveled to North Korea to try to strike a missile deal in the last days of the Clinton administration. The effort failed, and Ms. Albright and Ms. Sherman were criticized by Republicans when they were pictured attending one of North Koreas mass games with Kim Jong-il, the supreme leader at the time and the father of the current leader, Kim Jong-un.Mr. Finer, 44, also became immersed in Iran during his tenure as chief of staff to Mr. Kerry, who devoted much of his time to the nuclear talks with Iran. Mr. Finer was glued to Mr. Kerrys side for countless hours of meetings with Iranian, European and other officials as they devised ways to contain Tehrans nuclear program.A former Washington Post foreign and national reporter who embedded with U.S. military forces in Iraq before shifting to a career in government, Mr. Finer is known for his intense work ethic and sometimes sharp humor. He joined the Obama White House as a fellow in 2009 and became a speechwriter to Mr. Biden and a senior adviser to Antony J. Blinken, Mr. Bidens pick for secretary of state, when Mr. Blinken was Mr. Obamas deputy national security adviser.While serving as Mr. Kerrys chief of staff, Mr. Finer also held the job of director of policy planning, the State Department post tasked with long-range strategic thought. A Rhodes scholar, Mr. Finer founded a group to assist Iraqi refugees while he was a student at Yale Law School.Ms. Nuland, 59, who retired from the State Department shortly after Mr. Trumps election, would take the job Ms. Sherman held in the Obama years: under secretary for political affairs. A longtime diplomat with deep experience in Europe and Russia who is known as a Russia hawk, she argued vociferously in 2016 that the United States should respond to Russias interference in the presidential election with sanctions directed at Mr. Putin, including revelations of where he allegedly stores his money abroad.The daughter and granddaughter of Russian immigrants, she is a firm believer that the Russian leader understands only tough pushback. I didnt mind attempting a reset with Russia, she said after leaving the State Department, but it had to be a reset with no blinders on.Ms. Nuland has ties in both parties she was once a senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney but became a more public figure in 2014, when Russian agents tapped a phone conversation she was having with the American ambassador in Ukraine at a time of upheaval in Kyiv.They then made audio of the conversation public an early warning sign of what they would do two years later in making public emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. In the audiotapes, Ms. Nuland, who is known for blunt speech, used an epithet about the European Union, which she thought was balking in its role as an election observer. For a while she thought she might be out of a job, until she ran into Mr. Obama at a reception and he uttered the same epithet, in relation to Mr. Putin.Now she will return at a moment when Mr. Biden is vowing to retaliate for Russias hacking of American government and corporate networks a bigger version of the past cyberactivity that she has argued must be met with major responses.Eric Edelman, a former diplomat and senior Pentagon official under President George W. Bush for whom Ms. Nuland has worked, praised her as a superb diplomat and public servant who would help to restore faith in the State Department among Foreign Service officers whose morale has plunged during the Trump era.Mr. Edelman acknowledged that her return to government would not come as welcome news to Mr. Putin, but said that Russian officials respected her deep understanding of their country.The Russians may not like dealing with her, but they know she speaks their language both figuratively and literally, he said.People familiar with the transition said Mr. Biden was also finalizing decisions about other senior National Security Council positions.At the White House, he plans to name Amanda Sloat as the top National Security Council official for European affairs, officials said. Now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, Ms. Sloat served under Mr. Kerry as a deputy assistant secretary for southern Europe and eastern Mediterranean affairs and previously worked at the N.S.C. and in Congress.Mr. Biden is likely to choose Brett McGurk, the Obama administrations envoy for the global coalition against the Islamic State, for a senior N.S.C. job managing the Middle East and North Africa. Kurt M. Campbell, who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, is a leading candidate for a top N.S.C. Asia job.In an appointment likely to please progressives impatient to see more of their own within Mr. Bidens national security team, the N.S.C.s senior director for strategic planning will be Sasha Baker, currently Senator Elizabeth Warrens top foreign policy adviser.Yohannes Abraham, the executive director of the Biden transition and a former top aide to Mr. Obamas senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, will serve as the N.S.C. chief of staff.Mr. Biden has chosen numerous top Obama national security officials for senior posts, including Mr. Blinken; his incoming national security adviser, Jake Sullivan; and Avril D. Haines, his pick to be director of national intelligence.Eric Schmitt and Edward Wong contributed reporting.

Politics

VideoNicolas is 14 and has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is robbing him of his muscles and his life. A new and expensive drug may help, but can he get it?CreditCredit...Margaret Cheatham Williams/The New York TimesJune 22, 2017Nolan and Jack Willis, twins from upstate New York, and just 10 other boys took part in a clinical trial that led to the approval last fall of the very first drug to treat their rare, deadly muscle disease.Now the Willis boys are again test cases as a different type of medical question comes to the fore: whether insurers will cover the controversial drug, Exondys 51, which can cost more than $1 million a year even though its still unclear if it works.The boys insurer, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, refused to cover the cost of the drug because the twins, who are 15, can no longer walk. Their disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, overwhelmingly affects boys and causes muscles to deteriorate, killing many of them by the end of their 20s.Im cycling between rage and just sadness, their mother, Alison Willis Hoke, said recently, on the day she learned that an appeal for coverage had been denied. For now, the company that sells the drug, Sarepta Therapeutics, is covering the treatments costs, but Mrs. Hoke does not know how long that will last.The desperation in Mrs. Hokes voice reflects a sobering reality for families of boys with the disease since their elation last fall over the drugs approval. Because the Food and Drug Administration overruled its own experts who werent convinced the Exondys 51 had shown sufficiently good results and gave the drug conditional approval, many insurers are now declining to cover it or are imposing severe restrictions that render patients ineligible.ImageCredit...George Etheredge for The New York TimesThe story of Exondys 51 raises complex and emotionally charged questions about what happens when the F.D.A. approves an expensive drug based on a lower bar of proof. In practice, health insurers have taken over as gatekeeper in determining who will get the drug.Disputes like the one over the Duchenne drug are likely to become more commonplace in the coming months. A federal law, passed last year, directs the agency to remove barriers to approving drugs and medical devices, and its new commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, has called on the F.D.A. to be more lenient, especially when it comes to rare pediatric diseases.While insurers once covered drugs for rare diseases as a matter of course, that may be changing now that a wave of expensive drugs have reached the market. The pharmaceutical industry has been in hot pursuit of an increasingly enticing demographic target: An estimated 30 million people in the United States about 10 percent of the population are living with one of roughly 7,000 rare diseases.The agencys approval of Exondys 51, though, prompted a rebellion among some insurers, who are refusing to play along and saying they are concerned about the cumulative impact of such breathtakingly expensive drugs on health care costs. Anthem, one of the nations largest insurers, calls Exondys 51 investigational because the F.D.A. reserved the right to withdraw it from the market if future clinical trials fail to show it works.Another insurer, Premera Blue Cross, went so far as to tie coverage to an invasive procedure a muscle biopsy but then rescinded the requirement.Im reading a lot of denial letters, said Christine McSherry, who until recently served as executive director of the Jett Foundation, an advocacy group that guides families through the insurance appeal process. Her insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, is covering the drug for her son, Jett, through next April. Its very disheartening to have worked that hard, and to have sacrificed that much, and to now have to battle the insurance companies.The drugs high cost is driving the resistance. While the drug manufacturer, Sarepta, has said Exondys 51 costs about $300,000 a year per child, the price, based on a childs weight, can be much higher. For the dozen boys in the main clinical trial, the average list price would be more than double Sareptas quote $750,000 each, according to an analysis by the drug benefit firm Prime Therapeutics.I think a lot of the advocates in this space maybe thought that getting a drug on the market was the goal of their advocacy, said Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University who voted against the drugs approval as part of an F.D.A. advisory committee. The goal of the advocacy should have been getting a product on the market, and making sure that its available at a reasonable cost.The agencys acceptance of Exondys 51, also known as eteplirsen, followed a highly polished, passionate campaign by patient advocates. Dr. Robert Califf, the former F.D.A. commissioner, ignored the agencys career experts who viewed the drug as little more than a scientifically elegant placebo.The conditional green light granted to Exondys 51 is part of an accelerated pathway that allows the agency to clear much-needed drugs based on early, if inconclusive, evidence of efficacy.ImageCredit...George Etheredge for The New York TimesUntil then, there was no approved treatment for boys with Duchenne; Exondys 51 may be helping protect muscle cells from deterioration by producing a form of dystrophin, a protein largely lacking in those with the genetic mutation. The boys typically need wheelchairs by their teenage years, and their hearts and lungs eventually give out. Between 9,000 and 12,000 people are estimated to be living with Duchenne in the United States; about 13 percent have the genetic mutation receptive to the new drug.Skeptics argued that the small clinical trials did not demonstrate meaningful improvement, showing just a minuscule increase in dystrophin. But others, including parents of boys on the drug, insist that it is working or at the very least, that it cant hurt to try.It makes me feel like I have a chance to live longer than I thought I would, said Patrick Denger, 22, who has been receiving weekly infusions since December. His costs were covered until his father got a new job and the family switched to Aetna, which has said it wont pay because he is too old and cannot walk.Mr. Dengers treatment was being paid for by Sarepta while he appealed. On Wednesday, he learned that Maine Care, the state Medicaid program, would cover his treatment.He believes his condition has stabilized, affording him the luxury of contemplating a future. Mr. Denger, who uses a wheelchair, drives his own van and works part time at a supermarket doing administrative work. He recently graduated from the University of New England, near his home in Biddeford, Me.ImageCredit...Margaret Cheatham Williams/The New York TimesIn addition to Anthem, Express Scripts, which manages the drug benefits for insurers and large employers, excluded the medication from its national coverage list. Other insurers, including UnitedHealth, Aetna and Humana, will cover it only under limited circumstances if the boy is under 14, for example, or can walk a certain distance. After six months, in many cases, the insurers require evidence that the drug appears to be working.Insurers are also restricting coverage of a similarly expensive drug, Spinraza, which treats another rare disease, spinal muscular atrophy. The F.D.A. granted broad approval to that drug in December, but many insurers are covering only babies and young children with the most severe forms of the disease, where the clinical evidence of efficacy is strongest.Jim Redmond, a spokesman for Excellus, said the company did not comment on individual cases and said its policy on Exondys 51 which requires that the patient be able to walk was determined by pharmacists and physicians who examined the evidence.Mrs. Hoke, who is a pharmacist near her home in Fayetteville, near Syracuse, noted that many new cancer drugs offer little long-term hope but are still covered. It extends their life for three months, and thats covered, she said. My kids can live for years with this drug.Whether Exondys 51 can indeed give boys more years to grow up remains an unknown. Sarepta has a lot riding on the drug. It is the biotechs only approved product, and the company must prove to investors that sales will be enough to finance a pipeline of drugs that could treat a wider range of boys with Duchenne.ImageCredit...Tristan Spinski for The New York TimesPerhaps thats why Sareptas executives have claimed in statements that the average price for Exondys 51 is $300,000 per patient per year.Thats not accurate, said David Lassen, the chief clinical officer at Prime Therapeutics, which manages the drug plans for more than 20 million Americans. Based on just the few claims that weve evaluated, we think thats low. He cited a range from $750,000 to $1.5 million a year, far greater than breakthrough drugs like, for instance, cystic fibrosis treatments sold by Vertex that cost more than $250,000 a year.Sarepta contends that the $300,000 estimate is a net price, accounting for discounts to insurers and the fact that not everyone will follow the weekly regimen. It also includes the assumption that younger boys who weigh less will begin taking the drug.What we have seen is that for some of the older, sicker boys who have been using it, the price is more, said Dr. Ed Kaye, the chief executive of Sarepta.Many Duchenne parents worry that insurers will balk if other costly drugs are approved to complement the treatment from Exondys 51. Already, they are reeling from the decision by PTC Therapeutics to price a once-cheap steroid, deflazacort, at about $35,000 per year. Many families had been importing it for about $1,600 a year.ImageCredit...Tristan Spinski for The New York TimesIn the end, they say, they have no choice.We need something to stop as much progression as possible, until something better can come along, said Michelle Lessner-Gonzales, whose 14-year-old son, Nicolas Gonzales, is waiting for the Illinois Medicaid program to decide how it will cover Exondys 51. In the meantime, her son is losing his ability to walk, a common prerequisite for coverage.Several insurance companies noted the lack of clinical evidence that the drug works, especially in older boys or those who cannot walk. Anthem, which has said the clinical benefit from Exondys 51 has not been demonstrated, said that it relied on outside experts to reach its decision, and that it eagerly awaited the results of future studies.Craig Burns, vice president for research at Americas Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers, said his members were in a difficult spot. Theres more about this drug that we dont know than we do know, he said. And thats where payers are really struggling.Dr. Kaye, who announced he would resign from Sarepta later this year, said he had spent the past several months traveling the country, making his case to insurance executives. Like other companies marketing rare-disease drugs, Sarepta hired a team of employees who assist patients in getting covered, and the company will pay the out-of-pocket costs of those who cant afford it.I think the insurance companies do worry; they are worried about their bottom line, and trying to make sure they are very thoughtful about the money they spend, Dr. Kaye said. But when faced with individual stories, its hard to say No, you cant do it, because there are no alternatives.Brian Denger, Patricks father, said he had hoped for more when Exondys 51 arrived as a treatment. He lost another son, Matthew, to Duchenne in 2013, at age 20.I just believed that it was going to be more celebratory, he said. And were back to the point where it seems like were fighting again.

Health

The companys Electron rocket carried a batch of small commercial satellites from a launchpad in New Zealand, a harbinger of a major transformation to the space business.Credit...Rocket LabNov. 10, 2018A small rocket from a little-known company lifted off Sunday from the east coast of New Zealand, carrying a clutch of tiny satellites. That modest event the first commercial launch by a U.S.-New Zealand company known as Rocket Lab could mark the beginning of a new era in the space business, where countless small rockets pop off from spaceports around the world. This miniaturization of rockets and spacecraft places outer space within reach of a broader swath of the economy.The rocket, called the Electron, is a mere sliver compared to the giant rockets that Elon Musk, of SpaceX, and Jeffrey P. Bezos, of Blue Origin, envisage using to send people into the solar system. It is just 56 feet tall and can carry only 500 pounds into space.But Rocket Lab is aiming for markets closer to home.Were FedEx, said Peter Beck, the New Zealand-born founder and chief executive of Rocket Lab. Were a little man that delivers a parcel to your door.Behind Rocket Lab, a host of start-up companies are also jockeying to provide transportation to space for a growing number of small satellites. The payloads include constellations of telecommunications satellites that would provide the world with ubiquitous internet access.The payload of this mission, which Rocket Lab whimsically named Its Business Time, offered a glimpse of this future: two ship-tracking satellites for Spire Global; a small climate- and environment-monitoring satellite for GeoOptics; a small probe built by high school students in Irvine, Calif., and a demonstration version of a drag sail that would pull defunct satellites out of orbit.Space Angels, a space-business investment firm, is tracking 150 small launch companies. Chad Anderson, Space Angels chief executive, said that although the vast majority of these companies will fail, a small group possess the financing and engineering wherewithal to get off the ground.Each company on Mr. Andersons list proffers its own twist in business plan or capability: Vector Launch Inc. aims for mass production; Virgin Orbit, a piece of Richard Bransons business empire, will drop its rockets from the bottom of a 747 at 35,000 feet up; Relativity Space plans to 3-D print almost all pieces of its rockets; Firefly Aerospace will offer a slightly larger rocket in a bet that the small satellites will grow a bit in size and weight; Gilmour Space Technologies is a rare Australian aerospace company; And Astra Space Inc., which is operating in stealth mode like a Silicon Valley start-up, saying nothing about what is doing. [Sign up to get reminders for space and astronomy events on your calendar.]Business is getting smallerImageCredit...Andy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesRockets are shrinking, because satellites are shrinking.In the past, hulking telecommunications satellites hovered 22,000 miles above the Equator in what is known as a geosynchronous orbit, where a satellite continuously remains over the same spot on Earth. Because sending a satellite, there was so expensive, it made sense to pack as much as possible into each one.Advances in technology and computer chips have enabled smaller satellites to perform the same tasks as their predecessors. And constellations of hundreds or thousands of small satellites, orbiting at lower altitudes that are easier to reach, can mimic the capabilities once possible only from a fixed geosynchronous position.Its really a shift in the market, Mr. Beck said. What once took the size of a car is now the size of a microwave oven, and with exactly the same kind of capabilities.Some companies already have launched swarms of satellites to make observations of Earth. Next up are the promised space-based internet systems such as OneWeb and SpaceXs Starlink.Until now, such small spacecraft typically hitched a rocket ride alongside a larger satellite. That trip is cheaper but inconvenient, because the schedule is set by the main customer. If the big satellite is delayed, the smaller ones stay on the ground, too. You just cant go to business like that, Mr. Beck said.The Electron, Mr. Beck said, is capable of lifting more than 60 percent of the spacecraft that headed to orbit last year. By contrast, space analysts wonder how much of a market exists for a behemoth like SpaceXs Falcon Heavy, which had its first spectacular launch in February.A Falcon Heavy can lift a payload 300 times heavier than a Rocket Lab Electron, but it costs $90 million compared to the Electrons $5 million. Whereas SpaceXs standard Falcon 9 rocket has no shortage of customers, the Heavy has only announced a half-dozen customers for the years to come.The United States military a primary customer for large launch vehicles is also rethinking its spy satellites. The system would be more resilient, some analysts think, if its capabilities were spread among many, smaller satellites. Smaller satellites would be easier and quicker to replace, and an enemy would have a harder time destroying all of them.Pit stops in the space raceSpaceX could have cornered this market a decade ago.Its first rocket, the Falcon 1, was designed to lift about 1,500 pounds. But after just two successful launches, SpaceX abandoned it, focusing on the much larger Falcon 9 to serve NASAs needs to carry cargo and, eventually, astronauts to the International Space Station.Jim Cantrell, one of the first employees of SpaceX, did not understand that decision and left the company. In 2015, he started Vector Launch, Inc., with headquarters in Tucson. Its goal is to make the Model T of rockets small, cheap, mass-produced.Vector claims that it can send its rockets into orbit from almost any place it can set up its mobile launch platform, which is basically a heavily modified trailer. That trailer was inspired by Mr. Cantrells hobby, auto racing, and many of the companies employees come from the racing world, too.The company is still aiming to meet its goal of getting the first of its Vector-R rockets to orbit this year, but Mr. Cantrell admitted that the schedule might slip again, into early 2019. The flight termination system the piece of hardware that disables the rocket if anything goes wrong is late in arriving.There are a lot of little things, Mr. Cantrell said. It drives you crazy.A prototype was planned for suborbital launch from Mojave, Calif., in September, but it encountered a glitch and the test was called off. The crew put the rocket in a racecar trailer and drove it to Vectors testing site at Pinal Airpark, a small airport a half-hour outside of Tucson that is surrounded 350 acres of shrubby desert.Vector built test stands for firings of individual engines as well as completed rocket stages. During a recent visit to the site, engineers were troubleshooting the launch problems of both the prototype rocket and a developmental version of its upper-stage engine.Soon the team will head to the Pacific Spaceport Complex, on Alaskas Kodiak Island, for its first orbital launch. Next year, Mr. Cantrell said, the company hopes to put a dozen rockets into space.Within a few years, he added, it could be launching 100 times a year, not just from Kodiak but also from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Wallops Island in Virginia, where Rocket Lab agreed in October to build its second launch complex. Vector is also looking for additional launch sites, including one by the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.Resurrected rocketryImageCredit...Thom Baur/ReutersTom Markusic, another veteran of SpaceXs early days, also sees an opportunity to help smaller satellites get to space.I didnt feel there was a properly sized launch company to address that market, he said.Mr. Markusic said that the need for stronger antennas and cameras would ultimately prompt the construction of slightly bigger small satellites, and that it would be beneficial to be able to launch several at a time.He started Firefly in 2014, aiming to build Alpha, a rocket that would lift a 900-pound payload to orbit.The company grew to 150 employees and won a NASA contract. But in the uncertainty surrounding Britains exit from the European Union, a European investor backed out. An American investor also became skittish, Mr. Markusic said, after a SpaceX rocket exploded on the launchpad in 2016. Firefly shut down, and the employees lost their jobs.At an auction, a Ukraine-born entrepreneur, Max Polyakov, one of Fireflys investors, resurrected the company. Mr. Markusic took the opportunity to rethink the Alpha rocket, which is now able to launch more than 2,000 pounds.Alpha is basically Falcon 1 with some better technology, he said.Mr. Markusic said his competition was not the smaller rockets of Rocket Lab, Vector or Virgin Orbit but foreign competitors such as a government-subsidized rocket from India and commercial endeavors in China. But he complimented Rocket Lab.Theyre ahead of everyone else, he said. I think they deserve a lot of credit.Firefly plans to launch its first Alpha rocket in December of 2019.Riding the bus to orbitImageCredit...Greg Robinson/Virgin Orbit, via Associated PressNot everyone is convinced that the market for small satellites will be as robust as predicted.That equation has weaknesses at every step, said Carissa Christensen, founder and chief executive of Bryce Space and Technology, an aerospace consulting firm.Three-quarters of venture capital-financed companies fail, she said, and the same will likely happen to the companies aiming to put up the small satellites. She also is skeptical that space-based internet will win against ground-based alternatives.Publicly, theres no compelling business plans, she said.That means that the market for small rockets could implode for lack of business. She said a key to survival would be to tap into the needs of the United States government, especially the military. Virgin Orbit, Vector and Rocket Lab were the current front-runners, she said.The small rocket companies also have to compete with Spaceflight Industries, a Seattle company that resells empty space on larger rockets that is not taken up by the main payload. In addition, Spaceflight is looking to purchasing entire rockets launched by other companies, including Rocket Lab, and selling the payload space to a range of companies heading to a similar orbit.The first such flight, using a SpaceX Falcon 9, is to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base this month carrying 70 satellites, in what the company compares to a bus ride into orbit.Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight, said that both approaches can work. Buses are cheaper but less convenient, and sometimes the timely lift from a taxi is worth the added cost.Mr. Anderson of Space Angels was also optimistic. The difference today is how robust the sector is, he said. The sector today can handle failures.While the sector is getting off the ground, Rocket Lab doesnt intend to waste any more time: it is hoping to quickly follow Its Business Time with a second commercial launch next month, and then a third the month after that.Were very focused on the next 100 rockets, not the next one rocket. Mr. Beck said. Its one thing to go to orbit. Its a whole another thing to go to orbit on a regular basis._____Michael Roston contributed reporting.

science

DealBook|Standard Chartered Announces Additional Changes to Boardhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/business/dealbook/standard-chartered-announces-additional-changes-to-board.htmlDec. 21, 2015LONDON Standard Chartered said on Monday that it would make additional changes to its board of directors, with another director following several others out the door by the end of January.The Asia-focused bank, which is based in London, announced in February that the longstanding directors Ruth Markland and Paul Skinner would leave at the end of this year, which the bank confirmed on Monday.The bank also said at the time that it would shrink its board to 14 directors and that another director, Oliver Stocken, was leaving.On Monday, the lender said that Lars H. Thunell, who has been a director since 2012, would also depart at the end of next month.The bank said that Mr. Thunell had a number of other commitments and would be focusing more on his role as chairman of African Risk Capacity Insurance.David Philbrick Conner, 67, will join the board on Jan. 1 and would succeed Mr. Thunell as chairman of the boards risk committee, Standard Chartered said. Mr. Conner is the former chief executive of OCBC Bank and spent 26 years at Citibank in several senior roles in Asia.David Conner brings significant banking and risk management experience and a deep understanding of Asian markets, John W. Peace, the Standard Chartered chairman, said in a news release. I am delighted to welcome him to Standard Chartered.The board changes are the latest in a widespread reorganization of leadership of the lender under its new chief executive, William T. Winters. Mr. Peace is expected to leave the board next year.Standard Chartered announced plans in November to raise up to $5.1 billion in new capital and to cut 15,000 jobs as part of a major overhaul of its operations.The bank has struggled in a weaker environment for emerging markets and tough trading conditions in some of its business lines, including currency-hedging products.Mr. Winters, the former head of JPMorgan Chases investment bank, joined Standard Chartered in June, replacing Peter Sands, the longtime chief executive, as part of a broad management shake-up.Standard Chartered also said on Monday that Elizabeth Lloyd would join the bank as its group secretary on Jan. 1, succeeding Annemarie Durbin.

Business

Credit...Jeremy M. Lange for The New York TimesMarch 11, 2016At a time when genetic testing and genetically personalized treatments for cancer are proliferating, buoyed by new resources like President Obamas $215 million personalized medicine initiative, women with breast cancer are facing a frustrating reality: The genetic data is there, but in many cases, doctors do not know what to do with it.That was the situation Angie Watts, 44, faced after she walked into a radiation oncologists office last June expecting to discuss the radiation therapy she was about to begin after a lumpectomy for breast cancer. Instead, Dr. Timothy M. Zagar of the University of North Carolina looked down at a sheet of test results and delivered some shocking news.A genetic test showed she had inherited an alteration in a gene needed to repair DNA. Radiation breaks DNA, so the treatment might actually spur the growth of her cancer, he said. He urged her not to take the risk and to have a double mastectomy instead.Im not a betting man, he said in a recent interview.Shaken, Ms. Watts called Dr. James P. Evans, a professor of genetics and medicine at North Carolina. He told her the opposite: The mutation she had was not known to be harmful, so he urged her to go ahead with the radiation.A group of doctors met but could not reach a consensus, so, Ms. Watts said, they left it up to me to decide.Ms. Wattss experience highlights an unsettling side to the growing use of genetics in medicine, particularly breast cancer care. Doctors have long been tantalized by a future in which powerful methods of genetic testing would allow treatments to be tailored to a patients genetic makeup. Today, in breast cancer treatment, testing of tumors and healthy cells to look for mutations has become standard.But as Ms. Watts found out, our ability to sequence genes has gotten ahead of our ability to know what it means, said Eric P. Winer, the director of the breast oncology program at Harvards Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.The ambiguities and disappointments play out in two areas: There is genetic testing of patients to see if they inherited mutations that predisposed them to cancer, and there is genetic testing of cells from the cancer to look for mutations that drive the tumors growth but if found often cannot be targeted by any drug on the market.The ability to understand and interpret genetic tests will surely improve. But for now, what sounds like a simple test can leave patients with frightening information but no clear options or guidance for treatment decisions.The stakes are very high, said Dr. Evans, the geneticist who counseled Ms. Watts. You have inherently nuanced and confusing tests and widespread ordering and interpretation by doctors who arent really equipped to do so, he said. The situation is ripe for overinterpretation and misinterpretation.Oncologists say it still makes sense to order these tests, which identify mutations in as many as 100 genes. If they find mutations that greatly increase risk of cancer, that is valuable information.But patients need to be prepared for ambiguities. Typically they are not, said Dr. Elizabeth E. Campbell, an oncologist and former director of the Duke Womens Cancer Center.In Ms. Wattss case, the mutation was a medical mystery known as a a variation of unknown significance. That means it does not destroy the genes function but may alter it leaving the implications entirely uncertain.With each gene being tested, there is about a 5 percent chance of finding a variation of unknown significance. So as more and more genes are tested, ambiguous changes can add up fast.A recent article published in JAMA Oncology involving 897 women 40 and younger with breast cancer found that nearly all had tests for mutations in the BRCA1 and 2 genes, which can increase breast cancer risk. Most did not have known mutations. But the chance of having a mutation of unknown significance 4.6 percent was the same as the 4.5 percent chance of having a known and risky mutation in the BRCA2 gene.Ms. Watts eventually decided to have radiation therapy and did well. But, she said, It was scary. There are times I regret ever having genetic testing.A couple of decades ago, breast cancer seemed to be on the leading edge of personalized treatments. The first precision medicine drug, Herceptin, was developed and approved for a subset of breast cancer patients in the 1990s.Yet now, as powerful new precision medicine drugs elicit striking responses in patients with other cancers lung, colon, melanoma, blood, gastric metastatic breast cancer patients have been left out.Its like standing outside a candy store on Sunday when the store is closed, looking in the window, said Dr. Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, a director of breast cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.There is no obvious reason breast cancer in particular should be so resistant to new therapies. But the situation is one of the starkest examples of the frustrating reality of precision medicine today. While labs can test for hundreds of genes that have been linked to cancer, and while the tests may find likely culprits, there all too often is nothing that can be done.As a concept, it is beautiful, Dr. Hortobagyi said. In practice, we face a number of obstacles. Most breast cancers have not just one but four, six, 10, sometimes 15 or 20 mutations. So which is the driver mutation and which are the passengers? Thats a tall order.Even if investigators have a good idea of which mutation to go after, there may be no drug that blocks it. Or there may be a drug being tested in a clinical trial but the woman is not eligible because, for example, she has had two rounds of chemotherapy and the trials rules say she can have no more than one.Or there is a drug that was approved for a different cancer, but it costs more than $100,000 a year and her insurer will not pay. Sometimes, a drug that works against a mutation in one type of cancer also works against that same mutation in another cancer, but sometimes it does not.Dr. Norman Sharpless, the director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at North Carolina, estimates that perhaps one in 1,000 women with advanced breast cancer will benefit from using the approved and experimental drugs available today.There are a few who benefit tremendously, but when patients come in expecting a cure, most are disappointed, he said.Heather Lynn Bowlers experience was typical. Mrs. Bowler, a 38-year-old office manager who lives in Raleigh, N.C., learned she had breast cancer in November 2013 and had eight rounds of intense chemotherapy and a lumpectomy that seemed to have taken care of it. Then, last April, her cancer came back, having spread outside her breast.In May, Mrs. Bowler started the first of 18 rounds of chemotherapy. During her first chemotherapy visit, her oncologist, Dr. Campbell, asked if she would be interested in having her tumors genes sequenced. A month later, the results were in. Mrs. Bowlers tumor had mutated genes, but none of the mutations could be attacked with todays experimental drugs or with drugs being used in other cancers.The results added nothing to her care, Dr. Campbell said. Nothing.Dr. Campbell is, however, confident that someday genetic testing in breast cancer will bear fruit. For now, she says, oncologists are left in a difficult situation.Should they even suggest genetic tests?We are trying to find avenues of hope that arent just avenues of hype, she said.

Health

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 18, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia There was a driving rain for most of the day until it turned into a blinding snowfall. Then a fog rolled in to turn a soggy day into a soupy one.It was bleak and foreboding Tuesday at the womens giant slalom, an all-day affair with two runs sandwiched around lunch. Eventually, the temperature dropped and it started to sleet.Welcome to the Winter Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin.The conditions set up a cunning test of skiing acumen and weather acclimation with the old pros in the field schooling the newcomer Shiffrin. Tina Maze, the seasoned World Cup overall champion, dashed to victory by seven-hundredths of a second over the Austrian silver medalist Anna Fenninger, who two days ago won the super-G. And who was third? The defending Olympic champion in the event, Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany.In a race that demanded skill, tactics and experience with ever-changing conditions underfoot, it was not a surprise that the podium was full of racers who had already won an Olympic gold medal. Maze has won two golds at the Sochi Games.Shiffrin, the precocious American who remains the favorite in her best event, the slalom, finished an impressive fifth, and quickly felt more the veteran.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesThis is something Ill learn from, she said in the postrace area, and the next Olympics I go to, Im sure as heck not getting fifth.The 18-year-old Shiffrin, not surprisingly, was already looking forward to Fridays slalom race.There were four girls who skied better than I did, and Im really excited to analyze their skiing and analyze mine, said Shiffrin, who was only 23-hundredths of a second away from winning the bronze medal. Its good to get the first Olympic race out of the way and focus on the next one.For Maze, there was redemption in her winning time of 2 minutes 36.87 seconds. After dominating the World Cup last season, she has struggled most of this winter. She made a coaching change and came to the Sochi Games as something of a question mark.Which Maze would show up? The racer who could win in all five disciplines and who dominated the World Cup last season, or the skier with just one World Cup victory since last March?The answer has been gilded. With one womens race remaining in the 2014 Olympic Alpine competition, Maze has two gold medals, a fourth place and a fifth place. She will also be among the top contenders trying to upset Shiffrin in Fridays slalom.This seasons plan was to show my best here in the Olympics, said Maze, who won Slovenias first Winter Olympics gold medal when she tied Dominique Gisin for first place in the downhill. I focused on training for the Olympic Games. I did not have the same passion for other races. My plan for the season was all about the Olympics.Maze had the advantage of starting the first run Tuesday with Bib No. 1, and she charged from the gate to take a lead she never relinquished. After the first run, her advantage was 52-hundredths of a second.Fenninger and Rebensburg were in striking distance after the first run, with Shiffrin positioned between them in fifth place.But the weather conditions deteriorated and continued to change until the afternoon run was delayed because of poor visibility. After several shivering minutes congregated around the mountaintop start house, the racers pushed out of the gate one by one only to face snow at the top, fog in the middle, then sleet and finally rain at the bottom.Few of the racers complained about the conditions. The fraternity of ski racers acknowledge that theirs is a capricious outdoor winter sport. But as Shiffrins father, Jeff, said afterward: I think this was a race where years of experience with different conditions had to help.Maze has been racing on the World Cup circuit since 1999; Fenninger and Rebensburg since 2006. Shiffrin made her World Cup debut in 2011.As Maze said: I have learned that I dont care if its rainy or sunny. I ski. And today, I knew I had to risk everything in the first run to get the lead, then try to hold it.Maze succeeded with an aggressive run on the freshest early snow, and then a somewhat inconsistent afternoon run that was nonetheless fast enough to edge Fenninger, whose stellar performances at these Olympics will raise her profile in ski racing.Shiffrin, who said she was skiing to win a gold medal, made minor mistakes in places where her competitors did not. She finished a half-second out of first, not bad for someone less than a year out of high school. But she skidded slightly through a few turns while other racers were carving more crisply. Not insignificantly, Shiffrin was also competing in her first giant slalom race since December.And the conditions were confusing.It was snowy at the top and rainy at the bottom and foggy in the middle, she said. For a couple gates, you convince yourself its going to clear up, but then it didnt. I knew I was going to be nervous, and I was beforehand, but once I got in the gate, I put that away completely.I just lost a few tenths on turns when I scrubbed some speed.But Shiffrins smile was wide as she spoke. She seemed not the least bit thwarted, even as rain and sleet pelted her helmet in the finish area.Asked to assess her day, she all but shouted: It was spectacular. Maybe not the weather, I guess. But Im at the Olympics.

Sports

EssayIn the typical emergency room, demand far outpaces the care that workers can provide. Can the E.R. be fixed?Credit...Gina SiddiquiIllustrations by Golden CosmosDec. 16, 2019My choices as a doctor in the emergency room are up or out. Up, for the very sick. I stabilize things that are broken, infected or infarcted, until those patients can be whisked upstairs for their definitive surgeries or stents in the hospital. Out, for everyone else. I stitch up the simple cuts, reassure those with benign viruses, prescribe Tylenol and send home.Up or out is what the E.R. was designed for. Up or out is what its good at. Emergency rooms are meant to have open capacity in case of a major emergency, be it a train crash, a natural disaster or a school shooting, and we are constantly clearing any beds we can in pursuit of this goal.The problem is, traffic through the emergency room has been growing at twice the rate projected by United States population growth and has been for almost 20 straight years, despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and through both economic booms and recessions. Americans visit the E.R. more than 140 million times a year 43 visits for every 100 Americans which is more than they visit every other type of doctors office in the hospital combined.The demand is such that new E.R.s are already too small by the time they are built. Emergency rooms respond like overbooked restaurants during a chaotic dinner rush, with doctors pressed to turn stretchers the way waiters hurriedly turn tables. The frantic pace leaves little time for deliberating over the diagnosis or for counseling patients. Up, out.Private exams on stretchers in hallways, patients languishing without attention for hours, nurses stretched to the breaking point; all of it has become business as usual. I think about this on nights like tonight, when I start my shift inheriting 16 patients in the waiting room. I think about what I will learn that these people need, and about what I will fail to provide.10 p.m.Work starts simply enough. Twenty-two-year-old was drunk and drove into a tree, now has a sore elbow. The X-rays are normal and he is sober enough to walk: discharge home with girlfriend. Woman with a migraine holding a towel over her eyes and a crumpled blue emesis bag in her right hand, for when she vomits. I start the standard migraine cocktail of IV drugs and turn off the lights in her room. I will wait until she feels better, then discharge her, too.More. A woman six weeks pregnant with cramps and vaginal bleeding; I check whether her miscarriage is inevitable. A drug overdose, likely a suicide attempt; I clear for psychiatric care. Homeless man with foot pain, back pain and a cough, but here mostly because its too cold outside. I hand him a sandwich.Then an ambulance crew rolls a gaunt man with one leg toward me on a stretcher. The paramedics hand over a thick packet of paperwork from his nursing home and walk away. I read the label: Jean-Luc. Age: 38.ImageCredit...Golden CosmosJean-Luc doesnt have a typical amputation stump. His left hip is also missing. According to his file, 10 months ago an aggressive strain of bacteria attacked his thigh and quickly began to liquefy his flesh. Antibiotics would not work fast enough; the only way to stop the bacterias spread was to cut out the infected parts.The paperwork tells me nothing about who Jean-Luc was 10 months ago. All I know is that those few hours of surgery rendered him dependent on nurses for most things he used to do himself.I leaf through Jean-Lucs packet and find a scribbled nursing note. Someone was concerned that his urine looked different the past few days, and this morning he spiked a fever. Did he have a urinary tract infection? Jean-Lucs belly is tender over his bladder, and his urine looks cloudy and smells pungent. I send some samples to the lab.1:18 a.m.You get little hints about the quality of nursing homes from the patients they send us. If a patients hair is combed and his clothes are neatly pressed, the nursing home is probably decently staffed. Most impressive is healthy skin. The skin of a bed-bound patient is paper thin; keeping it intact, like the unbroken film on a French pudding, requires a herculean effort.Jean-Lucs skin had not been so fortunate. He had a bed sore; it was less than an inch wide, but I could probe an instrument through it to the bone. Once such holes form, doctors dont really know how to coax the skin to heal itself. Creams, high levels of oxygen, even maggots nothing works reliably. This is going to be a problem, I think to myself.Forty minutes later, the lab results come back positive for a urinary tract infection. I start Jean-Luc on antibiotics. The E.R.s role is considered completed at this point. Up, not out. The waiting room is busy; I should admit Jean-Luc to the hospital for IV antibiotics and free up his stretcher.I look over from my desk. Jean-Luc is polite and not a complainer, but I can tell he is depressed. A month ago the nursing home put a catheter through his penis and into his bladder, presumably because emptying a bag is easier to schedule into a shift than running over every time he rings a call bell asking for help, and safer than letting him sit in his own urine, which would further break down his skin.But for bacteria, that plastic tube is a boulevard into the body. He would be better protected by a condom catheter, which catches urine the way a condom catches semen. I start to mull this over when a nurse calls me: Gina, Bed 5 is vomiting and says she needs more pain meds.2:28 a.m.Cynthia, in Bed 5, recently completed a round of chemotherapy. She tells me her pain and nausea have been unbearable, just as they were two weeks ago, when she was here after her previous treatment. I examine her, check her labs to make sure there isnt another reason she is dry-heaving and type in a request for a hospital bed.Cynthia is on a state-of-the-art cancer therapy, available only at a few of the top centers in the world. It is also expensive, experimental and extraordinarily taxing on her body. The discussion with her oncologist must have been difficult: the possibility of improvement weighed against the risk that the treatment could cause her to spend most of her remaining days in hospitals, hooked up to IV drugs.For the E.R. visit, Cynthia will be charged more than $1,000 plus about $600 in professional fees for the few minutes of critical thinking I expended on her. That is the thriftiest part of this arrangement: Her admission stay for several days in the hospital will be billed at about $10,000.To the hospitals finance department, each case like Cynthias is another base hit, a fuss-free bill to collect from the insurance company requiring minimal work from E.R. personnel. But to what extent will this hospital stay prevent Cynthia from returning in two weeks, when she is again due for chemotherapy?Maybe a different regimen of cancer drugs would sit better with Cynthia. But finding it involves trial and error and is seen as work that doesnt have to be done work that could get the oncologist in trouble for rocking the boat, that exposes the hospital to liability. A plan focused on keeping Cynthia out of the hospital would require more frequent check-ins at her home, which the hospital isnt set up to do. We are choosing the path of least resistance for us, even though it is the path of last resort for her.Twenty percent of people who stay in American hospitals are on the same morbid merry-go-round as Cynthia and Jean-Luc and will wind up back in the E.R. within one month of leaving. We tell ourselves the E.R. is meant only to stabilize patients, that someone else will handle the rest. But the problems I punt in the E.R. are also punted by the hospitals doctors upstairs and by primary care doctors outside. No matter where I send patients, these gaping holes in care fester, like bed sores tunneling to bone.So I wait in the E.R. for the same patients to return even sicker and even more dependent on the hospital. Im thinking about this when an overhead speaker calls me to the resuscitation room for a Level 1, the highest level of urgency in the E.R. I hang up on Cynthias oncologist and head to the north side of the department.4:12 a.m.A young woman is gasping loudly through the oxygen mask that paramedics put over her face, screaming, crying and thrashing all at once. She swats at the nurses trying to hold her arm down to place an IV, and at the technicians cutting her clothes off with shears. Her sweat prevents the electrical leads we try to attach to her chest from sticking.This is routine for us. Many things can make a patient acutely agitated: pain, drugs, rapid blood loss or a shortage of air. Until we know the cause, we carry on even when patients resist. With little explanation, we surround them on all sides, pin them down and undress them, placing probes and leads while we get our bearings.Someone tries to calm the young woman down while I scroll through her electronic chart. Mariah is 23. She has severe asthma and has been to the E.R. many times. She has bipolar disorder. The last time she was in the hospital proper, two months ago, she left abruptly once her breathing stabilized, before we could send her home with an inhaler and a steroid regimen for her asthma.ImageCredit...Golden CosmosAs far back as I look in her records, I find no visit with a primary care doctor. Like many patients in the E.R., especially younger ones, she doesnt see any other doctors regularly. In effect we have been her primary doctors, although we didnt know it and didnt do much primary care.I close the screen and look back at her. She is now on the monitor, the beeping display of her heartbeats and respirations scrolling along in green and red like a stock ticker at the bottom of the evening news. The numbers are terrible. She isnt resisting us anymore, and her breathing has slowed. Mariah is starting to look confused.We had achieved a sense of control, but it evaporates in an instant. Everyone starts moving quickly, jumpily, trying to suppress the sinking feeling that this is not like the other asthma flares we see, that this person is too sick for us to save. We focus on our roles. Im worried she will stop breathing, so I come to the head of the bed and tell her were going to sedate her and put her on a ventilator.Through the breathing tube and the IVs, we give everything we have already given, again: albuterol, epinephrine, magnesium, helium, antibiotics, lidocaine. Nothing is working; her lungs remain stiff and in spasm. Her heart slows, then stops. We start chest compressions and push more medications. We probe her heart and lungs with the ultrasound, trying to find something we can reverse. Nothing.I look at the senior doctor in the room. He knows Im asking if there is anything else we can do, and he shakes his head. We record the time of death.5:47 a.m.There is a silent pause in the room. Before it passes, the unit secretary hands me the packet of paperwork for the deceased.A death certificate differs from other medical records. It presents not one lone diagnosis field but four nested together, each line asking for the proximal cause of the line above. In the first line I write the diagnosis: cardiac arrest. I consider why her heart stopped, and in line 2 CAUSED BY fill in: respiratory failure. Line 3, CAUSED BY: severe asthma exacerbation. I am ashamed, but I know the cause of this as well. In line 4 I write, CAUSED BY: no medications at home to control her asthma.This is the first patient all shift for whom the modern E.R. and I have acknowledged the root cause of illness. Our failure was not today but a few weeks ago, when she was last in the E.R. and we didnt find a way to get her asthma inhalers to her at home. Maybe we assumed the medical team upstairs would handle it; maybe that team expected a primary care doctor would do so. Now our failure is the bottom line in black ink, pressed into the carbon-copy pages that will accompany Mariahs body to the morgue.Should the emergency room treat only emergencies? More than 80 percent of our patients arrive without sirens blazing, by walking in or after parking their cars with the valet out front. A rash that wont stop itching, a lower back that wont stop aching, a child who wont stop vomiting. If their problems arent in our manual of emergency conditions, we say they are misusing the E.R. and try to dispense of them as quickly as we can. But here they are, having waited six hours to see me, asking for help. What to do for them?I click a few perfunctory buttons in their charts. I say theres nothing life-threatening going on as I hand them boilerplate discharge paperwork to sign. Someone calls me to see my next patient. I send them back to their families, jobs and responsibilities equipped with little more than these unceremonious goodbyes.Almost one in 10 8.2 percent of these discharged E.R. patients return to an E.R. within three days. What I leave unaddressed persistent pain, nagging uncertainty about a diagnosis, a social dilemma tends to stay that way, begetting yet another visit. An E.R.s success is measured by how fast it sees these patients, not by whether it breaks these cycles.The waiting room is empty now. I review the labs on an elderly man in Bed 3, enter the admission details for Cynthia and Jean-Luc, check that the woman with the migraine feels better and print her paperwork, and look at my watch: 7:00. My shift is over.7:01 a.m.Although the E.R. was built to quickly get the sick up into the hospital, it has exposed, better than anywhere else, what patients lack while out in their otherwise private lives. Patients like Cynthia and Jean-Luc will survive devastating diseases under our care up in the hospital, but we send them out unable to sustain their precarious conditions without us. Patients like Mariah make their needs clear in the E.R., but we are too busy to meet them, and by the time they come back its often too late.From 2012 to 2014 the federal government, recognizing that neither up nor out was solving the problem for a growing group of patients, financed an experiment at the University of Colorado. The typical E.R. has surgeons on-call to treat patients with broken bones; following that model, the E.R. in Colorado set up a team on-call for patients with broken homes.Disadvantaged patients who kept returning to the E.R. were matched to social workers, health coaches and doctors who visited them where they lived and kept in touch for several months. By staying involved after the E.R. visits and not letting details fall through the cracks, the team reduced these patients need to revisit the hospital by 30 percent compared with the need of those in a control group.The E.R. at Yale, where I work, addressed a different group in need. Elderly patients who came to the E.R. after a fall were offered a follow-up at home. There, they were screened for risk factors that might lead to another fall, such as loose rugs, medications that increased their risk of balance problems, or lack of necessary equipment or support at home. Over the next month, those who received such visits called 911 about half as often as similar patients who did not participate in the program.Programs like these are not considered the E.R.s core business, so they often rely on grants and they end if funding dries up. Of the slim resources that E.R.s do set aside to address patients barriers outside the hospital, most are put toward hiring social workers and care managers. But these employees, stymied by mountains of paperwork and unrealistic patient loads, never get outside the hospital to see their patients, either. The programs at Colorado and Yale succeeded by framing the E.R.s resources differently. They recognized that the E.R. staff could identify problems that were destined to arise after discharge and empowered those employees to help. Both programs orchestrated follow-ups outside the E.R; those teams worked on the day-to-day problems at home that go unaddressed in hospitals and clinics and can cause catastrophes.As I zip up my bag, I head to Jean-Lucs room to talk to him about urinary catheters. But when I arrive I find only our custodian with a mop, pulling the crumpled sheets and throwing out the extra tubes of blood. Up or out; Jean Luc is already up. His fate is out of my hands now, and I worry that he wont keep his spirits up, that his bed sore will never heal.Only a few minutes have passed, and the waiting room has filled up again. A man with a nosebleed has arrived. A nurse hands him a nasal-compression clip and a basin to spit in. He and his wife look around, wondering how long they will have to wait. By now, Jean-Lucs bed is freshly made. For this couple, his quick move upstairs was a blessing. It means that, on my way out, I can tell them that they will be called back soon. A room just freed up.

Health

Credit...Fredrik Von Erichsen/European Pressphoto AgencyDec. 2, 2015FRANKFURT If there were any lingering doubts that the European Central Bank would ratchet up its stimulus of the sluggish eurozone economy, they probably evaporated on Wednesday.New official data showed that the regions dangerously low inflation rate remained at an annual pace of 0.1 percent in November. That was unchanged from Octobers reading, and still far below the central banks target of just below 2 percent.And so, on Thursday, when the central banks governing council meets, the policy board is expected to expand the stimulus program that it began in March so far with little to show for it. In fact, the new inflation data showed that the core rate, which factors out volatile prices like energy and food, actually shrank last month.The question is whether any new action by the central bank will have much additional impact, as eurozone growth remains moribund and unemployment demoralizingly high 10.7 percent in October, according to the latest data.Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, last month all but promised more action if economic indicators continued to disappoint. We will do what we must to raise inflation as quickly as possible, he said in Frankfurt. That is what our price stability mandate requires of us.Analysts expect the governing council to increase the volume of its purchases of government bonds and other assets, which have been 60 billion euros, or about $63 billion, a month since April. The central bank may also tinker with interest rates, for example, by reducing the benchmark rate to zero from 0.05 percent and increasing the penalty that banks must pay to park money in the central banks virtual vaults.Any new stimulus and rate cuts by the central bank would come as its American counterpart, the Federal Reserve, is on the verge of raising rates in the United States for the first time since 2006. The Fed could act as soon as its meeting on Dec. 15 and 16.The trans-Atlantic divergence in monetary policy has helped push the euro to its lowest level against the dollar in a dozen years around $1.06 on Wednesday as investors move money to the United States in search of higher returns.So far, many economists doubt that the European Central Bank stimulus measures, known as quantitative easing, have done much to meet one of its main goals improving the flow of credit in countries like Italy where loans are hard to come by.Because there have been few of the hoped-for benefits from the stimulus program, almost no one is complaining about the likelihood that Mr. Draghi will announce plans to take further measures on Thursday. The lack of protest from conservatives in Germany and some other eurozone countries contrasts with the howls that preceded the central banks decision in the spring to begin the bond-buying program.The dire consequences predicted by the critics, like runaway inflation or profligate spending by governments because of low interest rates, have not materialized.The most visible effect of the central bank measures has been to provoke a decline in the value of the euro. The euro, at Wednesdays exchange rate, was worth 15 percent less against the dollar than it was a year ago. That makes eurozone products cheaper for foreign buyers and can help eurozone companies sell their products abroad although Chinas slowing economy has made times tougher this year for most global exporters.In the meantime, central bank demand has probably lowered the cost for banks to raise money on the bond market, which in theory should lead to more lending.On Thursday, the central bank is expected to increase the size of its monthly bond purchases, to 70 billion or so, and to say it will keep buying bonds beyond the previously announced cutoff date of September 2016.In an article published Wednesday in its monthly bulletin, the European Central Bank defended its efforts so far, arguing that the money it has spent on assets has been converted into loans that are available to businesses for expansion or to households for purchases.The asset purchases, as well as an earlier program allowing eurozone banks to borrow money from the central bank practically interest free, have encouraged lenders to pass on the cost relief to final borrowers by granting more credit at better conditions, the bank said.In addition, since June 2014 the European Central Bank has been imposing a penalty on banks that seek safety by storing cash in its vaults. Banks used to earn interest on the cash but now must pay interest of 0.2 percent annually. The so-called negative deposit rate is the equivalent of a bank customers having to pay interest to keep money in a savings account.Many analysts expect the central bank to increase the penalty on Thursday. Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Bank in Frankfurt, said he expected the negative deposit rate to increase to at least 0.35 percent. But he questioned whether the negative rate was having the desired effect of pressuring banks to lend the money rather than hoard it.Many banks in the eurozone are still struggling with the effects of the financial crisis and increasingly strict regulations. They are reluctant to lend at any price and may also suffer from a lack of customers optimistic enough about their own futures to want to borrow.The negative deposit rate has not worked and probably wont work, because there are more variables that determine whether a bank gives out credit or not, Mr. Brzeski said.Even the decline in the euro against the dollar could start to have negative effects.George Saravelos, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimated that during the last year investors have pulled 500 million out of the eurozone and put it into bonds in the United States and other interest-bearing securities. Mr. Saravelos forecast that the euro would fall to 85 United States cents in 2017.At some point, the negative effects of a weak euro could outweigh the positive. The weaker euro means there is capital flowing out of the economy, Mr. Brzeski said. We need more investment.Some economists, frustrated by the tepid effect of European Central Bank stimulus so far, have begun urging Mr. Draghi to take more radical action.On Thursday, a group called Quantitative Easing for the People issued a statement calling on the central bank to print money and spend it directly on public works projects or hand it out to citizens.The proposal is considered far-fetched by many economists, in part because the European Central Bank is not equipped for the huge logistical challenge of distributing cash to 338 million eurozone residents in an equitable way.Still, Mr. Draghi did not completely rule out the idea when asked about it during an appearance before members of the European Parliament in September.Said Mr. Brzeski, That would be a real Christmas present.

Business

Credit...Evert Elzinga/European Pressphoto AgencyApril 5, 2016LONDON A local, nonbinding referendum on a signed-and-sealed European trade deal might not normally make for high political drama. But if the Dutch say no on Wednesday to a two-year-old agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, the vote could cause major headaches for Brussels, the Dutch government and even the British one.At issue is an association agreement signed in March 2014, just after the Maidan uprising that caused Ukraines president at the time, Viktor F. Yanukovych, to flee his country. The deal creates a free-trade area between the 28-nation bloc and Ukraine, and points toward a gradual economic convergence with the rest of Europe.It was the very idea of this arrangement and Moscows strong opposition to it that caused Mr. Yanukovych to change his mind and reject the deal, prompting the uprising that finally deposed him. The current government in Kiev is in favor of the agreement, which the other nations of the European Union have ratified and which, in fact, has been partially fulfilled.ImageCredit...Bart Maat/European Pressphoto AgencyThe Netherlands, however, has both a shaky coalition government, with elections due next March, and a new law on referendums. Now, a Dutch euroskeptic social-media group called GeenPeil which means not a clue and is supposed to characterize the European Union is using the new law to test popular opinion on the agreement.The group quickly got far more than the 300,000 online signatures required to force a plebiscite, asking the Dutch whether they support or oppose the ratification of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. Given the newness of the law and the heat around the arguments, GeenPeil is confident of getting the required turnout of more than 30 percent of voters to make the referendum valid.The awkwardness for Prime Minister Mark Rutte is that while the Dutch Parliament has ratified the agreement, an instrument of ratification must be deposited with the European Union in Brussels for it to be legal. This gives legal space to the referendum, said Rem Korteweg, a Dutch analyst with the Center for European Reform, a London-based research institution.If Dutch voters oppose the deal against the vote of their duly elected Parliament, as they are currently expected to do, Mr. Rutte will have to find a middle road, Mr. Korteweg said. After all, he noted, the Netherlands currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Council.ImageCredit...Remko De Waal/European Pressphoto AgencyBut a no vote would be awkward, given that Geert Wilders, the fiercely anti-Brussels opposition politician, is again doing well in opinion polls and is neck and neck with Mr. Ruttes party. That is one reason Mr. Rutte has kept a certain distance from the referendum, only recently doing media interviews to support ratification, because he does not want to alienate the euroskeptics even those within his own party while also trying not to anger his European partners.A trend toward more popular democracy is visible in Europe, with other countries, like Hungary, flirting with referendums. Such direct votes are likely to follow on other issues, meaning European Union decision-making, already complicated, could become even harder, especially if the decisions of democratically elected governments and parliaments cannot be considered binding and final.Any further public support of euroskepticism would cause concern for Prime Minister David Camerons government in Britain, which faces its own fiercely fought referendum on June 23 on whether to stay in the European Union, which Mr. Cameron favors.The usual problem with referendums is that voters tend to vote emotionally on what bothers them, not necessarily on the merits of the question asked. The European Union is out of favor and so is Ukraine, which remains fairly corrupt even after the Maidan revolution and democratic elections.Nor will new revelations in the Panama Papers about offshore accounts held by the current Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, help those who want to defeat the referendum.But those revelations could cut both ways, since they also suggest that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, through close friends and intermediaries, has even more money stashed away offshore. Mr. Putin is hardly popular in the Netherlands, given that 193 Dutch passengers were killed in 2014 when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile fired by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists. The Dutch public was strongly behind the European Unions imposing sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine.Mr. Putin is watching the referendum carefully, since a no vote feeds into his agenda because it shows disunity in Europe on Ukraine policy, Mr. Korteweg said. Mr. Putin is eager both to keep Crimea, which Russia annexed, and get the European Union to remove the sanctions on Russia. The Italian government, for example, has already questioned whether those sanctions might be reviewed when they are up for renewal in July.But even the GeenPeil organizers say that the referendum has more to do with anger at the European Union than with Ukraine or Russia. The yes campaign is pressing that issue, warning that a no would give Mr. Putin what he wants. So whatever the intention of the referendum, the results are likely to be judged differently.As Carl Bildt, the former Swedish foreign minister, said, The Dutch referendum on Ukraine tomorrow might be a joke, but one that could have very serious consequences.

World

Ronda Rousey Should Be a WWE Villain ... Says Cedric the Entertainer 1/29/2018 TMZSports.com Forget the "good guy" stuff ... Ronda Rousey should be a HEEL when she opens her WWE storyline, so says big-time wrestling fan, Cedric the Entertainer. We broke the news to Ced in L.A. on Sunday night after Rousey crashed the Royal Rumble and confirmed she's now a full-time WWE superstar ... you can tell he's pumped about it! Not only did Ced warn Ronda about the Bella Twins, he also pitched Ronda on why she should start her WWE career as a VILLAIN. We also got "Shark Tank" star Daymond John and broke the news to him as well ... and the super-rich investor explained why the move is MONEY, BABY!

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Credit...Andrew Kelly/ReutersDec. 17, 2015Wall Street may have to come up with a new strategy to replace a type of deal that has been popular among activist investors and companies.On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved legislation including provisions that would remove the tax advantages of spinning off corporate real estate into a separate, publicly traded real estate investment trust. The end of such tax-free spinoffs will generate $1.9 billion in additional tax revenue in the coming years, the Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated.Hilton Worldwide may end up being the last big company to reap the benefits of this type of deal. The company, which the Blackstone Group took public about two years ago, is working on a plan to spin off its hotels into a REIT, according to a person briefed on the matter. The hotel operator has requested that the Internal Revenue Service deem the transaction tax-free.These spinoffs have been a popular tactic of activist investors who have pushed companies to unlock cash by separating themselves from their real estate holdings.Publicly traded REITs own property or mortgages and are not taxed so long as they pass most of their income on to shareholders.Companies that own a lot of real estate mall operators, restaurant chains and even casinos have looked at a spinoff to a real estate investment trust as a way of getting a higher value for those properties and using the cash to pay off debt.There have been 15 tax-free REIT spinoffs since 2010, including five last year and three this year, for a total of $21.6 billion, according to FactSet. This summer, Darden Restaurants completed the $747 million spinoff of Four Corners Property Trust.Even before Thursdays vote, regulators and lawmakers signaled their intention to shut off the spigot. The I.R.S. said in September that it would not give any more private approvals on these kinds of spinoffs while it studied the matter more closely.And some companies have been unconvinced of the transactions benefits. Macys, Ethan Allen and McDonalds have all resisted the calls for REIT spinoffs from activist investors.For some companies, its a shame that they wont be able to get that done, one prominent activist investor said of REIT spinoffs, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many companies have known about this as an option for years and didnt move.With the move by Congress, companies are going to have to figure out another way to unlock the value of their real estate without a spinoff, said Robert Willens, a tax consultant in New York. No one is going to do a taxable spinoff.Hedge fund activists have already prodded some of their targets to pursue other kinds of transactions that would not require the blessing of the I.R.S. Starboard Value, for example, has called on Macys to consider forming a joint venture with a real estate specialist for its properties, a move similar to what Hudsons Bay Company, the parent of Saks Fifth Avenue, has done for about 40 of its stores.Hiltons chief executive, Christopher J. Nassetta, earlier had talked about a REIT spinoff as an option that the company was exploring. He recently told investors and analysts that Hilton expected to have detailed plans to discuss by early next year.Theyre massively complex sort of options that were thinking through, he said in October. Companies may look to sale-leaseback arrangements as an alternative to REIT spinoffs.In September, Bob Evans Farms announced plans to sell about $200 million of property and lease it back, including its headquarters in New Albany, Ohio. The restaurant group has been pursued by the activist investor Tom Sandell.This summer, Time Life Fitness, based in Chanhassen, Minn., sold 10 high-end fitness centers to Gramercy Property Trust in a $300 million sale-leaseback arrangement.Another way to reap the value of real estate is to sell property. Hilton sold the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan in February for $1.95 billion to a Chinese insurance company. In July, Pinnacle Entertainment said it would sell its casinos to Gaming & Leisure Properties.The vote on the legislation with the REIT provision was 318 to 109. It was a bipartisan effort led by Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah; Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon; and Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The tax legislation now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.It contains much more than the REIT provisions, including permanent tax incentives for individuals and companies.The move by Congress to end one kind of tax-focused deal follows recent public outcry about another: inversions, or the acquisition of a foreign company that allows a United States company to move its legal headquarters to a country with a lower tax rate.The I.R.S. and the Treasury have also proposed ways to curtail these kinds of transactions, which by estimates have cut into tax revenue by some $34 billion, and called on Congress to help.But lawmakers appeared to choose clamping down on a kind of deal-making that has an easier solution over one that may create unintended consequences.The REIT issue is easier to fix with a piece of legislation, said Edward Glazer, a lawyer at Goodwin Procter. Its harder to draw the line on inversions and how to limit them without putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage.Wall Street and the REIT industry may see more opportunity in other changes that were part of the tax bill.Elsewhere in the bill are provisions that make foreign investment in real estate investment trusts and commercial real estate in the United States more attractive.First, it exempts shareholders of publicly traded REITs from tax on the sale of the holdings if they own 10 percent or less of the stock (up from 5 percent), and second, it creates new exceptions to taxes for foreign pension plans.The relaxed rules for foreign investment are expected to generate another $20 billion to $30 billion in investment in United States commercial real estate next year, says Kenneth Rosen, the chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.This year commercial real estate attracted some $500 billion in investment across the board, he said, citing statistics from Real Capital Analytics.Supporters of the change from within the real estate industry say it removes the disadvantages of investing in commercial real estate compared with other types of investments and helps the American real estate market compete with foreign real estate markets.The curtailment of tax-free REIT spinoffs was intended to partly fill the gap in lost revenue as a result of the foreign investor tax changes, lawyers said.The bill contains much more good news than bad news for REITs and the real estate industry, Mr. Glazer said.

Business

James Franco A Little Surf Before A Lotta Snub 1/23/2018 James Franco tried riding out the storm on a surfboard Monday -- but it didn't work ... 'cause he wiped out a day later. Paps got James Monday in Malibu surfing with some pals, and he actually seemed pretty chipper ... but his mood probably changed Tuesday after missing out on a Best Actor nomination. Lots of folks are claiming snub, especially since he won a Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award -- he was also nominated for a SAG Award. Looks like those accusations were simply too much for the Academy ... bummer, dude. Share on Facebook TWEET This See also James Franco Movies Controversial S#!T The Oscars Paparazzi Photo

Entertainment

Health|Study Calls a Malaria Preventive for Pregnant Women Into Questionhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/health/study-calls-a-malaria-preventative-for-pregnant-women-into-question.htmlGlobal HealthCredit...Schalk Van Zuydam/Associated PressMarch 14, 2016Pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly vulnerable to malaria: the women because they may develop lethal anemia, and the babies because infected red blood cells tend to clump in the placenta, robbing the fetus of nutrients.In Africa, about 30 million women a year become pregnant in areas where falciparum malaria the most dangerous kind is common.To protect them, health agencies use intermittent preventive treatment, or I.P.T., under which all pregnant women in such areas are given doses of anti-malarial drugs at regular intervals, whether or not they are tested for the disease.But malaria fighters sharply disagree over how to do it, and a study recently published by The New England Journal of Medicine adds fuel to the debate.To cure malaria, virtually everyone in the field uses two-drug cocktails containing artemisinin, a derivative of the sweet wormwood plant.But for preventing malaria in pregnant women, the World Health Organization recommends only an older drug combination, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine also known as Fansidar even though resistance to it is spreading in Africa.The new study, led by scientists from Uganda and the University of California, San Francisco, found that women who received sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for prevention were much more likely to develop malaria symptoms during pregnancy and to have parasites in the placenta when their babies were born.A similar study done in Kenya and published in The Lancet in 2015 had similar results.Some experts believe the W.H.O. should change its recommendation. To me, its shocking that its taking so long, said Dr. Grant Dorsey, who researches malaria at U.C.S.F. and is an author of the Uganda study.Other malaria-fighting groups are not endorsing change.The old method is imperfect but still usually prevents deaths, said Dr. Estrella Lasry, a tropical medicine adviser at Doctors Without Borders. Using artemisinin for prevention could speed the emergence of parasites resistant to it.We need artemesinin for treatment, so we dont want to burn it out, she said.The Presidents Malaria Initiative, the American governments global malaria-fighting program, which has paid for 42 million doses of I.P.T. since 2005, still thinks the old method protects fetuses well enough to justify continued use, a spokesman said.The exception is in a small region of East Africa, where the initiative is backing a trial of new methods.

Health

John Halamka, chief information office for a Boston hospital, uses time spent on conference calls to do chores around his farm.Credit...Charlie Mahoney for The New York TimesSlide 1 of 4 John Halamka, chief information office for a Boston hospital, uses time spent on conference calls to do chores around his farm.Credit...Charlie Mahoney for The New York TimesDec. 4, 2015The minute Marvin Avilez gets on a conference call, he is on his hands and knees.With his headset on and a rag in hand, he dusts and scrubs his small studio apartment in Manhattan. Mr. Avilez, 42, the chief operating officer of Hiccup, a national wellness program based in New York, starts with the floor, quietly working his way from the corner to the center.When every inch of the room shimmers, he moves on to the dirty dishes in the sink. That requires the mute button, Mr. Avilez said.Wainhouse Research, a consulting firm in Duxbury, Mass., estimates that a knowledge worker one whose job focuses on handling information in the United States spends an average of 104 minutes each month in conference calls. Such calls have become an orgy of multitasking, serving as a backdrop for a free-for-all of household chores, personal hygiene, online shopping and last-minute income tax filing. As a result, conference calls give rise to what could well be societys most widespread, implicitly sanctioned collection of antisocial behaviors.Most people would not dream of brandishing a Swiffer, to say nothing of flossing their teeth or extracting unwanted hairs, during a face-to-face meeting with professional colleagues. But the rules change for conference calls.Its all about the extent to which people are held accountable in different settings, said Juliana Schroeder, assistant professor of management of organizations at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. In a conference call, because you dont have the visuals, no one is being called out for what theyre doing physically.Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer of the Beth Israel Deaconess health system in Boston, divides conference calls into three types. Types 1 and 2, in which he is either leading the meeting or playing a major role, require at least a modicum of attention.For the calls Dr. Halamka labels Type 3, his participation is driven by internal politics rather than substance. In reality, I could have read a two-paragraph briefing instead of sitting on the phone for an hour, he said.Dr. Halamka, who lives on a farm in Sherborn, Mass., near Boston, said he spent about six hours a week on Type 3 calls. He has used the time to sand and varnish the furniture in his office, walk his dogs, get a haircut or tend to his llamas restocking the hay feeders, filling water buckets and shoveling manure.Susan Kostal, who lives in San Francisco and works as a marketing consultant to law firms, said she found it hard to resist emails and Twitter while on a conference call. She does her best to stay partly tuned in to the conversation. When she hears her name, she snaps to attention and chimes in with a response to someones remark. I end up sounding intelligent, she said, but I go back and think, I dont really know what that person said.More than once, Ms. Kostal has made the mistake of taking conference calls from bed. She has one client in Britain, which puts her on calls in the middle of the night in San Francisco. She recalled recently falling asleep during a call and being awakened by her own snoring.The sound quality of those calls is so poor, I dont think anyone noticed, she said. But she has stopped taking conference calls while supine. That was a real wake-up call to start paying better attention.And in conference calls, no one knows youre in the downward-dog position. One 52-year-old financial consultant in Manhattan said she spent the time during conference calls working her way through her daily yoga regimen. Like several other people interviewed for this article, she did not want her name used. The image of my butt in the air isnt exactly what I want to put out there as my professional persona, she said.Aware of the danger of distraction, some people request that conference calls be conducted via video. You can tell if people are distracted from a persons tone, said Jason Reece, a web developer in Atlanta. People are more likely to be engaged when the camera is on. It inspires a person to be sitting up and paying attention.Mr. Reece asks his clients to use videoconferencing. He says there are always people who will resist, telling him their Internet connection is too weak, for example. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, he asks that they put up a still photo. Even if you only get a photo, its more humanizing, he said.Art Schoeller, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, said it was common for people on video calls to choose the voice-only option. That does allow for the yoga scenario, he said.Mr. Schoeller added that while he had seen some companies require videoconferencing to encourage a higher degree of attentiveness, the conversion from audio to video has remained slow. Video is on a long, slow curve of more expansive adoption, he said, but the industry has long struggled with how to accelerate it.Another problem is that of accidental videoconferencing. Dr. Niraj Sehgal, a physician in San Francisco who frequently conducts leadership training sessions online, recalled a recent session during which everyone but he and his co-leader were expected to turn off their cameras.But one member of the group forgot to do so. He was sitting there shirtless, chomping from a big bag of chips, oblivious to being seen by 30 other people, Dr. Sehgal said. Then I saw a cat walk across the back of his high-backed chair, and it looked like the cat was walking across his head because of the camera angle.Many who multitask during conference calls choose activities that take them away from their desk. They argue that their unseen activities engage a different part of their brain, leaving them far less distracted than they would be if they were sitting in front of a computer, succumbing to the lure of email.Dr. Russ Cucina, 43, an associate professor of hospital medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, spends some 30 hours a week in meetings, half of them conference calls.The temptation to look at email is very great, Dr. Cucina said. The part of my brain that has to read an email also has to process language in the call. That means that if I start looking at email, a couple of sentences in Im no longer hearing the call.Dr. Cucinas remedy: Five years ago he bought a set of free weights for his office. During calls he does biceps and triceps curls, along with military presses.I can stand there and lift weights all I want while still being fully engaged in the discussion, said Dr. Cucina, now a very buff man. And nobody on the call has to know.Mr. Avilez has reached a similar conclusion: When I need to be on target during my calls, I like to pace. It gives me clarity. But its hard to pace in my 350-square-foot apartment. So I clean.

Business

Science|Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine protects against Delta, adding to the arsenal against the variant.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/science/johnson-johnson-says-its-vaccine-protects-against-delta-adding-to-the-arsenal-against-the-variant.htmlCredit...James Estrin/The New York TimesJuly 2, 2021Johnson & Johnson said its Covid vaccine was effective against the highly contagious Delta variant, adding to the growing body of evidence that the most widely available Covid shots offer protection against its most dangerous variants.Even eight months after inoculation, the single-shot J.&J. vaccine is proving to be highly effective against Delta, the company reported on Thursday, a reassuring finding for the 11 million Americans who have gotten the shot and for countries around the world betting on receiving the vaccine. In the United States, the variant, first identified in India, now accounts for an estimated one in four new cases, and the C.D.C. has listed it in 23 states.Johnson & Johnson said its vaccine showed a small drop in potency against the Delta variant, compared with its effectiveness against the original virus, and a larger drop against the Beta variant first identified in South Africa. That is the same pattern seen with the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.The intense discourse about Deltas threat has left some people who are vaccinated feeling anxious about whether they are protected. The variants global spread has prompted new restrictions from Ireland to Malaysia.Frustration had been building about the lack of clarity around the Johnson & Johnson vaccines efficacy against Delta. And reports of a cluster of cases among players on the Yankees baseball team who had received the Johnson & Johnson shot, though all asymptomatic or mild, did nothing to assuage fears.Studies have shown that the Delta and Beta variants slightly lower the efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. For Pfizer, studies show that two doses offer 88 percent protection against the Delta variant, just below the 93 percent protection against Alpha. The Moderna vaccine has performed similarly to Pfizers in earlier studies.Johnson & Johnson has collected less data than its peers on the vaccines, and the study released on Thursday was small and has not yet been published in a scientific journal. Updates on the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been slow because it was rolled out later than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the United States. The vaccine offered about 72 percent protection against early versions of the virus.

science

Credit...Yuri Gripas/ReutersJune 7, 2018WASHINGTON The special counsels accusation this week that Paul Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, tried to tamper with potential witnesses originated with two veteran journalists who turned on Mr. Manafort after working closely with him to prop up the former Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, interviews and documents show.The two journalists, who helped lead a project to which prosecutors say Mr. Manafort funneled more than $2 million from overseas accounts, are the latest in a series of onetime Manafort business partners who have provided damaging evidence to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Their cooperation with the government has increasingly isolated Mr. Manafort as he awaits trial on charges of violating financial, tax and federal lobbying disclosure laws.Mr. Manaforts associates say he feels betrayed by the former business partners, to whom he collectively steered millions of dollars over the years for consulting, lobbying and legal work intended to bolster the reputation of Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine. Mr. Manafort has told associates that he believes Mr. Muellers team is using the business partners to pressure him to flip on Mr. Trump in a manner similar to the one used to prosecute the energy giant Enron in the early 2000s by a Justice Department task force that included some lawyers now serving on Mr. Muellers team.Anybody who is a student of the Enron prosecution sees a very close parallel, said Michael R. Caputo, a former Trump campaign operative, who has known Mr. Manafort for three decades and spoke with him on Wednesday. Another associate said Mr. Manafort and some of his close allies were reading a book by the conservative lawyer and commentator Sidney Powell that claims misconduct in the Enron prosecution. And Mr. Caputo, who was interviewed by Mr. Muellers team last month, said that when Paul decided to fight, he knew the lay of the land.Prosecutors assert that Mr. Manaforts fight included trying to shape the accounts that former business partners offered prosecutors. In court filings this week, they said that starting in late February, Mr. Manafort repeatedly tried to reach the two journalists with whom he had fallen out of contact until recently to coordinate their accounts about their work to tamp down international criticism of Mr. Yanukovych for corruption, persecuting rivals and pivoting toward Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin. The prosecutors did not name the journalists, but three people familiar with the project identified them as Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager.Both men fended off the overtures, which included phone calls and encrypted text messages from Mr. Manafort and a longtime associate, whom prosecutors have not named but was identified by people close to Mr. Manafort as Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a former Russian Army linguist who prosecutors claim has ties to Russian intelligence.Instead of engaging, Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager informed Mr. Muellers team of the efforts to reach them, according to prosecutors. Mr. Friedman accused Mr. Manafort of trying to suborn perjury by persuading him to lie to investigators, according to a declaration by an F.B.I. agent on the case. Neither Mr. Friedman nor Mr. Sager could be reached for comment.The prosecutors are arguing that because of these allegations, a federal judge should revise the terms of Mr. Manaforts bail or even send him to jail while he awaits trial. Mr. Manafort, who posted a $10 million bond and has been confined to his home since October, has until Friday at midnight to respond to the prosecutors accusations. His spokesman brushed aside prosecutors allegations of witness tampering, but declined to comment on Mr. Manaforts relationship with Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager.They join a growing list of lobbyists, consultants and lawyers who worked on various contracts related to Mr. Yanukovychs government, political party or supporters and are now cooperating with the governments prosecution of Mr. Manafort. His associates say he was most stung by the decision of his longtime business partner, Rick Gates, who served as Mr. Trumps former deputy presidential campaign manager, to cooperate as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to investigators.Alex van der Zwaan, who worked with Mr. Gates and Mr. Kilimnik on a report used to defend Mr. Yanukovych against accusations of prosecuting a rival for political purposes, cooperated with Mr. Muellers team before he pleaded guilty in February to lying to investigators. A former lawyer with the international firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, he was sentenced to 30 days and a hefty fine.Other former associates who have cooperated with Mr. Muellers team include employees from the lobbying firms Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group, both of which worked for a nonprofit based in Brussels called the European Center for a Modern Ukraine, which was overseen by Mr. Manafort.The effort complemented the one with which Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager were involved from 2011 until 2014 to enlist prominent European politicians to vouch for Mr. Yanukovych. From overseas bank accounts, Mr. Manafort funneled $2.4 million to fund the activities of the coalition overseen by Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager, which helped place op-eds in the Western news media and arrange speaking engagements.Mr. Sager, for example, worked with Mr. Manafort and others to arrange a March 2013 visit to Washington by Romano Prodi, the former prime minister of Italy and the former president of the European Commission. Mr. Prodi met with key members of Congress, including Representative Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the committees ranking Democrat.Mr. Friedman helped prepare an Op-Ed by Mr. Prodi that was published by The New York Times in February 2014, according to prosecutors. The piece argued that Mr. Yanukovych could bring Ukraine back from the brink of collapse and that European leaders should not threaten sanctions against him or the nation.The day after the commentary was published, Mr. Yanukovych fled Ukraine amid protests of his governments corruption and pivot toward Moscow, eventually arriving in Russia and effectively ending his presidency.In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Prodi said that he wrote the Op-Ed, although he acknowledged that he and Mr. Friedman, whom he said he knew only as an author and columnist and not as a lobbyist, had exchanged views and maybe some language. He added, When I write an article and sign this document, its my responsibility. He said that he had no knowledge of Mr. Manaforts involvement, but, after checking his records, he confirmed that Mr. Sager arranged my appointments in Washington.While prosecutors are now relying on Mr. Friedmans and Mr. Sagers accounts to accuse Mr. Manafort of trying to undermine the case that he evaded lobbying laws, Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager have been accused of misrepresenting themselves as independent journalists while being paid by foreign governments or their intermediaries. Mr. Friedmans firm, Fact-Based Communications, went bankrupt several years ago after disclosures that the Malaysian government was paying the company at the same it was producing supposedly independent documentaries and reports about Malaysia.Mr. Friedman, who worked at various points for The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The International Herald Tribune, has continued to work as a journalist in Italy, where he wrote an authorized biography of the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. In mid-2016, when Mr. Manafort was serving as Mr. Trumps campaign chairman, Mr. Friedman had a one-on-one interview with Mr. Trump. Since then, he has criticized the president.One former official at Fact-Based Communications said it would not be hard to imagine Mr. Friedman turning on a business partner if it served his ends.Loyalty did not always feature strongly among his values, Neil Boyde, a former chief financial officer at the company, said in an interview.Mr. Sager, a former producer for CNN, was accused last year of publishing articles that defended corrupt Azerbaijani interests in exchange for $2.6 million from Azerbaijani sources. The allegations were made in a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an international network of investigative journalists.

Politics

Tom Brady Threatens Radio Station After Host Slams QB's Daughter 1/29/2018 "Kirk and Callahan" WEEI Tom Brady says he's considering ENDING his weekly appearance on WEEI radio in Boston after one of the station's hosts called his daughter an "annoying little pissant." WEEI has suspended the radio host ... but Brady's still pissed. Brady has been doing the weekly segment on "Kirk & Callahan" for years -- chopping it up about football and other light topics in his life. But Monday morning, Brady told the guys he's considering never coming back over comments another WEEI host, Alex Reimer, made on a different show on Thursday. Reimer was discussing Tom's new Facebook show, "Tom vs. Time" -- which is essentially a docuseries following Tom and his family -- and he put the crosshairs on Tom's 5-year-old daughter. WEEI suspended Reimer on Friday -- but when Brady appeared on "Kirk & Callahan" on Monday, he made it clear he's not over it. "I've tried to come on this show for many years and showed you guys a lot of respect ... I've always tried to come on and do a good job for you guys. It's very disappointing when you hear that, certainly with my daughter, or any child. They certainly don't deserve that." Brady says he's still deciding whether to end his relationship with the station for good.

Entertainment

TrilobitesCredit...Mito Habe-Evans for The New York TimesMarch 13, 2016Update: Since this article was published in 2016, the company that made the dinosaur has gone out of business.Good morning. Or confusing morning, really. Come Daylight Saving Time each year, people often complain about how thrown off they feel by the shift of an hour.I thought they were just whiny. That is, until my dinosaur got jet lag and refused to glow.Since thats not an everyday occurrence, let me explain the dinosaur first, and then Ill get to how my dinosaurs problems may be connected to your own struggles to function over the next few days. (Hint: Its not only the loss of sleep that causes problems.)Meet my dinosaur, glimmering bright, fully recovered from jet lag.ImageCredit...Mito Habe-Evans for The New York TimesCreated by a company called BioPop, my Dino Pet contains lots of itty bitty dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates, if you are having trouble summoning a sixth-grade biology lesson, are usually ocean-dwelling, single-celled organisms also known as marine plankton. People typically encounter them when they clean the inside of their aquarium (this form is often referred to as brown slime algae) or if they happen to be kayaking through a bay filled with lots of bioluminescent ones.The ones that live in my plastic dinosaur (a Christmas gift) are the latter kind. Shake them just a bit and the transparent creatures become a glow-in-the-dark snow globe.Except that a week after I set my dinosaur up, it still refused to put on its shimmer show. I tried everything. I moved it from darker to lighter spots. I played it music and whispered encouraging words. But when I turned off the lights, my little dino remained depressingly dark.And then upon revisiting the instructions, everything was illuminated:Until now, your dinoflagellates were raised in San Diego, Calif.. Theyve been waking up at 5 a.m. and going to bed around 6 p.m. P.S.T. This is the routine theyre used to. This routine can be changed, but you have to be aware of the routine theyve been on and be patient while they adapt to their new environment and routine.In other words, the dinoflagellates on my night stand in New York had severe jet lag.They get used to this schedule, said Dimitri Deheyn, BioPops scientific adviser and a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.ImageCredit...Andy Bass/BioPopBring guests by the BioPop lab and turn off the lights even just one hour earlier than usual and the show will be muted, he and others who work there say. (Though apparently some can get it together better than others.) Expect the dinos to perform on demand after a long journey to another time zone? Forget it.Like humans, dinoflagellates follow a roughly 24-hour circadian cycle triggered by phases of sunlight. Unlike humans who may find ways to mask their irritability, sleepiness or lack of concentration, dinoflagellates are very direct about their inability to perform when their schedule is out of whack: They simply wont glow the same way. (A number of biologists who have helped advance our understanding of human sleep cycles made initial circadian breakthroughs with these organisms for connected reasons.)Children can be similarly transparent, Dr. Deheyn points out.If there is still light out, its definitely not time to go to bed, he said, likening his 6-year-old sons experience with Daylight Saving Time to that of a dino with jet lag. Even though you try to explain the time change to him, his body will react to the light. Its only an hour. But it takes weeks to recover from that change.In the same vein, losing an hour is a big deal for reasons beyond lost sleep.Remember, we have clocks in every organ in our body, said Robert Thomas, the director of a sleep medicine fellowship at Harvards Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Any kind of shift, small or large, means, Youre not just moving sleep youre moving your entire body. Its like a giant ocean liner. A big ocean liner slowly chugging away. You cant just jerk it around.Dr. Thomas, who also runs a sleep lab focused on helping individuals with extreme sleep disorders get on a more normal schedule, takes the impact of light seriously in his home as well. Every night at 8 p.m. he turns off all the lights so as to avoid the risk of pushing his circadian system into another time zone. Because we talked on the phone closer to 9, this meant his end of the conversation was conducted in complete darkness.If jet lag was permanent, it would probably kill us, he said.But in the grand scheme of circadian disruptions, a biannual shift in an hour is not the end of the world for humans or dinoflagellates.Dr. Deheyn advised dino owners to respect that their tiny pets may need a few days to adjust. (Even if dinos dont have to be anywhere an hour earlier in their circadian cycle, they may suffer from their owners turning the lights on and off at new times and then expecting an unusually early performance.)Dont shake them too much or lower the temperature, he said. Its the cumulative stress that can throw them off even more.Humans, it seems, would benefit from a similar approach.Full dino disclosure: The dinoflagellates in the batch at top are different from my original slow-adjusting batch. After two weeks, I got only a poppy-seed sized glimmer, so I washed them down the sink. I do feel bad about this now that I know more about dinoflagellates circadian rhythms. But its possible, the people at BioPop told me while talking to them for this article, that my batch of dinos had problems beyond jet lag. My second batch offered a glimmer on day two and was shining strong by day four.

science

Global HealthThe company announced a licensing deal that will allow the drug, molnupiravir, to be made and sold cheaply in 105 developing nations.Credit...Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersPublished Oct. 27, 2021Updated Nov. 4, 2021Merck has granted a royalty-free license for its promising Covid-19 pill to a United Nations-backed nonprofit in a deal that would allow the drug to be manufactured and sold cheaply in the poorest nations, where vaccines for the coronavirus are in devastatingly short supply.The agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool, an organization that works to make medical treatment and technologies globally accessible, will allow companies in 105 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, to sublicense the formulation for the antiviral pill, called molnupiravir, and begin making it.Merck reported this month that the drug halved the rate of hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk Covid patients who took it soon after infection in a large clinical trial. Affluent nations, including the United States, have rushed to negotiate deals to buy the drug, tying up large portions of the supply even before it has been approved by regulators and raising concerns that poor countries could be shut out of access to the medicine, much as they have been for vaccines.Generic drug makers in developing countries are expected to market the drug for as little as $20 per treatment (a 5-day course), compared to the $712 per course that the U.S. government has agreed to pay for its initial purchase.Treatment-access advocates welcomed the new deal, which was announced Wednesday morning, calling it an unusual step for a major Western pharmaceutical company.The Merck license is a very good and meaningful protection for people living in countries where more than half of the worlds population lives, said James Love, who leads Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit research organization.The license isnt perfect, he added, they never are, but its going to be very helpful if the drugs work as well as the hype and are safe enough. It will make a difference.Merck had already taken the step of licensing eight large Indian drug makers to produce generic versions of molnupiravir, pending authorization. But the company feared that production in just one region would not be enough to ensure rapid access to the drug across the developing world, said Jenelle Krishnamoorthy, Mercks vice president for global policy.So Merck also engaged in talks with the patent pool, which has deep experience in working with a network of global drug makers that can meet high-quality standards, including those required for W.H.O. prequalification, she said.We knew we had to work faster, we had to do things we hadnt done before, we had be more efficient, Ms. Krishnamoorthy said.Merck has promised assistance with technology transfer to any generic licensee that requires help to make the drug. That offer, and the companys quick moves to make its product available in the developing world, stand in contrast to the ongoing refusal of Pfizer and Moderna to do technology transfer to potential mRNA vaccine producers in Africa, Asia or Latin America. The company is the rare pharmaceutical brand to be receiving largely positive media coverage these days.During the long fight for affordably priced drugs to treat H.I.V. in the early 2000s, Merck was a frequent target of activist ire, and the legacy of that battle clearly informs the companys decision-making about access today. The processes that Merck is using for molnupiravir including voluntary licenses to Indian generic makers, and a handing-off of the market where governments or consumers wont be able to pay much for the drug are also standard practices in the drug industry today, and date from the struggle for accessible medications for H.I.V.Charles Gore, director of the Medicines Patent Pool, said the new agreement with Merck is the first transparent public health license for a Covid medicine. Really importantly, it is for something that could be used outside of hospitals, and which is potentially going to be very cheap, he said. This is hopefully going to make things a lot easier in terms of keeping people out of hospital and stopping people dying in low- and middle-income countries.Mr. Gore said that more than 50 companies, from all regions of the developing world, have already approached the organization about obtaining a sublicense.The agreement with Merck, Mr. Gore said, is also critically important as a precedent. I hope this will start a landslide of people coming to the Medicines Patent Pool, wanting to do licensing, because theres no question that access has been the problem, he said. From a scientific point of view, industry have done a really brilliant job firstly, providing the vaccines, and now providing treatments. But the access side of it has let the whole thing down.Pfizer also has a Covid antiviral pill in late-stage trials, and Mr. Gore said the company is in talks with the patent pool.Molnupiravir was developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miami, based on a molecule first studied at Emory University in Atlanta. All three organizations are party to this deal, which will not require a fee from any sublicensing company.Merck has submitted its clinical trial data to the Food and Drug Administration seeking emergency-use authorization; a decision could come in early December. Regulatory agencies in other nations that produce a version of molnupiravir will need to evaluate it. Some drug manufacturers will likely seek World Health Organization prequalification for their versions, so that they can bypass the country-by-country regulatory steps.Stephen Saad, chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, said his company expects to apply for a license to make molnupiravir and distribute it across Africa. He said that he believed that Aspen could make the drug for about $20 per course.Mr. Gore said that he has been told by some in the field that a generic version of molnupiravir could be profitably produced for as little as $8 per course.Under the new licensing deal, Merck would continue to produce and sell molnupiravir in wealthy nations and many middle-income ones at significantly higher prices.In South Africa, treatment access activists called the patent pool license a positive step. We have lost so many lives to the blocking of licensing, said Sibongile Tshabalala, chairwoman of the Treatment Action Campaign, the South African organization that lobbied global drug companies for affordable H.I.V. drugs and has been campaigning in recent months for Covid vaccine access.Broadening the range of countries where molnupiravir is made will ensure the lowest possible price for the drug, and make it more feasible for public health systems in Africa to purchase it for widespread use, Ms. Tshabalala said.The licenses that Merck issued to the Indian generic makers restrict sales to developing countries and excludes most middle-income countries, including China and Russia the site of a current raging Covid outbreak raising the possibility that citizens in these nations, which often have weak health systems, will not get access to the drug.The patent pool agreement for molnupiravir also excludes middle-income countries and most nations in Latin America, Mr. Love said.What are you going to do for countries like Chile or Colombia, Thailand or Mexico? he asked. Theyre not in the license.Lynsey Chutel contributed reporting from Johannesburg.

Health

Credit...Sasha Maslov for The New York TimesNov. 21, 2016Exxon Mobil, under fire over its past efforts to undercut climate science, is accusing the Rockefeller family of masterminding a conspiracy against it. Yes, that Rockefeller family.The company, which has been accused of scheming to pay surrogates to deny the threat of climate change, is trying to turn the tables by calling its opponents the real conspirators. It is fighting state attorneys general, journalists and environmental groups in an all-out campaign to defend its image.But the oil and gas giant has directed some of its fiercest fire at the descendants of John D. Rockefeller, who in 1870 founded Standard Oil, the company that became Exxon Mobil. Rockefeller family charities, longtime backers of environmental causes, have supported much of the research and reporting that has called the company to account for its climate policies, and Exxon Mobil is crying foul.The pressure on the company is intense. Journalists have published exposs of the companys research into climate change, including actions it took to incorporate climate projections into its exploration plans while playing down the threat. Such reporting projects, financed in part by Rockefeller family charities, included last years work by Inside Climate News and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which published its results with The Los Angeles Times. The findings have been boiled down to the popular Twitter shorthand #ExxonKnew.Exxon Mobil, in public statements, court filings and thick dossiers on the companys opponents, says it is the target of a well-funded and politically motivated conspiracy to harm its core business.Yet where Exxon Mobil and its allies see a tangled conspiracy, members of the Rockefeller family see an effort to use the vast wealth generated by fossil fuels to combat the damage done by fossil fuels.Now the family has taken the unusual step of going public to state its case in a rare interview and in a two-part essay in The New York Review of Books that lays out in detail Exxon Mobils research and funding of climate denial. David Kaiser, an author of the essay and a fifth-generation Rockefeller, said dryly, The family generally doesnt do public things in this way.He said he was aware that the obvious historical irony of the fact that we are Rockefellers doing this would attract additional attention to the story and we want attention to the story, because we think it will make clear to the public that the so-called debate over climate science has been a fake one, artificially manufactured, and a basically dishonest one from the beginning.State attorneys general, beginning last year with Eric T. Schneiderman of New York, began conducting fraud investigations that focus on whether the companys decades-long research into climate change, and the likelihood that energy companies will not be able to exploit all of their fossil fuel reserves, makes recent valuation of those reserves questionable. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission has launched its own investigation of the companys accounting of reserves.Exxon Mobil says it has recognized the threat of climate change and the need to fight it for more than a decade; the company says it stopped funding the organizations that promote climate denial in the mid-2000s. It has also argued that its early research has been mischaracterized.The company is attacking the role of the Rockefeller family in encouraging, and in some cases bankrolling, the investigations and campaigns against it. Both journalism organizations that investigated the company were financed, at least in part, by Rockefeller philanthropies, though the organizations say that their donors have no control over what they write.The Rockefeller funds have also provided support to groups like Greenpeace and 350.org that have investigated and criticized the company.A conference in January to discuss activism and education efforts surrounding Exxon Mobils climate work was held at the offices shared by two Rockefeller family funds. One potential subject of discussion suggested by a participant was to establish in publics mind that Exxon is a corrupt institution that has pushed humanity (and all creation) toward climate chaos and grave harm.Alan Jeffers, an Exxon Mobil spokesman, said in an interview, At every turn, as we saw the company coming under attack, there was a link back to either the Rockefeller Brothers Fund or the Rockefeller Family Fund.The two philanthropies have announced that they are divesting themselves of fossil fuels. When the family fund made its announcement in March, it denounced Exxon Mobils morally reprehensible conduct on climate change.Mr. Jeffers responded, Its not surprising that theyre divesting from the company since theyre already funding a conspiracy against us.The company and its allies have turned up the heat on its founding family and other opponents.Industry-backed policy groups like Energy in Depth generate stories that attack the family and its philanthropy. Their charges are echoed in conservative news outlets like The Wall Street Journal's opinion page and The Daily Caller. Breitbart News has called the collaboration among environmental groups to urge the investigation of Exxon a RICO conspiracy, using the acronym for the federal racketeering law, and the industry-oriented site Natural Gas Now published an article declaring, Its time to RICO the Rockefellers.The companys allies offer journalists what political operatives refer to as opposition research, including court records and favorable articles (as do activist groups opposing Exxon Mobil).Exxon Mobil has also pulled the Rockefeller philanthropies into its legal battles against the attorneys general investigating it, sending the groups a subpoena demanding documents and communications related to their activism.A federal judge in Dallas, Ed Kinkeade, granted the company the right to pursue discovery in its cases against the state attorneys general. He ruled that comments by Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts at a news conference about the investigations in March, which also featured former Vice President Al Gore, may have shown that she was presupposing what an investigation would show, which may demonstrate that she acted in bad faith in pursuing the case. The judge has taken the exceptional step of ordering depositions of Ms. Healey and Mr. Schneiderman.The Rockefeller funds have also received subpoenas from another friend of Exxon Mobil, the chairman of the House Science Committee, Rep. Lamar S. Smith, a Texas Republican. Mr. Smith has harshly criticized the attorneys general over their investigations, and has accused the Rockefeller funds of taking part in a coordinated effort to deprive companies, nonprofit organizations and scientists of their First Amendment rights and ability to fund and conduct scientific research free from intimidation and threats of prosecution.The Rockefeller family responds that it is trying to right a historic social and environmental wrong, using the straightforward tools of the First Amendment.The Rockefeller Family Fund has exercised its freedom of speech in expressing our repugnance at Exxon Mobils behavior, said Mr. Kaiser, the president of the fund. We have exercised our freedom of association by talking with like-minded public interest advocates about how best to educate the public about the realities of climate change. And we have exercised our right to petition the government for redress of grievances by informing elected officials about our concerns that in the course of its climate science campaign, Exxon may have violated the law. All of those rights are explicitly guaranteed to us by the First Amendment.He said that within the clan the direct descendants of John D. Rockefeller and their families number some 270 he has received passionate support for the funds efforts, though he acknowledged, I havent heard back from everyone in the family.One family member, Ariana Rockefeller, called the efforts against the oil company deeply misguided and said they are counterproductive to our goal of protecting the environment by undermining Exxons ongoing good work in clean and renewable energy.The Rockefeller family has enthusiastically embraced the environmental movement since the 1960s, and has focused on climate change since the 1980s. The engagement with Exxon itself has been more gradual; members of the family tried for more than a decade, through conversations with company executives and through proxy measures, to get Exxon to take a stronger stance in favor of clean energy and, in the days when the company was expressing doubts in paid advertisements in The New York Times about climate science, to get it to stop.Peter Frumhoff, the director of science and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group that published its own investigation of Exxon Mobils efforts to promote uncertainty about climate science, said that his group had received modest funding support over the years from the Rockefeller funds. He said that activism by the Rockefellers, because of their family connection to Standard Oil, made them an essential voice, and that he and his group had received subpoenas from Exxon.Weve clearly hit a nerve, havent we? he said.

science

Science|Its Very Unlikely That Asteroid 2013 TX68 Will Hit Earthhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/science/its-very-unlikely-that-asteroid-2013-tx68-will-hit-earth.htmlTrilobitesCredit...NASA/JPL-CaltechMarch 2, 2016Were going to get an extraterrestrial visitor, perhaps early next week, when asteroid 2013 TX68 zips past Earth. Theres been some agitated chatter about just how close the speeding rock will get.What we know for sure is that it will not collide, said Sean Marshall, a Cornell University doctoral candidate who observes near-Earth asteroids. So dont panic.The size of 2013 TX68 is estimated to be 100 feet in diameter, about the size of a large yacht. This makes it slightly larger than the speeding rock that in 2013 exploded over the Russian city Chelyabinsk, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring at least 1,500 people, mainly as windows shattered.The exact time and distance of the closest approach will not be known until after the encounter. Mr. Marshall said Tuesday that 2013 TX68 could zip through Earths ring of geostationary satellites which orbit at a height of 22,300 miles or travel as far away as 40 times the distance to the moon.NASAs calculations last month put the flyby at around March 8. 2013 TX68 is not on the agencys list of potentially hazardous asteroids, which come closest to Earth and are big enough to survive atmospheric re-entry and cause damage on a regional scale. Their diameters are greater than 330 feet, or about 100 meters.But the extraterrestrial rock might eventually make the hazard list if new observations made during this months close pass reveal its diameter to be larger than expected.Its possible but unlikely, Mr. Marshall said of the larger size in an interview. Still, you wouldnt want to be there if it hit. It could still wipe out a city.

science

Genie Bouchard 2nd Super Bowl Date w/ Bet Guy ... This Is Foreal, Right?! 1/23/2018 Alright, guys ... this might actually be a thing. Tennis superstar Genie Bouchard and the guy who won a date with her by betting on last year's Super Bowl are going back to the big game ... after NFL Canada (Genie's home country) offered to take them as guests. The best part -- SHE ASKED HIM!! "OMG. Back to where it all began?! And with the Patriots too?! Im in! What do you say?" Genie tweeted at Missouri University student, John Goehrke. Of course, John accepted -- "This keeps getting better. Im in!" You know the story -- Genie made a bet with John last year when the Falcons were up big on the Patriots ... agreeing to a date if the Pats pulled off a comeback. FEBRUARY 2017 TMZSports.com They did ... and they've since gone on (at least) a few dates -- including a bikini beach sesh in Miami. Can't say for sure ... but it definitely seems like things are heating up.

Entertainment

Credit...Zach Gibson for The New York TimesJune 4, 2018WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who had refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple. The courts decision was narrow, and it left open the larger question of whether a business can discriminate against gay men and lesbians based on rights protected by the First Amendment.The court passed on an opportunity to either bolster the right to same-sex marriage or explain how far the government can go in regulating businesses run on religious principles. Instead, Justice Anthony M. Kennedys majority opinion turned on the argument that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which originally ruled against the baker, had been shown to be hostile to religion because of the remarks of one of its members.At the same time, Justice Kennedy strongly reaffirmed protections for gay rights.The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, he wrote, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market.Justice Kennedy often casts the deciding vote in closely divided cases on major social issues. When the court agreed to hear the Colorado case last June, it seemed to present him with a stark choice between two of his core commitments. On the one hand, Justice Kennedy has written every major Supreme Court decision protecting gay men and lesbians. On the other, he is the courts most ardent defender of free speech.On Monday, Justice Kennedy chose a third path, one that seemed to apply only to the case before the court.Writing for the majority in the 7-to-2 decision, he said the Civil Rights Commissions ruling against the baker, Jack Phillips, had been infected by religious animus. He cited what he said were inappropriate and dismissive comments from one commissioner in saying that the panel had acted inappropriately and that its decision should be overturned.The neutral and respectful consideration to which Phillips was entitled was compromised here, Justice Kennedy wrote. The Civil Rights Commissions treatment of his case has some elements of a clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs that motivated his objection.That passage echoed his plea for tolerance in his majority opinion in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. In that decision, he called for an open and searching debate between those who opposed same-sex marriage on religious grounds and those who considered such unions proper or indeed essential.When the Colorado case was argued in December, Justice Kennedy seemed frustrated with the main choices available to him and hinted that he was looking for an off ramp. His questions suggested that his vote had not been among the four that had been needed to add the case to the courts docket.VideotranscripttranscriptA Clash of Cake and FaithJack Phillips explains his reasons for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. In June 2018, the Supreme Court sided with Mr. Phillips in a lawsuit tied to the episode.We do a variety of cakes. Birthdays, showers, people who just come in, we have cakes for dessert. I like the entire aspect of it. I like putting the sugar and the flour in the mixing bowl. I like making the frosting. Comes out of the oven and its you baked it just right. And its just what you want it to be and its just a lot of fun. It began when two gentlemen came into my bakery and asked me to decorate a cake for them. And so I replied that Ill make you your birthday cakes your shower cakes or your cookies and brownies. I just dont do cakes for same-sex weddings. We dont do Halloween cakes. We dont do adult-themed cakes. Weve actually turned down probably at that time that may have been the fifth or sixth same-sex wedding cake. For the most part, they all just said, Oh, OK, and went somewhere else. One case they called up later, and they at the end of the conversation thought that it was OK. That that was my right. I believe that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is wrong and to participate in in a sin is wrong for me. I believe that the First Amendment protects my freedom of religion. Taking part in in a speech, its making a statement. These people are getting married. Thats part of our culture. For me to take part in it against my will is compelling me to make a statement that I dont want to make. When I wake up in the morning, I want to, you know, do my best job to honor my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ in everything that I do. Its no different now. I think this is an important issue thats being raised and if Gods chosen to do it here, then so be it.Jack Phillips explains his reasons for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. In June 2018, the Supreme Court sided with Mr. Phillips in a lawsuit tied to the episode.CreditCredit...Matthew Staver for The New York TimesThe breadth of the courts majority was a testament to the narrowness of the decisions reasoning. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Elena Kagan and Neil M. Gorsuch joined Justice Kennedys majority opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas voted with the majority but would have adopted broader reasons.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented.The case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, No. 16-111, arose from a brief encounter in 2012, when David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Mr. Phillipss bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, in Lakewood, Colo. The two men were going to be married in Massachusetts, and they were looking for a wedding cake for a reception in Colorado.Mr. Phillips turned them down, saying he would not use his talents to convey a message of support for same-sex marriage at odds with his religious faith. Mr. Mullins and Mr. Craig said they were humiliated by Mr. Phillipss refusal to serve them, and they filed a complaint with Colorados Civil Rights Commission, saying that Mr. Phillips had violated a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.Mr. Mullins and Mr. Craig won before the commission and in the state courts.The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Mr. Phillipss free speech rights had not been violated, noting that the couple had not discussed the cakes design before Mr. Phillips turned them down. The court added that people seeing the cake would not understand Mr. Phillips to be making a statement and that he remained free to say what he liked about same-sex marriage in other settings.Though the case was mostly litigated on free speech grounds, Justice Kennedys opinion barely discussed the issue. Instead, he focused on what he said were flaws in the proceedings before the commission. Members of the panel, he wrote, had acted with clear and impermissible hostility to sincerely held religious beliefs.One commissioner in particular, Justice Kennedy wrote, had crossed the line in saying that freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust.Justice Kennedy wrote that this sentiment is inappropriate for a commission charged with the solemn responsibility of fair and neutral enforcement of Colorados anti-discrimination law.In dissent, Justice Ginsburg said that a few stray remarks were not enough to justify a ruling in Mr. Phillipss favor.What prejudice infected the determinations of the adjudicators in the case before and after the commission? Justice Ginsburg asked. The court does not say.Justice Kennedy wrote that the commission had also acted inconsistently in cases involving an opponent of same-sex marriage, concluding on at least three occasions that a baker acted lawfully in declining to create cakes with decorations that demeaned gay persons or gay marriages.ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesIn dueling concurring opinions, two sets of justices debated how central that last observation was to the courts decision. Justice Kagan, joined by Justice Breyer, said such differing treatment could be justified. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, disagreed, saying that the two cases share all legally salient features.In another concurring opinion, Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, said he would have ruled in favor of Mr. Phillips on free speech grounds. Mr. Phillipss cakes are artistic expression worthy of First Amendment protection, Justice Thomas wrote, and requiring him to endorse marriages at odds with his faith violated his constitutional rights.In dissent, Justice Ginsburg disagreed with that analysis and noted that the majority had not adopted it. She wrote that there was no reason to think that people seeing a wedding cake made by Mr. Phillips would understand it to be conveying his views on same-sex marriage.Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Mr. Phillips, said the ruling was a victory for religious liberty.Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the State of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jacks religious beliefs about marriage, said Kristen Waggoner, a lawyer with the group. The court was right to condemn that. Tolerance and respect for good-faith differences of opinion are essential in a society like ours.The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr. Mullins and Mr. Craig, said it welcomed the parts of the majority opinion that reaffirmed legal protections for gay men and lesbians.The court reversed the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision based on concerns unique to the case but reaffirmed its longstanding rule that states can prevent the harms of discrimination in the marketplace, including against L.G.B.T. people, said Louise Melling, the groups deputy legal director.Some gay rights groups took a darker view of the decision. The court today has offered dangerous encouragement to those who would deny civil rights to L.G.B.T. people, said Rachel B. Tiven, the chief executive of Lambda Legal. We will fiercely resist the coming effort that will seek to turn this ruling into a broad license to discriminate.Even as she dissented, Justice Ginsburg wrote that there is much in the courts opinion with which I agree, quoting several passages reaffirming gay rights protections.Colorado law, Justice Kennedy wrote in one, can protect gay persons, just as it can protect other classes of individuals, in acquiring whatever products and services they choose on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public.

Politics

Dec. 14, 2015Credit...Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesWhen the prominent Wall Street investor Martin J. Whitman finally stepped down from running Third Avenue Management in 2012, the move was seen as an inevitable passing of the torch for the octogenarian fund manager.Less remarked upon was that Mr. Whitman, now 91, would stay on as the chairman of Third Avenues five benchmark mutual funds not least the Focused Credit Fund, the fund that rattled markets last week by barring investors from getting their money back.On Monday, Third Avenue said that its chief executive, David M. Barse, a bankruptcy lawyer who had been instrumental in establishing the credit fund, would be leaving the firm, bringing an abrupt end to a 24-year career at the firm.The management shake-up came as the market for high yield, or junk bonds, continued to weaken. The shares of BlackRocks $15 billion exchange-traded fund, which invests in the bonds of risky companies, were down nearly 1 percent on Monday, with trading volume at record levels.And in a sign that nervous investors are still pulling money from these types of funds, Lucidus Capital Partners, a $900 million junk bond fund based in London, said it would be returning cash to investors.Regulators are also taking aim. The securities regulator in Massachusetts, the secretary of the commonwealth, William F. Galvin, has opened an investigation into Third Avenue. A spokeswoman for the Securities and Exchange Commission said that staff members from the agency were at Third Avenues headquarters in Midtown Manhattan monitoring the situation.The market forces driving the turmoil at Third Avenue are hardly surprising the junk bond market has for months been seen as vulnerable to a sharp sell-off. But how the firm handled the retreat by investors has raised questions across Wall Street.Slamming the door on investors is about as extreme a step as a mutual fund can take. Mr. Barse, whose career had been carefully nurtured by Mr. Whitman, also did not help his cause in an investor conference call last Friday, with halting remarks that investors saw as too little, too late.Regulators are now examining why the Focused Credit Fund found itself in a position where it could not sell enough of its high-risk corporate bonds to satisfy the demands of investors. And mutual fund experts say that one of the first questions that will be asked is why the nine trustees who oversee the fund did not do more to prevent this from happening.The problem here is that you didnt have a board that was aggressive enough to challenge management, said Mercer E. Bullard, a mutual fund specialist at the University of Mississippi School of Law and a former lawyer at the S.E.C. This fund was having hundreds of millions of dollars in redemptions last year that definitely should have been a red flag for the board.After all, that is why mutual fund boards exist: To stand up for the interests of investors and to ensure that the fund company, in this case Third Avenue, is managing assets in a prudent, responsible manner.Since 2009, mutual funds have become larger in size and their portfolios more complex in nature, with many of them investing heavily in risky, high-return assets like leveraged loans and junk bonds. In response, regulators and industry advocates have been pushing fund companies to make sure that the boards that oversee these funds are both independent and competent in terms of their ability to truly grasp what the portfolio manager is doing.ImageCredit...Chester Higgins Jr./The New York TimesThere is an increased burden on mutual fund directors these days, said Jay G. Baris, a mutual fund lawyer at Morrison & Foerster. Nearly two-thirds of fund boards have independent chairs, and many believe that is best practice these days.In this regard, the trustees overseeing the Third Avenue funds come up short. Mr. Whitman founded Third Avenues predecessor company in 1974, and since 1990 he has been chairman of its funds with Mr. Barse serving as his No. 2 on the board since 2001.A spokesman for Third Avenue said that no one at the company would comment on its governance practices.The S.E.C. mandates that mutual fund boards have a majority of independent directors, and by that measure Third Avenue met its requirement. None of the other trustees have direct ties to Third Avenue.But some of the directors have close ties to Mr. Whitman, while others are lacking in relevant expertise.For example, Martin Shubik, 89, who has been overseeing funds since 1990, is a mathematics professor at Yale who played poker with Mr. Whitman in graduate school at Princeton and was co-author of a book with him in 2005, The Aggressive Conservative Investor.According to Third Avenue, Charles C. Walden, 71, oversaw a $12 billion investment account at the Knights of Columbus in New Haven. He also helped Mr. Whitman with another one of his books: Value Investing: A Balanced Approach, published in 2000.And then there is Lucinda Franks, the wife of Robert M. Morgenthau, the former district attorney for Manhattan; she has been a trustee since 1998. Ms. Franks, an author and a former staff writer for The New York Times, brings to the board the expertise of a journalist and author, according to Third Avenue regulatory documents.One of the funds most qualified trustees would seem to be Patrick Reinkemeyer, a former top executive at Morningstar, the investment research company, who joined the board in January.Many mutual fund boards are nominally independent, but you would not expect them to stand up to the management company, said Mr. Bullard of the University of Mississippi.Of course, there are exceptions. Earlier this year, two directors of the Sequoia Fund stepped down over concerns with the funds outsize position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the fast-growing drug company, some of whose pricing practices have drawn scrutiny.In terms of legal liability, Mr. Bullard says that the boards main failure may have been to allow so much of the portfolio to be made up of securities that were hard to price and sell.Mutual fund analysts say that what led to the credit funds downfall was the larger-than-usual exposure it had to so-called Level 3 assets, or securities that trade so infrequently that it is very hard, if not impossible, to arrive at an actual price for them.Regulators say that anytime these assets exceed 15 percent of a funds portfolio, extra steps need to be taken so that enough cash is available to meet investor redemptions.For the last two quarters, regulatory documents show, Third Avenues credit fund exceeded this limit as portfolio managers were forced to dispose of easier-to-trade securities until it was left with many bonds that it could neither price nor sell.

Business

Kourtney Kardashian Feliz Hump Day De Mexico!!! 1/24/2018 Kourtney Kardashian's got a contest for you-- try to find the chips and guac in this photo! We'll give you some time. Kourt's down in Punta de Mita, Mexico vacationing with her bf, Younes Bendjima ... who we applaud for most likely snapping this shot. The mother of 3 is rocking her best barely-there bikini. It is hump day, after all. She captioned it, "Guac is extra." We guarantee Younes will pay. Not to start an international incident, but ... who'd ya rather: Mexico Kourtney or France Kourtney? Your move, Kim!

Entertainment

Scientists were critical of the announcement, pointing to evidence that the current two-dose regimen is powerfully effective against the coronavirus.Credit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesPublished July 8, 2021Updated Aug. 6, 2021Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Thursday that they were developing a version of the coronavirus vaccine that targets Delta, a highly contagious variant that has spread to nearly 100 countries. The companies expect to begin clinical trials of the vaccine in August.Pfizer and BioNTech also reported promising results from studies of people who received a third dose of the original vaccine. A booster given six months after the second dose of the vaccine increases the potency of antibodies against the original virus and the Beta variant by five- to tenfold, the companies said.Vaccine efficacy may decline six months after immunization, the companies said in a news release, and booster doses may be needed to fend off virus variants.The data have not been published, nor peer-reviewed. The vaccine makers said they expected to submit their findings to the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks, a step toward gaining authorization for booster shots.But the companies assertions contradict other research, and several experts pushed back against the claim that boosters will be needed.Theres really no indication for a third booster or a third dose of an mRNA vaccine, given the variants that we have circulating at this time, said Dr. Cline Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. In fact, many of us question whether you will ever need boosters.Federal agencies also sounded a dubious note on Thursday night. Generally, Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time, the F.D.A. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint statement.We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed, the agencies said.The Delta variant, first identified in India, is believed to be about 60 percent more contagious than Alpha, the version of the virus that tore through Britain and much of Europe earlier this year, and perhaps twice as contagious as the original coronavirus.The Delta variant is now driving outbreaks among unvaccinated populations in countries like Malaysia, Portugal, Indonesia and Australia. Delta is also now the dominant variant in the United States, the C.D.C. reported this week.Until recently, infections in the United States had plateaued at their lowest levels since early in the pandemic. Hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus have continued to decline, but new infections may be rising.Its not yet clear to what extent the variant is responsible; a slowing vaccination drive and swift reopenings also are playing roles.Citing data from Israel, Pfizer and BioNTech suggested their vaccines efficacy in preventing both infection and symptomatic disease has declined six months post-vaccination. Noting the rise of Delta and other variants, the companies said that a third dose may be needed within 6 to 12 months after full vaccination.Health officials in Israel have estimated that full vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech offers only 64 percent efficacy against the Delta variant. (Efficacy against the original virus is greater than 90 percent.)But Israels estimates have been contradicted by a number of other studies finding that the vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection against all variants. One recent study showed, for example, that the mRNA vaccines like Pfizers trigger a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect against the coronavirus for years.Pfizer looks opportunistic by hanging an announcement on the back of very early and undigested data from Israel, said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. When the time is right for using boosters here, the decision isnt theirs to make.The companies described their plan to develop a new vaccine against Delta as a sort of backup effort in case boosters of the original vaccine should fail. The new vaccine will target the entirety of the spike protein, as opposed to one part, and the first batch has already been produced.The Delta variant does pose challenges to the immune system. In the journal Nature, French researchers reported on Thursday new evidence that the Delta variant can partly sidestep the bodys immune response because of alterations to the spike protein on its surface that make it more difficult for antibodies to attack.The team analyzed blood samples from 59 people after they had received the first and second doses of the vaccines. Blood samples from just 10 percent of people immunized with one dose of the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were able to neutralize the Delta and Beta variants in laboratory experiments.A single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca was either poorly or not at all efficient against Beta and Delta variants, the researchers concluded. Data from Israel and Britain broadly support this finding, although those studies also suggested that one dose of vaccine was still enough to prevent hospitalization or death from the virus.But a second dose boosted efficacy to 95 percent. There was no major difference in the levels of antibodies elicited by the two vaccines.If you receive two doses of an mRNA vaccine, you are very well protected against severe disease, hospitalization and death with respect to any of the variants, Dr. Gounder said.The researchers also looked at blood samples from 103 people who had been infected with the coronavirus. Delta was much less sensitive than Alpha to samples from unvaccinated people in this group, the study found.One dose of vaccine significantly boosted the sensitivity, suggesting that people who have recovered from Covid-19 still need to be vaccinated to fend off some variants.Taken together, the results suggest that two doses of vaccine are powerfully protective against all variants, as is one dose for people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have some natural immunity.Some experts also questioned discussions about boosters for Americans while much the world is yet to receive even a single dose.Its impossible to ignore the global situation, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta. Its hard for me to imagine getting a third dose when there are frontline workers treating Covid patients who still havent been vaccinated.Every unvaccinated person offers the virus additional opportunities to mutate into dangerous variants, Dr. Gounder noted.If were worried about variants, she said, our best protection is to get the rest of the world vaccinated, not to hoard more doses to give third doses of mRNA vaccines to people here in the U.S.

Health

TrilobitesCredit...Levi Stroud/Michigan NewsNov. 8, 2016Seth Colling, who teaches children with developmental disabilities at an outdoor learning center in Michigan, was walking along a creek looking for fish with his students in 2014 when they saw something odd sticking out from the water.It looked really strange, Mr. Colling said. I said to my student, Hey what is that?As Mr. Colling and his students would find out, what they had discovered was a leg bone belonging to the most complete mastodon skeleton found in Michigan in more than 70 years. After a full excavation last month, paleontologists uncovered 75 bones, including ribs, a pelvis, shoulder bones and a skull with five gleaming molars that looked as if they were made of quartz.The teeth may hold the keys to figuring out how the beast died some 13,000 years ago: Was it butchered by hungry prehistoric hunters, did it succumb to starvation in the harsh environment, or was it the loser in a mating-season death match?ImageCredit...The Fowler CenterMastodons are ice age relatives of the elephant that once roamed across much of North America and went extinct 10,000 years ago. Like mammoths, they were herbivores, but unlike their grazing behemoth brethren, they had sharp, pointed teeth, which they used to eat twigs and shear trees.Although the teachers and students at the Fowler Center for Outdoor Learning first found the bones at the site in 2014, it was not until this October that a large-scale excavation took place. A small army of schoolteachers, volunteers and researchers uncovered the beasts skull as well as 70 percent of its skeleton. It is the most complete find in the state since the discovery of the Owosso mastodon in 1944.Not only was it complete, it was mostly undisturbed, said Daniel Fisher, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan who helped excavate the Fowler Center mastodon. This is the way it was left for around 12,000 to 13,000 years.ImageCredit...The Fowler CenterThey found the bones buried in distinct piles, which Dr. Fisher has seen in other mammoth finds in Michigan. One clump contained the skull, and about nine feet away there was a pile that had a shoulder blade, some vertebrae, a rib and parts of the forelimbs and hindlimbs. They also found a third pile, which contained a lower back vertebra, part of the pelvis, some more bones from the forelimbs and a lot of ribs.The pattern we see is not what you would expect under any natural or nonhuman scenario, Dr. Fisher said. If its a crime scene and you found a forelimb nestled to a pelvis, you would say Hmm, something happened here.Dr. Fisher is not yet arguing that humans were involved in the mastodons death, but he said the findings pointed in that direction. The evidence that could potentially answer how the mastodon died lies within its mouth, he said.Paleontologists can tell a lot from mastodon teeth. In this case, the team members uncovered the top portion of the skull, which included five molars. Based on the conditions of the molars, they concluded that the mastodon had been around 30 years old. But to solve the cold case, they need to look beneath the surface.Mastodon teeth grew layers incrementally in a way that roughly corresponded with the changing seasons. Using a microCT scan, researchers can examine the insides of a tooth to determine what time of year the mastodon died, according to Dr. Fisher.If the analysis shows that the mastodon died in the winter, then its death was most likely because it starved or was sick. If it died in the spring or summer and was a male, then it most likely lost a battle with another male during mating season.ImageCredit...The Fowler CenterIt is the deaths in autumn that humans most likely had a hand in, Dr. Fisher said. The mastodons that he has found in Michigan that died in the fall all showed signs that they had been butchered, he said.We dont have an exception to that yet, Dr. Fisher said. It suggests that humans were on the scene and probably part of the cause of death.What most likely happened, he said, is that human hunters or scavengers butchered the carcass and submerged it in a pond for refrigeration. Last year, he and his team identified a mammoth that they believe was processed this way; it is now on display at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.ImageCredit...The Fowler CenterRoss MacPhee, a curator at the American Museum of Natural Historys department of mammalogy, praised Dr. Fishers methods but said he did not think there was enough evidence to say whether humans had been involved in the mastodons death. He said he was unsure whether the teeth would hold many answers.Its an interesting argument, but whether or not the animal was actually hunted to me is unclear, he said. There are no arrowheads, no actual signs of butchery.For Mr. Colling, who found the tibia in 2014, just excavating the mastodon with his students was exciting enough.It was amazing that I got to do this, he said. When I was a kid I wanted to be a paleontologist, so it was like a childhood dream come true.

science

Health|Pfizer-BioNTechs vaccine is highly effective against hospitalization for those 12 to 18, a study shows.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/health/pfizer-vaccine-hospitalizations-teenagers.htmlPfizer-BioNTechs vaccine is highly effective against hospitalization for those 12 to 18, a study shows.Credit...Christopher Capozziello for The New York TimesOct. 19, 2021The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 93 percent effective against hospitalization with Covid-19 among 12- to 18-year-olds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday, the strongest evidence to date of the vaccines ability to keep young people out of the hospital.With federal regulators now considering authorizing the vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, the study offered additional signs that extending vaccines to more young people could not only reduce the spread of the virus in the United States, but also protect those children from the rare cases in which they become severely ill.This evaluation demonstrated that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are highly effective at preventing Covid-19 hospitalization among persons aged 1218 years, the agencys scientists wrote, and reinforces the importance of vaccination to protect U.S. youths against severe Covid-19.The agency studied young people who were hospitalized at 19 pediatric hospitals across 16 states from June through September, as the Delta variant spread across the country and exacted a devastating toll in less-vaccinated states in the South and West. It compared the odds of vaccination among children hospitalized with Covid and children hospitalized with other illnesses.Among the 179 patients in the study who had Covid, three percent were vaccinated and 97 percent were unvaccinated. Twenty-nine of the young Covid patients needed life support, and two died; all of those patients were unvaccinated, the agency said. Vaccinated children with Covid also tended to have shorter hospital stays than unvaccinated children.Nearly three-quarters of the Covid patients in the study had at least one underlying health condition, including obesity, diabetes, asthma or respiratory disorders, putting them at higher risk of severe illness.As of Monday, the C.D.C. said, 46 percent of children ages 12 to 15 were fully vaccinated nationwide, as were 54 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is authorized for emergency use in children ages 12 to 15, and fully approved in people ages 16 and over. Booster shots have not been authorized for anyone in the United States under 18 years old.Pediatric hospitalizations rose as the Delta variant spread across the United States, reaching their highest level during the pandemic in September, the C.D.C. said.A clinical trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had earlier shown that the shots were highly effective at preventing Covid cases in children, but had not examined effectiveness against hospitalization in that group.

Health

In swimmings finale, the U.S. men keep their unbeaten streak alive, and Emma McKeon gets her 7th medal.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJuly 31, 2021TOKYO The medals, dozens of them, arrived in singles and in bunches, in short races and long ones, in medleys and relays. But every day, it seemed, the United States and Australia tossed a few more on the pile. Sunday was no different.Emma McKeon of Australia became the second woman to win seven medals in a single Olympics, and Caeleb Dressel and Bobby Finke of the United States added more gold medals to the American haul on a frantic final day of the swimming competition at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. Mens 50m Freestyle Womens 50m Freestyle Mens 1,500m Freestyle Womens 4100m Medley Relay Mens 4100m Medley Relay The United States finished the meet by winning the mens 4x100-meter medley relay in world-record time, extending an American unbeaten streak in the event. The victory also gave Dressel, who won the mens 50 freestyle in Sundays opening race, his fifth gold medal of the Games.Dressel, 24, became only the fifth American to win five golds in a single Games, joining a list that includes some of the greatest Olympians in the countrys history: the speedskater Eric Heiden and the swimmers Mark Spitz, Matt Biondi and Michael Phelps. (Phelps accomplished the feat three times.)ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesIm proud of myself, Dressel said afterward. I feel like I reached what my potential was at these Games, and it was really fun racing.The American swimmers finished the Olympic meet with 30 total medals, down from the 33 they won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. And their final total of 11 gold medals fell short of the 16 they took home from the last Games.In some ways, then, the team has looked like a group in transition. Afterward, the coaches said they hoped their young athletes had gained valuable experience for the next Olympics, now only three years away.Of course wed love to have more golds here, just like wed love to have more medals in general, said Greg Meehan, the womens team coach. I think we had four fourth places.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesMcKeon, 27, had started the day knowing that a top-three finish in her two races the 50 free and the 4x100 medley relay would make her only the second woman, after the Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952, to win seven medals at a single Olympics. By days end, she had won gold in both.In her first race, McKeon emerged from a highly competitive field to take gold in the womens 50 freestyle, finishing with a time of 23.81 seconds, an Olympic record. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden was second (24.07 seconds) and Pernille Blume of Denmark, who won gold in 2016, took third (24.21). Abbey Weitzeil, the only American in the final, finished last.Later, in the womens 4x100 medley relay, Australia won the gold medal with a time of 3:51.60. The American women, who won gold in the event at the 2016 Games, settled for the silver. Canada took the bronze.McKeon erased a small U.S. lead with her butterfly leg, and Cate Campbell delivered the final touch after a powerful closing freestyle. While McKeon picked up her seventh medal and her fourth gold in the race, Campbell collected her fourth. She finished the Games with three golds and a bronze.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesMcKeon said the day had felt surreal. To be in that kind of company, its an honor, she said of tying a record for medals at a single Games. And I know Ive worked hard for it.Her total ran Australias medal count to 20, with nine golds, meaning that the Aussies and the Americans together had won nearly half of the medals available (50, of 105) and more than half the golds.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesWedged between some of the superstars of the sport, Finke, 21, had been a relative unknown before this month. On Sunday, he won his second gold medal by prevailing in the mens 1,500-meter freestyle after an intense three-man showdown with Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine and Florian Wellbrock of Germany.Finke hung close for most of the race and then propelled himself into the lead with his final turn. Finding a new gear after 29 relentlessly steady laps, he beat his rivals to the wall. He finished in 14 minutes 39.65 seconds, a body length ahead of Romanchuk (14:40.66) and Wellbrock (14:40.91).His victory, and Katie Ledeckys in the womens event, gave the United States a sweep of the grueling 30-lap swimming marathons, the longest races in the competition.I dont know how Im going to be able to process things, Finke said afterward. I came into to this meet not really expecting to medal for anything.Dressel had entered the meet with much higher expectations. He opened the session by winning his fourth gold medal of the Games with a lung-busting sprint to victory in the 50 free. Diving off the blocks, he surfaced in the lead and never gave it up or took a breath as he finished in 21.07 seconds, an Olympic record. Florent Manaudou of France finished second in 21.55 seconds, and Bruno Fratus of Brazil (21.57) came in third.When Dressel learned that he had won, he flexed his left bicep and then hustled out of the pool to prepare for the days final race, the 4x100 medley relay.Dressel had entered the pool Sunday having already won three gold medals at the Games, in the 4x100 freestyle relay, the 100 free and the 100 butterfly. His time in the 100 butterfly, 49.45 seconds, was also a world record.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesHistory was on the line in the final event, the mens 4x100 medley relay. The American men entered the competition having won gold in every Olympics they had competed in they did not participate in 1980, when the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics and kept the streak alive with a world record, winning easily in 3:26.78.Despite their dominance, the Americans had entered the race as underdogs. The Americans had nearly missed the final, in fact, qualifying seventh with a different set of swimmers. That left the group that strode onto the deck for the final Ryan Murphy, Michael Andrew, Dressel and Zach Apple in an outside position, in Lane 1, but with a better-than-outside shot.Dave Durden, the head coach of the mens team, said he knew the team had a shot when he looked at splits from the previous world-record time and saw that each of the American men was individually capable of beating them.All we wanted them to do was swim at their level, said Durden, who added that Dressels earlier swim had freed him mentally to perform well in the relay.Murphy, the world-record holder in the 100 backstroke, staked the Americans to an early lead, before Adam Peaty of Britain, the worlds fastest man in the breaststroke, immediately erased the advantage by the races halfway mark.But the Americans were just too deep. Dressel powered back in the butterfly, and Apple kept the United States streak alive with a strong closing freestyle leg. Britain won the silver and Italy took the bronze.After a grueling week and a half of swimming, and an Olympic cycle that lasted five years instead of four, Dressel joked that he was ready to go home.Im going to take a little break here, he said, laughing. Im pretty over swimming, guys.

Sports

Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesFeb. 13, 2014SOCHI, Russia As Evgeni Plushenko warmed up Thursday night, he stumbled where a few days ago he had been so sturdy and charismatic. After he withdrew from the mens short program before a stunned home crowd, and later retired, calamity seemed to spread as if it were contagious, like the flu.Jeremy Abbott, a four-time American champion, soon crashed on a four-revolution jump and lay on the ice, holding his side for what seemed to be 10 seconds. Then he got to his feet and continued, urged on by the crowd and the anesthesia of adrenaline.It was left to a teenager, Yuzuru Hanyu, 19, to remain composed and to jump with abandon in setting a world record of 101.45 points, positioning himself on Friday to become the first Japanese man to win a gold medal in figure skating.Just three years ago, Hanyu was training in his hometown, Sendai, when a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck nearby in March 2011, sending him running from the rink in his skates.Im over the moon, said Hanyu, the first skater to break 100 points in a short program, though he, too, felt the nervousness of the evening.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesMy legs were shaking, he said. I was certainly feeling the atmosphere of the Olympics. But its still like any other competition, and I tried not to forget that.Patrick Chan, the three-time world champion from Canada, whose jumping has grown uncertain, stepped clumsily out of a triple axel and fell out of sync with his music but maintained second with his skating skills at 97.52 points. Javier Fernndez, seeking to become Spains first Olympic skating medalist, was third with 86.98 points.As it is frequently said in admonition in skating, the ice is hard and slippery.Its called the Olympics, said Yuka Sato, a former world champion from Japan who coaches Abbott in Detroit. Its a scary place to be out there alone.On Sunday, Plushenko, 31, won a gold medal for Russia in the team figure skating competition. That was his fourth medal in four Olympic Games. He has been a towering jumper and showman. Only Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden the Olympic champion in 1920, 1924 and 1928 and the silver medalist in 1932 can match Plushenkos medal collection. Perhaps even fewer can match his magnetism.Plushenko won gold in 2006 and silver in 2002 and 2010. But a chance at a surpassing fifth medal seemed remote entering the Sochi Games. Plushenko has struggled with knee and back injuries in recent years and has competed infrequently. He said that screws remain in his back from an operation.In Thursdays warm-ups, he tried two triple axels and said he felt a sharp pain like a knife in his back. He stumbled out of the jumps and appeared pained. A look of resignation crossed his face.He bent over as he skated along the boards, then spoke with his coach, Alexei Mishin, saying, I cant skate.At practice Wednesday, Plushenko said he fell on a quadruple toe jump. When his turn came in the short program, he approached the referee and withdrew. He skated to center ice, patting his heart and taking a bow. After a long career of victory and injury four Olympic medals and 12 operations he had come to this awkward end.I think its God saying, Evgeni, enough with skating, said Plushenko, who announced his retirement.The expectant home crowd at Iceberg Skating Palace seemed so startled that it offered only polite applause.But some competitors were not surprised. It was widely predicted that Plushenko would withdraw after the team event.Hes a great athlete, but today it was more expected that he wouldnt be able to compete, said Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic. Its a shame he couldnt say: Guys, Im tired. Put someone else in the game instead of me. ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesIn the same skating group, Abbott, who has long battled nerves, hesitated briefly as he entered a planned quadruple-toe-loop, triple-toe-loop combination to open his program.He had trained using the percussive beat supplied by a drummer to assist his rhythm entering the quad jump. But his confidence can be brittle in competition. This time, Abbott fell hard on his right hip.It seemed that he might follow Plushenko and withdraw. But once Abbott heard cheering, he got to his feet and finished all the required jumps and spins for 15th place. And the crowd applauded again for his perseverance.I was in shock there for a bit, Abbott said later, holding a bag of ice to his hip. I didnt know how to react. I didnt know how much pain I was really in, but I got up and they were cheering and I was like, Im finishing.Kevin Reynolds, a jumping specialist from Canada, fell twice in the short program.The ice is fine, Reynolds said. Quads are risky by nature. If youre just a second or an inch off, the result is what you saw.After the team competition, Plushenko complained of pain in his spine. But he said he remained determined to continue with mens singles, ending his career before his home fans.His head is that of a sportsman, said Ari Zakarian, Plushenkos agent. Unfortunately, his body did not cooperate with his head.Plushenkos withdrawal left Russia in the embarrassing position of having no skater in the mens competition, just after it had won gold in the team and pairs events. Maxim Kovtun, 18, defeated Plushenko to win the Russian national championship, but skating officials chose Plushenko for the Sochi Games because of his experience. Kovtun was not considered a medal candidate here.Skatings rules about replacing an injured skater are vague. In retrospect, a decision should have been made on Plushenko on Monday, after the team event, Mishin said.But at that time he was O.K., Mishin said. We didnt do anything that wasnt fair play.Immediately, Mishin began campaigning for Plushenkos skating reputation to remain secure.Dont kick him too much, Mishin said. He gave a lot to figure skating. He should get respect.Zakarian, the agent, said, Im sure the world will remember him as a controversial and technical and strong and coldblooded skater who delivered his legacy into this sport.Hanyu said he was disappointed not to find Plushenko, his idol, in first place on the scoreboard so he could have challenged him one final time.I took up skating because of him, Hanyu said. I respect and admire him dearly. Its just sad.

Sports

Jan. 31, 2014SAN FRANCISCO In the latest in a spate of online attacks affecting American businesses, White Lodging, which manages hotel franchises for chains like Marriott, Hilton and Starwood Hotels, is investigating a potential security breach involving customers payment information.White Lodging Services Corporation, which works with 168 hotels in 21 states, confirmed that it was examining the data breach.The intrusion into its systems was first posted by Brian Krebs, a security blogger, on Friday, when he reported that the breach might have resulted in the fraudulent use of hundreds of credit and debit cards used for payment at Marriott hotels between March 2013 and the end of the year.Mr. Krebs was also first to report the hacking of consumer data from Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels, the arts and crafts retailer.Mr. Krebs said that he was alerted to fraudulent transactions at scattered Marriott hotel locations by unnamed people in the banking industry. The locations where the fraudulent activity took place were all managed by White Lodging, which is based in Merrillville, Ind. Kathleen Quilligan, a spokeswoman for White Lodging, confirmed the company was investigating. Separately, Marriott confirmed that a franchisee had experienced unusual fraud activity connected to the systems that process credit card transactions for hotels including Marriott and others. The company said it was working closely with the franchisee as it investigated.A spokesman for the Secret Service could not immediately say whether the agency was investigating the breach of White Lodging data. The Secret Service is conducting separate inquiries into the breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels.A band of hackers in Eastern Europe is believed to be responsible for those data thefts, and may be behind a broader attack directed at as many as half a dozen other retailers, according to two people investigating the breaches who spoke on the condition of anonymity.In some cases, criminals were able to remotely install malware on the retailers in store cash register systems that scraped data from customers magnetic strips of credit and debit cards during the card authorization process.Before a transaction can be authorized, credit card data is momentarily decrypted and stored in memory. So-called RAM-scraping malware is built to scrape that unencrypted data from memory and steal it, according to a private report issued by iSight partners, which is working with the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the retail attacks.It is still unclear how the criminals were able to break into the retailers systems in the first place. Target confirmed this week that criminals had gained a foothold into its systems by using stolen credentials from a vendor, but did not name the vendor. It was not known whether the White Lodging invasion by hackers was related to any of the other incidents made public in recent months.In another hacking incident, Yahoo on Thursday said that criminals had gained access to Yahoo Mail accounts using user names and passwords compromised in a third-party breach. Easton-Bell Sports said the names, email addresses and payment information of 6,000 online customers were stolen in January because of a third-party breach. Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a child care provider, also announced that its customers information was compromised because of a problem at EasyDraft, which processes payments for the company.The thefts have reignited the push for more secure credit and debit cards, similar to those used in Europe and elsewhere, and have prompted congressional calls for tougher consumer protections and federal breach notification requirements.In addition to investigations by federal and some state authorities, at least three congressional panels will begin holding hearings on consumer data theft. A Senate banking subcommittee will hear testimony on Monday; Targets chief financial officer, John Mulligan, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee along with law enforcement officials. A third hearing, in the House Commerce Committee, will take place Wednesday.

Tech

Credit...James Hill for The New York TimesFeb. 12, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia The cattle auctions were on Wednesdays, Kaitlyn Farrington remembered. On the ranch near Bellevue, Idaho, before she left for school, she and her father would load a cow, maybe two, into the back of a trailer attached to the pickup truck. Gary Farrington drove about 40 miles south to Shoshone and made the sale, maybe $1,000 a head. Kaitlyn was a teenager then, and the money was needed to support her burgeoning snowboarding career. One by one, now and again, the herd dwindled over the years. Now it is gone entirely. In its place is a gold medal. Farrington, a horse-riding snowboarder, a former barrel racer with a pair of piercings in her nose and a quick giggle in her voice, bucked snowboardings long-established order by winning the womens halfpipe event Wednesday at the Sochi Games. No one expected it, including the winner. Farrington had hoped merely to earn a spot in the 12-woman final. Instead, by the narrowest of margins, she beat the last three Olympic gold medalists. Torah Bright, the 2010 champion, won silver. Kelly Clark, the 2002 champion, won bronze. Hannah Teter, the 2006 champion, was knocked to fourth.I cant believe I was sitting there in front of the last three gold medalists, Farrington said. Its crazy.Gary Farrington and Suz Locke, Kaitlyns parents, celebrated in the front row of the crowd at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. The mother held a photograph of her smiling daughter. Kaitlyn Farrington, Cowgirl Up, it read. She credited Kaitlyns balance, in part, to riding horses since she was 3. Unbelievable, Gary Farrington said, and he repeated it, as he both cried and laughed. His daughter had just beaten the three most accomplished female halfpipe riders in history.We knew she had the possibility, Gary Farrington said, the phone in his pocket buzzing with congratulatory messages. She had the tricks. She had them all in her bag, she could do anything. And look what just happened.The judges struggled to dissect the performances and put them in order. Farrington took the lead midway through the second and final run with a smooth and sturdy string of tricks, including a switch back 720, a backside 900 and an alley-oop 540. She scored 91.75 points out of 100 for the run, narrowly leapfrogging the 90.50 posted by Teter. Farrington, thrilled by her performance in her first Olympics, smiled and danced as she waited to see if others could top her. By the time it came down to the final two competitors, she had clinched a medal of some color. Bright, an Australian who lives in Salt Lake City just a couple of blocks from where Farrington now lives, earned a 91.50, wedging herself between Farrington and Teter. The three of them huddled at the bottom of the pipe. Clark had the final word. It was fitting, and an echo from the night before, when, in the mens competition, Shaun White had an all-or-nothing chance to win. His uncharacteristically clumsy descent left him in fourth.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesLike White, Clark has been a dominant force for years. She won the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, finished fourth at the 2006 Turin Games and won a bronze medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Since then, she has won nearly every halfpipe contest she entered, including all four gold medals at the X Games since 2011.But something was off Wednesday. Clark fell on every practice run. And near the end of the first of two runs in the finals, attempting a cab 720, she landed hard on the lip of the 22-foot-tall halfpipe. She bounced backward into the void, landing bottom-side first. The crowd went silent. But Clark was back at the top of the pipe minutes later, given a chance to win. She tried a 1080, the riskiest of her tricks, rather than settling for something less audacious. She stayed upright, but with a slide and a wobble. Clark joined her competitors at the bottom. They hugged and smiled, as if the only stakes were backyard bragging rights. The six judges performed the arithmetic. Cameras homed in on faces. The wait was excruciating. A score flashed: 90.75. Farrington had won.After she stepped to the high spot of the podium, Bright to one side and Clark to the other, Farrington was asked about her expectations for a gold medal. I dont think I knew I was going to get a gold medal until right now, she said.

Sports

Credit...Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via Associated PressMarch 5, 2017JERUSALEM Many Israelis are buoyed by signs that President Trump will be a friend to Israel. But the recent wave of toppled tombstones and threats against Jewish centers in the United States has at least as many worrying that his rise may also not be good for Jews.Jews in America, thats supposed to work, said Einat Wilf, a former member of the Knesset for the center-left Labor Party. To have these instances, is that an aberration? Or has the American president unleashed forces willingly, unwillingly, consciously, unconsciously but maybe he has unleashed forces that will challenge the place of Jews in America?Israelis have grown used to rising nationalism in Europe that has fed anti-Semitism. But many have looked to the United States, home to the largest number of Jews outside Israel, as a relative refuge from anti-Semitism, not another front for it.Few here suggest that has permanently changed (though the Labor Party leader, Isaac Herzog, recently said Israel should prepare for a wave of American immigrants).But worry spans left and right, even if they disagree on exactly how much to blame Mr. Trump, who is seen here as growing more confusing by the day. What to make of a president who, on the same day, denounced the anti-Semitic attacks but also suggested in remarks widely covered here that they might have been carried out by his own enemies?There is the Mr. Trump whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described in their meeting in February: There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump, he said, citing personal ties of decades and agreement on many policies, including the perils of Iran and of Islamic extremism.There is also the Mr. Trump in the photograph on the front page of Israels leading newspaper. Living in Fear in His Country, read the headline in the newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, previewing a six-page special section to Fridays weekend supplement on the new America with swastikas, desecration of tombstones, curses and threats.Reuven and Negina Abrahamov, grocery owners outside Tel Aviv, are Trump supporters and disturbed by what they see in United States.Its a combination of racism and violence, and Im not sure its directly related to Trump, said Mr. Abrahamov, 43. This could be just what America is.Of course its related to Trump, Ms. Abrahamov, 40, answered. Now that Trump came into power, all he does is support Israel. And I do not think Trump is someone who plays a double game. He just goes with his truth the whole way.But in this case, his truth screws over Jews, and it also might screw over Israel, she said.It is causing a particular quandary for Mr. Netanyahu, who is charged with guiding the relationship, always deep and complicated, with Israels closest ally.ImageCredit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesThe unenviable challenge facing the Israeli government is how to express its visceral horror over the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the U.S. without becoming a pawn in Americas partisan debate or jeopardizing its critical working relationship with the administration, said Shalom Lipner, a former Israeli official and now a nonresident senior fellow with the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.At a time of weakness for Mr. Netanyahu, amid several corruption investigations, he has found both political renewal and common cause with Mr. Trump. Many who share Mr. Netanyahus politics thought that, finally, Israel had an American president who was an unconditional friend.Mr. Trump initially promised to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem, long a dream of many Israelis but opposed by Palestinians as a de facto recognition of Israels annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war. And Mr. Trump at first remained conspicuously silent as Mr. Netanyahu announced thousands of new Israeli settler units in the occupied West Bank and pushed through a contentious law granting retroactive legality to thousands of Israeli houses built on Palestinian property.But the president has distanced himself somewhat since then, raising questions about whether he would ultimately toe a more traditional American line on critical Israeli issues. The embassy move has been postponed at a minimum. At a news conference during their meeting, Mr. Trump publicly asked Mr. Netanyahu to hold back on the settlements.At that same news conference, other apparent divisions rose: Mr. Trump pointedly refused to denounce anti-Semitic sentiment among some of his supporters and the next day he similarly refused, as he berated a religious Jewish reporter who asked a question about it.In turn, the prime minister faced much criticism here for being reluctant to take his own public stand against anti-Semitism in the United States apparently not wishing to anger Mr. Trump, or perhaps willing to give a pass, of sorts, to a sympathetic conservative.Mr. Netanyahu did, however, speak out on Wednesday, after Mr. Trump used the opening of his speech in Congress to denounce the attacks and threats.Anti-Semitism certainly has not disappeared. But there is much we can do to fight back, Mr. Netanyahu said in a videotaped address, praising Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who has also spoken out against the attacks.Still, this has been a jarring time for Israelis of all political beliefs.Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and head of the Jewish Agency, said he did not blame Mr. Trump for the attacks, even if, he said, the president is clearly a reflection of rising nationalism generally. And while Mr. Sharansky said he was also troubled by the White Houses failure to mention Jews in its statement this year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, he repeated his contention that anti-Semitism was not solely a problem of the right.We saw a lot of this left-radical, anti-Israeli feelings in the last 15 to 20 years, he said. And a lot of people were trying to separate it from the anti-Semitism of the right. In fact, this difference is erasing itself.Joni Catalano-Sherman, 61, moved here nearly 40 years ago from the United States and does not recall anti-Semitism as a problem, she said. Now vandals have toppled graves in the cemetery in St. Louis where her grandparents and many other members of her family are buried.It validates that there should be an Israel, if these things can happen in the States, she said.Otherwise, she described her emotions as very complicated. She has maintained her American passport and cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton. Yet she hopes Mr. Trump will fulfill his promises to broker a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.However, she added, I am still shocked by what he says every day.

World

Politics|Trump is said to have discussed pardoning himself.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/trump-is-said-to-have-discussed-pardoning-himself.htmlThe move would mark one of the most extraordinary uses of presidential power in American history.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJan. 7, 2021President Trump has suggested to aides that he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would mark one of the most extraordinary uses of presidential power in American history.In several conversations since Election Day, Mr. Trump has told advisers that he is considering giving himself a pardon and, in other instances, asked whether he should and what the impact would be on him legally and politically, according to the two people. Mr. Trump has shown signs that his interest goes beyond idle musings. He has long maintained that he has the power to pardon himself, and his polling of aides views is typically a sign that he is preparing to follow through on his aims. He has also become increasingly convinced that his perceived enemies will use the levers of law enforcement to target him after he leaves office.No president has ever pardoned himself, so the legitimacy of doing so has never been tested in the justice system, and legal scholars are divided about whether the courts would recognize it. But they agree a presidential self-pardon could create a dangerous precedent for presidents to unilaterally declare they are above the law and to insulate themselves from being held accountable for any crimes they committed in office.A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.The extent of Mr. Trumps criminal exposure is unclear. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, outlined 10 instances in which Mr. Trump may have obstructed justice but declined to say whether he had broken the law, citing legal and factual constraints on prosecuting a sitting president. Former Justice Department officials and legal experts said that several of the acts should be prosecuted.The discussions about a self-pardon came before Mr. Trump pressured Georgia officials to help him overturn the election results and incited the riot at the Capitol. Mr. Trumps allies believe that both episodes increased his criminal exposure.Presidential pardons apply only to federal law and provide no protection against state crimes. They would not apply to charges that could be brought by prosecutors in Manhattan investigating the Trump Organizations finances.

Politics

Credit...Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 7, 2017WASHINGTON The top American military officer met Tuesday with his Russian and Turkish counterparts to discuss how to avoid an unintended confrontation as forces from all three nations operate on an increasingly crowded battlefield in northern Syria.The unusual three-way meeting was held in Antalya, Turkey. It brought together Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian general staff; and their Turkish counterpart, Gen. Hulusi Akar.The major purpose of the session was to discuss the fight against all terrorist organizations in Syria and the importance of additional measures for de-conflicting operations, a spokesman for General Dunford said in a statement.The situation in northern Syria has become increasingly tense in recent days. Supported by American and Russian airstrikes, Turkish forces and Syrian militias supported by Turkey recently succeeded in taking the town Al Bab from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.ImageCredit...Turkish Armed Forces General Staff Press OfficeBut Turkeys main worry is not ISIS but ensuring that Syrian Kurds do not establish a ministate in northern Syria. That has spurred fears that Turkish troops and their allies in the Syria opposition might move to seize Manbij, a town in northern Syria that was taken from ISIS by Syrian Arab and Kurdish militias backed by the United States.The fighters defending Manbij do not believe that the Turkish posture is mere saber-rattling. Abu Amjed, the head of the Manbij Military Council, said in an interview last week that his fighters were being shot at by Turkish troops and that he considered Turkey to be more of a threat than ISIS.As the situation escalated, the Manbij Military Council has tried to pre-empt any Turkish offensive by striking a deal with Russia to turn nearby villages under its control over to Syrian government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. As part of that deal, a Syrian government convoy with humanitarian aid began to make its way to Manbij, escorted by Russian armored vehicles, which halted just short of the town.At the same time, American troops in Stryker fighting vehicles and armored Humvees flying large American flags began to appear in and around Manbij to dissuade Turkish-backed militias and other groups from attacking the area. The American troops include a unit of Army Rangers, who appear to have been sent to northern Syria from the base American forces use in Erbil, Iraq. It was an unusually public role for Army Rangers, who often prefer to operate in the shadows.Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that the American deployment was intended as a visible sign of deterrence and reassurance.We are concerned about anybody who views Manbij as needing to be liberated, he added.One American official described the situation around Manbij as a potential tinderbox. There have already been a couple of friendly fire incidents, including a Russian airstrike last week that hit Syrian Arab fighters trained by the Americans. The worry is that a small incident could rapidly escalate and undermine the American-backed push to capture Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic States self-styled caliphate.There is a need for an effective coordination in the efforts to clear Syria of all terror groups because so many countries are involved there, Binali Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, said of the generals meeting. Thats the real aim of the meeting.The challenge facing the United States and Turkey, however, goes well beyond drawing clear battle lines.American Special Operations Forces regard the Y.P.G. the Syrian Kurdish militia that is officially known as the Peoples Protection Units as an effective battlefield ally whose participation is vital to roll back the Islamic State in Syria.While President Trump has yet to decide the matter, American commanders have also argued for equipping the Y.P.G. with armored vehicles, heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles so they could join the operation to seize Raqqa.Turkey, which has cast the Kurdish militias as terrorists, has vociferously objected to such a move. The American military has tried to develop ways to reassure Turkey, including by increasing the number of Syrian Arabs that would be used to take Raqqa.

World

The agencys acting head said a review should look into whether any interactions between agency staff and the drug developer, Biogen, broke F.D.A. rules.Credit...Cj Gunther/EPAPublished July 9, 2021Updated Sept. 2, 2021The Food and Drug Administration on Friday called for a federal investigation of the process that led to the approval of a new drug for Alzheimers disease that has spurred sharp criticism from lawmakers and the medical community.In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services independent Office of the Inspector General, the F.D.A.s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, acknowledged the scrutiny the agency has faced about the approval process for the drug, which is known as Aduhelm and has a $56,000 annual price tag. She pointed to interactions between representatives from the drugs developer, Biogen, and the agency, saying some may have occurred outside of the formal correspondence process.To the extent these concerns could undermine the publics confidence in F.D.A.s decision, I believe it is critical that the events at issue be reviewed by an independent body, Dr. Woodcock wrote. She noted that the review should look at whether any of the communication between the agencys staff and Biogens representatives violated F.D.A. rules.Dana Conti, a spokesman for Biogen, said the company will, of course, cooperate with any inquiry in connection with a possible review of the regulatory process.It is unusual for the agency to request an investigation into its own staffs decision-making process for an individual drug approval. The move is likely to intensify the controversy that has surrounded Aduhelm. The F.D.A. approved it a month ago, overriding the fierce objections of its own independent advisers and many other scientists, who said there was insufficient evidence to know whether the drug was effective.On Thursday, the F.D.A. moved to narrow its recommendation about who should receive the drug. After originally recommending it for all Alzheimers patients, the agencys new guidelines say it should be prescribed only to people with mild cognitive problems.Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, one of three experts who quit an F.D.A. advisory panel last month in protest of the agencys decision on Aduhelm, said he welcomed the call for a federal investigation.Its really important that an investigation happen publicly and quickly so that we find answers to some of the many outstanding questions swirling around this decision, said Dr. Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Womens Hospital.A number of Alzheimers and public health experts have raised concerns about what they characterized as an unusually close collaborative relationship between Biogen and the F.D.A. while the drug was being reviewed. One example was the agencys move to jointly present with Biogen its glowing review of the evidence supporting the drug in a meeting of the F.D.A.s independent advisers in November 2019.Stat, the medical news organization, first reported that in early May 2019, Dr. Billy Dunn, the head of the agencys neuroscience division, held an off-the-book meeting with a Biogen executive, Dr. Al Sandrock. While it is not unusual for drug company executives to meet frequently with F.D.A. officials, it is unusual to present data that would be part of an F.D.A. application outside a formal setting.A few months earlier, Biogen had moved to halt two late-stage studies of Aduhelm after an early analysis found that it would not prove to be effective. But Biogen researchers analyzing the data soon concluded that the decision to halt the studies had been premature and that they had reason to believe it might be effective after all.The May 2019 meeting between Dr. Dunn and Dr. Sandrock was an initial step in restarting the talks that led to last months approval. It led to the first of a series of standard formal meetings between Biogen and agency staff. It also led to a more unusual collaboration: That summer, representatives from the company and the agency worked closely together to sort through Biogens complicated data from the studies, communicating nearly every day, Stat reported.Aduhelm was the first drug approved to treat Alzheimers in 18 years and it was the very first approval for a drug designed to attack the biological underpinnings of the disease, instead of just delaying symptoms.

Health

Credit...Bryan Meltz for The New York TimesMarch 14, 2016In December, Ami Levy and her husband, Jason, left frigid Washington, D.C., for a two-week vacation in Argentina. Once there, they headed north to the Brazilian border for a couple of days, lured by Igauzu Falls.She recalls the excitement when their phones GPS indicated they finally were in Brazil, and the awe-inspiring walls of water, some more than 24 stories tall.And, she remembers, everywhere there were mosquitoes, leaving bites on her thigh.Back home the first week of January, Ms. Levy learned she was four weeks pregnant.Her first pregnancy had ended in miscarriage in September, so it was with some hesitation that she left for another trip, this time to Puerto Rico for a rendezvous with her aunt and sister.As soon as she arrived, local news broadcasts began warning pregnant women about the dangers of infection with the Zika virus, carried by mosquitoes and suspected of causing devastating birth defects in infants born to infected women.She booked the first available flight home.I was on the beach for a few hours and didnt put on any bug spray, said Ms. Levy, a 35-year-old psychotherapist. I had two bites when I got home Sunday.I think I would have been more panicky if I hadnt told myself I needed to keep it together for my baby.The Zika virus is not yet known to be circulating in the continental United States. But already, fear of the infection has come home for many pregnant women and their families who journeyed abroad before the risks were known.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that nine pregnant women were known to have become infected while traveling. Yet many more are coping with the possibility of exposure, reaching out to their doctors for blood tests and ultrasounds, obsessing on news coverage and trying to manage their worry.The C.D.C. recommends that pregnant women receive blood tests two to 12 weeks after travel to an affected area to detect whether they may have been infected with the Zika virus.Those who may have been exposed are urged to consider having extra ultrasounds to look for birth defects in the developing fetus.Nothing is guaranteed; the antibody test has its limits. Ultrasounds often do not detect fetal microcephaly, the disease causing misshapen heads and brain damage that has been linked to infection with the virus.According to the C.D.C., the scans are most accurate at the end of the second trimester or early in the third.The risk is small, but the effects are tragic, said Craig Forest, 37, an associate professor of bioengineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.He and his wife, Roxanne, 32, spent Christmas vacation in Costa Rica just as she was entering her second trimester of pregnancy.They chose that destination because of all the countries in the region, it seemed to offer the safest environment for a pregnant woman.After 10 days of rain forest hikes and lazy sunsets on the beach, Ms. Forest was covered with insect bites.Back home in January, the couple began hearing news reports about the Zika virus. Costa Rica was not mentioned.Im looking at the list and thinking, Thats all of Costa Ricas neighbors; we dodged a bullet on that one, Mr. Forest said.On Feb. 1, Costa Rica was added to the list of countries in which Zika is circulating. The virus had been in the country since at least December.Ms. Forests doctor did not order a blood test for the infection, because she had not had any symptoms. Her most recent ultrasound appeared normal, and the couple say they will ask for another at the cutoff time for an abortion.They have lain in bed at night discussing the possibility, something that would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago.They know the risks are remote first that she might have been bitten by an infected mosquito, and second that the infection might lead to a birth defect.As analytically minded people, were trying to calculate the odds, said Ms. Forest, who is also an engineer.But when they try to figure the likelihood of a birth defect related to the Zika virus, all they can come up with is not zero.There is nothing to do but wait. I actually tried to stop reading the news, Ms. Forest said.Even when a pregnant woman is found to have been infected, tests of blood or amniotic fluid cannot definitively tell if the fetus was affected, said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, an expert in infectious diseases at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, who is working to develop a more reliable alternative.Microcephaly seems to be a relatively rare complication. But its also possible that the virus may cause more subtle damage that we cant yet appreciate, Dr. Lipkin said.Sydney Silverstein, 35, an Emory University doctoral candidate, has been living in Iquitos, Peru, since July. She is eight and a half months pregnant.There is no widespread epidemic of Zika virus in Peru, but the virus is present in Lima. Moreover, she spent time on the Brazilian border in late fall, early in her pregnancy.She has had extra ultrasound scans from her doctor, and her fetus looks unaffected.Her husband, Nick, travels back and forth from his job in Ohio, and her parents have been urging her to leave before the virus spreads to her part of the country. I have a family that is awesome and supportive and a little freaked out, she said.Ms. Silverstein decided to remain in Peru, believing the risks to her baby boy are not great and wanting to complete the research she has started.Still, the difference between her circumstances as an American and those of other local women smacks you in the face, she said.Deep down, I knew I had the option to leave if I thought I had to. Most women in Latin America cannot.In late February, just after Ami Levy first heard her babys heartbeat in the doctors office, her Zika antibody test results came back negative. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe, she said.She had spent an anxious month worrying that she had put her baby in danger, though she knew the guilt to be illogical. Even now, Ms. Levy says she is nagged by the knowledge that the tests are not foolproof. She plans to ask for an extra ultrasound when she is further along.Shes taking no chances, even tiny ones. At her doctors suggestion, she canceled a coming trip to Florida because the local health authorities had declared a public health emergency in Miami-Dade County.I see those pictures, and I feel connected to those mothers in Brazil, she said. This is a really horrible situation.

Health

Credit...Matt ChaseThe regions lawmakers and regulators are taking direct aim at Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple in a series of proposed laws.Credit...Matt ChaseJuly 30, 2020LONDON European Union leaders are pursuing a new law to make it illegal for Amazon and Apple to give their own products preferential treatment over those of rivals that are sold on their online stores.In Britain, officials are drawing up a law to force Facebook to make its services work more easily with rival social networks, and to push Google to share some search data with smaller competitors.And in Germany, authorities are debating a rule that would let regulators essentially halt certain business practices at the tech companies during an antitrust investigation.Europes lawmakers and regulators have shifted to a new stage in their battle to limit the power of the worlds biggest tech companies. The region has long been at the forefront of using existing antitrust laws and levying multibillion dollar penalties against the tech giants, but officials now say that those tactics have not gone far enough in altering the behavior of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. So they are drafting at least half a dozen new laws and regulations to aim at the heart of how those tech companies businesses work.Europe has embarked on its legal blitz just as the United States has started flexing its own tech regulatory muscles. On Wednesday, the chief executives of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook were grilled by lawmakers in a congressional hearing to scrutinize their power. All defended themselves against criticism from Democrats about anticompetitive business practices and accusations from Republicans that they were muzzling conservative voices. On Thursday, all four companies showed their financial muscle by reporting billions of dollars in profits and surging revenue.The momentum in the United States is set to grow. The Justice Department is expected to announce an antitrust case against Google in the coming weeks. The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general are also investigating Facebook, Apple and Amazon for potential anti-competitive behavior.Those actions, coupled with the efforts in Europe, represent a double whammy for the tech giants. If the proposed laws in Europe are enacted, the policies could lead to a major overhaul of the regions digital economy, where there are more than 500 million consumers, by regulating the tech companies more like traditional industries such as telecommunications and finance.This is a new phase, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president who is leading the effort in Brussels to write new laws, said in an interview.Ms. Vestager said the proposed laws would lower hurdles to force the tech companies to change and even restrict them from moving into new product areas. At stake is whether or not these markets will be open and contestable and innovative, or if they will just be governed by these walled gardens of de facto monopolies, she said.ImageCredit...Ans Brys for The New York TimesEuropean officials are working on the new laws against Big Tech alongside more traditional tactics such as antitrust investigations. European Union officials are investigating whether Apples App Store policies are anti-competitive, and are preparing charges against Amazon for abusing its e-commerce dominance to box out smaller rivals. The European Union is also reviewing Googles purchase of the wearables maker Fitbit, while Britain opened an inquiry in June into Facebooks acquisition of Giphy, a GIF company.Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon are closely monitoring Europes proposals. While the companies have publicly said they want to work with the regions lawmakers and regulators, their lobbying groups have argued that Europes aggressive actions are partially an effort to protect homegrown industries.Popular tech services are increasingly being developed outside of the E.U., said Christian Borggreen, vice president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry group in Brussels. The E.U. should strive to become a leader in tech innovation, not just in tech regulation.Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google declined to comment.For years, Europe set the standard in tech regulation only to find that its efforts did not make much of a dent as the tech behemoths continued to grow.Consider that the European Commission found Google guilty of antitrust violations three times from 2017 to 2019, resulting in fines of roughly 8.25 billion euros, or about $9.7 billion at current conversion rates. But the cases each took several years to complete, giving Google ample time to secure its dominance in online advertising, smartphone software and internet search. The monetary penalties, which are small for a company with more than $160 billion in annual revenue, remain tied up in court appeals.Other legal efforts, such as Europes landmark privacy law called the General Data Protection Regulation, were aimed at many industries and were not just aimed at the tech companies. Since G.D.P.R. was enacted in 2018, it has been faulted for lack of enforcement.So over the past year, European regulators and lawmakers began a concerted effort to draw up new laws that specifically homed in on the tech companies businesses.Much of the energy came from officials in Brussels, where European Union leaders set policies for the 27-nation bloc. In December, Ms. Vestager, who had already spent five years as the worlds top tech industry watchdog, began a new five-year term leading digital policy and antitrust oversight. She and her colleagues vowed to take an even harder line.They proposed new rules to make it easier for regulators to begin investigations against the tech companies. One proposed law, the Digital Services Act, would draw more business boundaries for search engines, marketplaces, social networks and app stores. Policymakers are debating barring Amazon, Apple and others from giving their products preferential treatment in their digital stores. Ms. Vestager said there was broad political support for the ideas, which could become law by next year.Among European countries, Britain has become particularly active in moving to rein in the tech giants. Lawmakers are debating the creation of a regulator to focus on the largest tech companies, holding them to new codes of conduct so they do not use exploitative or exclusionary business practices.We have crossed a line, said Andrea Coscelli, the head of Britains antitrust agency, the Competition and Markets Authority, which published a 400-plus-page report this month accusing Google and Facebook of anticompetitive behavior in online advertising. Something needs to happen sooner rather than later, and it needs to be done in an intelligent way.Mr. Coscelli said the lack of specific tech regulation reminded him of the lax oversight of banks before the 2008 financial crisis. Regulators should treat the tech giants more like formerly state-owned enterprises such as British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, he said. Starting in the 1980s, those companies were often blocked from practices like bundling new services at reduced prices, or moving into product areas where new companies were emerging. Europe is now considered among the worlds most competitive wireless markets.In Germany, authorities said they were debating rules to restrict how the tech companies use their dominance in one area to enter new markets. In recent years, Apple has leveraged its strength in smartphones and tablets to subsidize its entrance into the video-streaming market, Google has used its search engine to offer travel services and Facebook has offered new e-commerce services off its base of social networking.If a platform is so big and if a platform has such a powerful position, there are opportunities to abuse this power, said Andreas Mundt, Germanys top antitrust regulator.In France, policymakers are debating a new law that would censor hate speech online, making Facebook, YouTube and Twitter legally liable for content posted by users, though the proposal is already facing legal challenges. Germany has adopted a similar proposal, and Britain and the European Union are considering such measures as well. France is also leading an effort with Italy and the European Union to force the tech companies to pay more taxes.Many hurdles remain before the proposals become law. Some question whether the regulations would be effective, particularly if they take years to enact. Others said any laws could be watered down during the legislative process as companies pour money into lobbying, or that in a rush to get something done, flawed policy will be put into place.There is a desire to go further, but European regulators are struggling to define the specific problems they want to fix, said Joe McNamee, a veteran internet policy consultant in Brussels, who is particularly concerned about new online censorship rules. Badly designed measures are unlikely to achieve their goals at the same time as creating collateral damage.William E. Kovacic, a professor specializing in antitrust law at George Washington University, said that even if many of the proposals did not become law, the increased scrutiny alone would lead the tech companies to change behavior.Its like the policeman at your elbow, he said.

Tech

Credit...Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 7, 2017BAGHDAD Iraqi forces trying to reclaim Mosul penetrated the western part of the city on Tuesday, retaking a bridge and several public buildings during heavy clashes with the Islamic State militants, officials said.Civilians reported that the bombardment and gunfire were the heaviest since Feb. 19, the beginning of the operation to retake the western part of the city the countrys second-largest, where roughly a million people are trapped and living in desperate conditions.Soldiers recaptured a branch of the central bank, an archaeological museum that jihadists ransacked after taking the city in 2014, and the Hurriya Bridge, which crosses the Tigris River in the center of the city, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman, said by phone.ImageCredit...Suhaib Salem/ReutersWe will never stop until we liberate Mosul entirely, he said.Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, the chief of the federal police, said that security forces had also retaken a government compound. A statement from the American-led coalition forces assisting the Iraqis gave a similar account of their progress.The museum was a focus of worldwide attention after it was seized by Islamic State militants, who used sledgehammers and drills to smash artifacts in its collection. The destruction horrified scholars around the world.Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Muhammadawi, a spokesman for an elite unit of Interior Ministry troops, said that the buildings retaken from the Islamic State included a courthouse where militants had carried out whippings, stonings and beheadings, as well as a building where militants had thrown people to their deaths.The liberation of the government compound is a step forward for our forces, a vital motivating position for us, General Muhammadawi said in an interview. The international coalitions airstrikes and drones have played a major role in accelerating the liberation of the city.It was not yet clear how lasting the gains would be. Although soldiers raised the Iraqi flag over the government compound, in the Dawasa neighborhood, they were later forced to retreat under heavy fire from Islamic State militants, The Associated Press reported.The museum remained within the range of Islamic State snipers, making it vulnerable to a counterattack.Social media accounts associated with the Islamic State reported that militants had set off three suicide bombs during the offensive.Though the military advances were tenuous, government forces said that Tuesday represented a critical moment in their weekslong offensive to retake western Mosul.ImageCredit...Zohra Bensemra/ReutersThe fighting, which included recapturing most of the citys airport, has not been easy. It took Iraqi forces more than three months to gain control over eastern Mosul, and casualties there were heavy.Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the chief of staff of the countrys armed forces toured the headquarters of the operations command responsible for the offensive, just outside Mosul, on Tuesday to review the progress of security forces, according to a statement.The Hurriya, or Freedom, Bridge is the second of five bridges to be retaken by government forces. American-led airstrikes damaged all five bridges last year in a bid to isolate the militants in Mosul.Mosul fell to the Islamic State in June 2014, along with large parts of the countrys north and west. It is the largest Iraqi population center still wholly or partly in the militant groups control.ImageCredit...Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Tuesday that about 46,000 people had been displaced from their homes in Mosul since Feb. 19 including 13,350 on Friday alone in the highest continuous displacement of civilians since October.All people displaced from western Mosul have been accommodated either with family members or in camps or emergency sites, where they receive a tented plot, basic household supplies, hygiene kits and 30-day food rations, the United Nations office said. Camp construction and the installation of water and sanitation services are underway south of Mosul, the office added.Since Feb. 19, the office said, more than 500 people have been treated for conflict-related wounds, including 15 people who were hospitalized in Erbil, a Kurdish-held city east of Mosul, for treatment after an apparent chemical-weapon attack.Many in eastern Mosul lack drinking water, officials have warned, and many in the southern and western parts of the city are drinking untreated water, which could lead to the spread of diseases.

World

The Week AheadDec. 13, 2015Update for Consumer PricesOn Tuesday, the Labor Department is expected to release its latest update on changes in consumer prices for November. With the continuing plunge in oil prices average pump prices dropped 19 cents in just one month and widespread discounting in sectors from apparel to cars last month, analysts expect the Consumer Price Index to remain flat. Even a drop in the headline number is unlikely to push the Federal Reserve off course and deter it from raising the benchmark interest rate when it meets on Wednesday. Patricia CohenData Protection in EuropeEuropean policy makers are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to complete long-awaited data protection rules aimed at giving people across the region a greater say over how companies use their personal data. The overhaul, which will come into force over the next two years, could lead to fines totaling millions of dollars for tech giants like Google and companies like the drug maker Pfizer if they fail to comply with Europes privacy rules, which are significantly more stringent than those in the United States. Mark ScottDeadline for Halliburton and Baker HughesWhile Halliburtons $35 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes was announced a year ago, the companies face a looming deadline on Tuesday for approval by the Justice Department. Since the two oil service providers first agreed to the deal, oil prices have plunged, making it more difficult to sell assets to allay any regulator concerns about competitiveness. Last week, regulators sued to block Stapless acquisition of Office Depot. Leslie PickerFed Expected to Raise RateThe drumroll is over. Its time for the main event. The Federal Reserves policy-making committee is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time since the Great Recession. The first increase wont amount to much.The Fed, which has held the rate near zero for seven years as the mainstay of its economic stimulus campaign, is likely to set a new range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent. The more important question is how quickly the Fed plans to continue raising rates. The Feds chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, will have a chance to frame those expectations when she holds a planned news conference after the announcement. Binyamin AppelbaumValeants OutlookValeant Pharmaceuticals International will hold a meeting for investors and analysts on Wednesday, at which the company is expected to discuss its financial outlook for next year as well as certain drug development programs. The stock of the once high-flying company has been inching up recently after losing more than two-thirds of its value on concerns about the sharp price increases on some Valeant drugs and the companys relationship with a mail-order pharmacy that is now being shut down. Investors will be looking for updates on the pharmacy matter at the meeting, which is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Andrew PollackImageCredit...Sara Stathas for The New York TimessGeneral Electric Looks AheadOn Wednesday afternoon, General Electric will present its outlook for next year. In 2015, G.E. accelerated its post-financial crisis shift away from finance and back to its industrial roots, selling and servicing machinery such as jet engines, power generators, medical imaging machines and oil field equipment.With the strategy in place, next year should be one of execution for G.E. Analysts will be closely watching the companys forecasts for major industrial markets, especially as oil prices continue to drop, and the probable impact on G.E.s business. Wall Streets consensus estimate for G.E. in 2016 is $1.51 earnings per share on revenue of $129 billion. Steve LohrPuerto Rico Bond RestructuringThursday is the deadline for Puerto Ricos electric power authority to reach a deal with its creditors to restructure its debt. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority has persuaded many bondholders to exchange their debt for new bonds with more favorable terms to the struggling utility. But the agency has struggled to win over the insurance companies that are backing about 30 percent of the bonds, putting a restructuring in jeopardy. Michael CorkeryE.U.s Year-End Summit MeetingEuropean Union leaders plan to meet late this week for their last scheduled summit conference of the year. Discussions are expected to begin on Thursday in Brussels with a focus on migration, security and British demands to reform the bloc.On Friday, the leaders are scheduled to turn to economic and monetary issues, including the so-called European Deposit Insurance Scheme, which was proposed last month by the European Commission, the blocs executive agency.The system would aim to ensure that all depositors across the 19 countries using the euro could be equally confident that their savings were safe. But Germany, which has long resisted sharing fiscal risks with other eurozone countries, has signaled reservations about the idea. That means leaders are likely to agree, at most, to a gradual introduction of such a system. James Kanter Star Wars AnticipationAfter nine months of nearly nonstop publicity fan conventions, magazine covers, 500 storm troopers on the Great Wall of China, retail hoopla and theme park tie-ins is there anyone anywhere not yet aware that Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives on Friday? For Disney, which bought Lucasfilm, the studio behind the Star Wars franchise, for $4 billion in 2012, the stakes are gargantuan. If opening-weekend ticket sales are perceived by investors to fall short, even by a little, the entertainment conglomerates stock will undoubtedly get roughed up on Dec. 21.Disney has been trying to dial back expectations, but Wall Street thinks The Force Awakens will deliver one of the biggest openings if not the biggest in Hollywood history, surpassing the $209 million that Jurassic World generated in June. Brooks Barnes

Business

Shemar Moore I'd Rather be in Jail Than on El Chapo's Jury!!! 1/27/2018 TMZ.com Shemar Moore's not about to mess with a dude like El Chapo ... which is why he'd rather sit behind bars for a while than be a juror on the drug lord's criminal case. The "Criminal Minds" and "S.W.A.T." star was at LAX Saturday when we asked him about jury duty, specifically about the concern for the jurors' safety in the El Chapo trial. Moore makes it clear -- El Chapo's a scary man and thinks anyone connected to the former Cartel leader should be afraid ... despite what his lawyers say. For that reason, Shemar says he'd take whatever punishment comes with skipping El Chapo jury duty ... because it's better than the alternative. Side question -- how's Shemar avoided regular jury duty so far in his life?

Entertainment

Credit...Hamad I Mohammed/ReutersNov. 4, 2018DUBAI, United Arab Emirates A Shiite cleric who was a central figure in Bahrains 2011 Arab Spring protests was sentenced on Sunday, along with two other senior opposition figures, to life in prison, overturning previous acquittals on charges of spying for Qatar.Amnesty International called the sentence a travesty of justice.The public prosecutor said the court had sentenced the cleric, Sheikh Ali Salman, secretary general of the opposition al-Wefaq group; and Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Alaswad, members of the same group, for transferring confidential information to and receiving financial support from Qatar, according to Reuters.The prosecutor had appealed a court ruling that acquitted the three last June in a rare victory for opposition figures who say they have been targeted for their political views.Mr. Salman is already serving a four-year prison sentence on charges of inciting hatred, after he was arrested in 2015. Mr. Sultan and Mr. Alaswad were tried in absentia.This verdict is a travesty of justice that demonstrates the Bahraini authorities relentless and unlawful efforts to silence any form of dissent, Amnesty International said in a statement.Sheikh Ali Salman is a prisoner of conscience who is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.The verdict was issued just weeks before parliamentary elections are set to take place without al-Wefaq, which was the tiny Gulf nations largest Shiite opposition bloc.Courts in Bahrain, where the United States Navys Fifth Fleet is based, dissolved al-Wefaq and National Democratic Action Society (Waad) in 2016 as part of a crackdown on dissent in the kingdom, which has a Shiite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy.The groups were accused of helping to foster violence and terrorism. Al-Wefaq, which has strong links to the countrys Shiite Muslim majority, and Waad, which is seen as a secular movement, have both campaigned for social and political reforms in the country, The Associated Press said.Bahrain has barred members of dissolved opposition groups from running in the parliamentary elections.The three faced charges of disclosing sensitive information to Qatar that could harm Bahrains security in exchange for financial compensation. The state-run news agency said prosecutors had presented recorded phone conversations as evidence.Last year, Bahrain state television broadcast the recorded calls between Mr. Salman and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, then Qatars prime minister, during the 2011 protests.Mr. Alaswad, who has lived in London since 2011, has told Reuters that the public prosecutor used secret witnesses and a video from a Bahraini television channel that experts described as edited and incomplete.Along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, Bahrain imposed a boycott on Qatar last year, accusing it of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. Qatar denies the charges, saying they are an attempt to undermine its sovereignty.Since the Bahrain authorities crushed street protests in 2011, demonstrators have clashed frequently with security forces, who have been targeted by bomb attacks. Manama says Qatar supports the unrest, accusations denied by Doha.Mr. Salman, who is in his early 50s, has long been targeted by Bahrains government. In 1994, he was arrested, allegedly tortured and detained for months without trial before being deported and forced to live in exile for more than 15 years, according to the United Nations.He is currently serving out a four-year sentence on charges he insulted the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police; incited others to break the law; and incited hatred against naturalized Sunni citizens, many of whom serve in Bahrains security forces.Brian Dooley, a senior adviser at Human Rights First, said Sundays ruling confirms there is now no tolerance for any dissent in Bahrain, according to The A.P.

World

on techThe cellular networks might be life-changing in the future. Not today.Credit...James MarshallPublished Oct. 15, 2020Updated April 17, 2021This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.There might not be smartphones in billions of pockets today if the phone companies had their way.Now theyre again standing in the way of progress.This weeks unveiling of new iPhone models started the typical selling season for smartphones. Whats different in 2020 is Americans are getting pitched hard on buying a new phone to get access to the next generation of cellular networks, known as 5G.The message is: 5G = Good! Fast! Get it now!Reality: It is not that good or that fast at the moment and most people in the United States dont need to get it now.Americans should be angry about marketing blather winning over clarity about 5G. I fear people will waste their money on half-baked technology and grow disillusioned by 5Gs potential to improve lives.My message for U.S. phone companies: Communicate more effectively about 5G or go away.Ive seen these problems before. In the pre-iPhone age, we had years of clunky mobile devices, and phone providers like AT&T deserved a lot of the blame.Phone companies dictated almost everything about flip phones and early smartphones, including their features, look and speed. People had to put up with crummy software from the phone company to surf the web or download songs and ringtones. (Remember ringtones?!) It stank.One of the secrets to the iPhones success is Apple simply said no to all of that. Apples chief executive at the time, Steve Jobs, gave wireless phone companies an ultimatum: Stay out of every decision about the iPhone or lose a shot at selling a potential blockbuster.Apple got its way, the iPhone was eventually a success and phone companies got rich from it alongside Apple.Phone companies did eventually play an important role in making smartphones affordable, useful and available across the globe. But a lesson from that crucial beginning was that phone companies needed to be taken down a peg before a new technology could catch on.Im getting bad 2000s vibes from whats happening now with smartphones.My colleague Brian X. Chen has written about 5G marketing hot air. This wireless standard should, in theory, allow us to download videos or buy stuff on our phones in a snap. At some point the fast wireless speeds might make it easier for cars without drivers to safely navigate city streets and for more surgeons to operate on patients remotely.But in the United States right now, 5G is not available in many places nor is it a significant improvement in zippiness if its faster at all for most people. Phone companies are not being clear about that, mostly.If youve decided to buy a new smartphone, it makes sense to buy one that works on 5G cell networks. Most Americans, however, should not buy a new phone just for 5G. (People in other countries: This may not apply to you.)Given Apples history, I was disappointed that Apple this week echoed the confusion about 5G at its unveiling of new iPhones. Jobss successor, Tim Cook, let the boss of Verizon hype 5G. Cook said that 5G is super fast. It is! If you stand under just the right light pole on that one block in Chicago.These 5G cellular networks will get better soon. I worry, though, that in the meantime Americans will grow cynical about the networks potential. And if they do, it will mostly be the phone companies fault.How will the pandemic change food growing and shopping?At a Times Talk event this week about how the pandemic is changing our food system, two topics came up that are tech relevant: A shift to grocery shopping online and the growth of vertical farms, highly mechanized and often tiny indoor produce labs close to population centers. (You can watch a replay of the event here.)Greg Lehmkuhl of Lineage Logistics, which moves fresh and frozen food around the world, said he believed that many people who did more grocery shopping online during the pandemic will stick with that habit when the virus risk abates.That means, Lehmkuhl said, that grocery sellers with the most money to invest in new food ordering systems and delivery methods think Amazon, Walmart and other big box stores will do better than retailers with fewer resources. And he said that the changes in how Americans shop for groceries have prompted food sellers to make major adaptations, including setting up more mini-stores not for shopping but for assembling grocery orders for home delivery.Sara Menker, the founder and chief executive of the agriculture software company Gro Intelligence, said that vertical farms were an efficient and less wasteful way of growing some produce like leafy greens, but they arent a viable alternative to traditional agriculture in many cases.There is only a subset of food that can still grow in a vertical farm, Menker said. Vertical farms typically cant grow staples like rice or corn, she said. And while prices have decreased as people get more adept at growing food in vertical farms, the farms are probably not viable everywhere.It will work in some markets, and in others it wont because it will still be too expensive, Menker said.Before we go Take a breath. Be skeptical. Brian X. Chen has a helpful guide to how to spot and hopefully not share false or emotionally manipulative information we see online. Among the tips: Stick to a handful of news sources you trust and do some of your own fact-checking.Related: Following Facebook and Twitter, YouTube said it would take steps to block videos related to QAnon, the sprawling conspiracy theory community that espouses that child-eating cabals control powerful institutions, my colleague Kevin Roose reported.A political allegation prompted pushback from social media companies: Facebook and Twitter limited access to a New York Post report based on unverified material about Joe Biden, my colleagues reported. The companies actions provoked strong reactions from Republicans, who accused the social media platforms of censoring them.I have panic-purchased multiple computer cables for some reason: My colleague John Herrman writes that a brutal 2020 has made people gadget freaks whether they meant to be or not. People have scoured the internet for scarce school laptops, noise canceling headphones, video game systems and (gulp) pulse oximeters to make it through difficult times.Hugs to thisTruly, what day is it? No one knows. Even this TV news anchor.We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at [email protected] you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.

Tech

Astana JournalMarch 7, 2017ImageCredit...Anne Barnard/The New York TimesASTANA, Kazakhstan The Astana Opera towers over a windswept plaza in this capital on the Central Asian steppe, a near-copy of Moscows neoclassical Bolshoi Theater, right down to the sculpture of galloping horses on the roof.Across a broad avenue stands the tilted, irregular cone of Khan Shatyr, a shopping mall designed as the worlds largest tent. Its roof is supported by a single slanting pole to evoke the nomadic history of the Kazakhs, a Turkic ethnic group slowly reasserting its identity after centuries of Russian rule.In between stands a fanciful construction all Astanas own: one of the ice cities that dot the freezing capital in winter. Children scoot down ice slides, and at night, ice sculptures glow with candy-colored lights.Since the fall of the Soviet Union made Kazakhstan an independent state in 1991, it has been cultivating relationships with Russia, its longtime hegemon, and Turkey, which invested early in the new nation and shares some of its cultural roots.Its easy to see why Astana was Russias choice to host a new track of Syrian peace talks this year. Convening talks five time zones east of Geneva where talks have been sputtering along without progress for years underscored what Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin, described recently as a desire for a post-West international order.Astana also represents the success of Kazakhstans leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in managing Moscow. The countrys only president since independence elected five times with 97.5 percent of the vote Mr. Nazarbayev has created a kind of authoritarian lite system that has more in common with the strongman rule in Russia, and increasingly in Turkey, than with Europe.He has sought to strike a balance between accommodating Russian power and pushing back, and Kazakhstan has avoided the territorial disputes with Russia and the ethnic and religious conflicts that have plagued other post-Soviet states.We dont have such problems, said Abzal Abdiev, 25, who gave me and two friends an amateur tour of Astana, pointing out the sights with evident pride.The citys very existence embodies the anxious, centuries-old dance between Moscow and the mostly Muslim regions that line Russias southern periphery, from the states and semiautonomous republics of the Caucasus region north of Turkey all the way to Kazakhstans eastern tip, farther east than Kathmandu.When I first visited Kazakhstan in 1993, Astana did not exist. I was sent by my editor at The Moscow Times to buttonhole Mr. Nazarbayev at a ribbon-cutting for a power plant in the countrys remote north, near the Russian border. A Russian nationalist parliamentarian, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, had been calling for Russia to seize back the mostly ethnically Russian area, where he was born.Mr. Nazarbayev brushed off the threat; Russia was weakened then, and any such move was unlikely. But a few months later, he decreed that the capital would move from Almaty the countrys largest city, in the more populous, more ethnically Kazakh south to the northern steppe. The move demonstrated power and ambition, but also placed a marker on the map, shoring up Kazakhstans possession of the area.ImageCredit...Anne Barnard/The New York TimesAstana was built in a hurry, by renaming and augmenting a provincial town called Akmola (in the Soviet era, Tselinograd). Mr. Nazarbayev was turning Kazakhstan into a resource-rich, consequential state, winning vast Caspian Sea gas fields in negotiations with Russia and cultivating global approval by giving up Soviet nuclear weapons left on his territory.He recruited famous international architects like Norman Foster to dot Astana with structures of his own conception, like a tower with a gilded globe evoking a golden egg from Kazakh legend. More than one public building has an imprint of his palm where citizens place their hands for good luck.Today, Astana is sometimes nicknamed the Dubai of the North, bustling with business travelers and offering tourists and residents indoor entertainment in forbidding weather. Its answer to steamy Dubais indoor ski slope is a beach club, complete with sand, on the top level of the Khan Shatyr mall.When he dreamed up the city, Mr. Nazarbayev had been dealt a potentially explosive challenge: The population was about evenly divided between ethnic Russians, many unenthusiastic about suddenly being citizens of Kazakhstan, and Kazakhs, estranged by Soviet rule from their language and from an Islamic tradition layered on older shamanism.Astana hints at his approach to the problem. Mr. Nazarbayev has sought to forge a national identity separate from Russia but not too exclusive of Russians, now a large minority. And he has led a restoration of Kazakh and Islamic identity, embedded firmly in state-imposed moderation with a dose of a personality cult.ImageCredit...Anne Barnard/The New York TimesThe National Museum greets visitors with a two-story portrait of Mr. Nazarbayev decked in medals and flanked with murals from Kazakh history. Exhibits highlight Kazakh crafts and horsemanship, battles with czarist Russia, proud moments in Soviet history (the space program, the World War II victory). But they also document hunger and privation in a prison camp for dissidents wives and children where Astana now stands.Mr. Abdiev, our guide, was born a year after independence, but his elders, he said, remember Soviet days as bad times, when food was rationed and you couldnt get good shoes.Things are better now, he said, pointing out neon-lit toy stores, affordable Turkish clothing shops, modest but sturdy apartment blocks, glassy luxury towers and a CrossFit Astana.Mr. Abdiev grew up in an agricultural area farther south, training colts and riding bareback; his family, ethnic Kazakhs, raised horses for riding and meat, the national delicacy. His early playmates, he said, were Russian neighbors, and all the children spoke both languages.ImageCredit...Anne Barnard/The New York TimesIn the Hazrat Sultan Mosque, the largest in Central Asia, detailed instructions on how to pray are written in Kazakh though not Russian for people still learning the religion, pointing them to Muslim.Kz for more information. Its soaring dome and intricate decoration are reminiscent of Istanbuls Blue Mosque, but with lighter blues recalling the turquoise of the Kazakh flag.Kazakh officials often sound themes of religious coexistence and moderate Islam, which is reassuring to neighboring Russia, home to 20 million Muslims. Mr. Putin recently noted that 4,000 Russian citizens and 5,000 citizens of other post-Soviet states had joined Islamist insurgents in Syria, a concern cited as one reason for Russias intervention there.Mr. Nazarbayev has promised political reforms to bring in a new, less powerful president. Still, Kazakhstan falls short of democracy and good governance, ranking poorly in indexes of corruption and press freedom. In smaller, less favored towns, conditions can be far worse, with rickety infrastructure and coal pollution.For now, Astana, an artificially created city, is growing some roots of a real one.ImageCredit...Anne Barnard/The New York TimesAt the Astana Opera one night, the gilded and red velvet hall was packed. Latecomers skittered across the marble floor to avoid missing the curtain. Dancers, mostly Kazakh but also from other former Soviet republics, performed excerpts from Russian classical ballets. Posters advertised newer productions based on Kazakh folk tales.At intermission, patrons sported clothing as stylish as any in Moscow. Couples posed with mannequins in costumes designed for classic Russian operas and ballets but featuring Central Asian fabrics, hats and jewelry. Little girls twirled like ballerinas.Asked why he was driving a cab in subzero Astana instead of raising horses down south, Mr. Abdiev, the guide, answered like any young fortune seeker.Well, he said simply, its the capital.

World

Credit...Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesDec. 17, 2015It has been a busy week for Martin Shkreli, the flamboyant businessman at the center of the drug industrys price-gouging scandals.He said he would sharply increase the cost of a drug used to treat a potentially deadly parasitic infection. He called himself the worlds most eligible bachelor on Twitter and railed against critics in a live-streaming YouTube video. After reportedly paying $2 million for a rare Wu-Tang Clan album, he goaded a member of the hip-hop group to show me some respect.Then, at 6 a.m. Thursday, F.B.I. agents arrested Mr. Shkreli, 32, at his Murray Hill apartment. He was arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on securities fraud and wire fraud charges.In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Shkreli said he was confident that he would be cleared of all charges.Mr. Shkreli has emerged as a symbol of pharmaceutical greed for acquiring a decades-old drug used to treat an infection that can be devastating for babies and people with AIDS and, overnight, raising the price to $750 a pill from $13.50. His only mistake, he later conceded, was not raising the price more.Those price increases combined with Mr. Shkrelis jeering response to his critics has made him a lightning rod for public outrage and fodder for the presidential campaign. His company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, and others, like Valeant Pharmaceuticals, have come under fire from lawmakers and consumers for profiting from steep price increases for old drugs.But the criminal charges brought against him actually relate to something else entirely his time as a hedge fund manager and when he ran his first biopharmaceutical company, Retrophin. Federal officials described his crimes as a quasi-Ponzi scheme in which he used money from his company to pay off money-losing investors in his hedge funds. An F.B.I. official called his business schemes a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed.VideotranscripttranscriptNews Conference on Shkreli ArrestAn F.B.I. official called a drug industry chief executive's business schemes a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed.naAn F.B.I. official called a drug industry chief executive's business schemes a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed.CreditCredit...Craig Ruttle/Associated PressStill, for many of his critics, Mr. Shkrelis arrest was a comeuppance for the brash executive who has seemed to enjoy relish, even his public notoriety. On Thursday, a satirical New Yorker column by the humorist Andy Borowitz said Mr. Shkrelis lawyers had informed their client their hourly legal fees had increased by 5,000 percent.Personally, I think Martin Shkreli has become wealthy at the expense of the public good. I dont believe for a second that his manipulation of drug prices fuels valuable research as he has claimed, said Katie Uva, a 2006 alumna of Hunter College High School in Manhattan where Mr. Shkreli attended, in an email response to questions. This fall, Ms. Uva started an online fund-raising campaign to match a $1 million donation from Mr. Shkreli to Hunter in the hope of persuading the school to return the donation. So far, the campaign has raised about $800 from 16 donors.Mr. Shkreli (pronounced SHKRELL-ee) could have been a quintessential archetype for the immigrants dream of American success. He grew up in a crowded apartment on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, the son of Albanian immigrants who worked janitorial and other side jobs to support him and his three siblings.Mr. Shkreli was admitted into Hunter, an elite Manhattan public school for the intellectually gifted. On Thursday, two former classmates remembered Mr. Shkreli as a somewhat shy person who could often be found lingering in the schools hallways, playing chess, his guitar or looking at stocks in the newspaper.But he stopped attending classes and was asked to leave before his senior year. He received the credits needed for his high school diploma through a program that introduced him to Wall Street, placing him at an internship at the Wall Street hedge fund Cramer, Berkowitz & Company.Eventually, Mr. Shkreli opened his own hedge fund Elea Capital. It didnt last long, collapsing in 2007 on a big bet he made that went against him. Undeterred, in 2009, he started his second hedge fund, MSMB Capital, the initials of Mr. Shkreli and his partner, Marek Biestek, whom he met while attending Baruch College.Like Elea, MSMBs performance wasnt nearly as hot as Mr. Shkreli let on. From 2009 through 2012, Mr. Shkreli lost millions of dollars trading in the market, according to the accusations contained in the indictment. But he hid those losses, telling investors instead that the funds had strong double-digit returns.In 2011, Mr. Shkreli started Retrophin, which quickly adopted a controversial business strategy, acquiring old, neglected drugs used for rare diseases and quickly raising their prices.Soon, however, Mr. Shkreli was making a plan to use Retrophin assets to pay off MSMB investors. When seven MSMB investors threatened to sue in 2013, Mr. Shkreli and Evan Greebel, the lead outside counsel for Retrophin, used $3.4 million in Retrophin funds and stock to settle the investors claims, even though Retrophin had no responsibility, the indictment says.Mr. Greebel was also arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.Later, when Retrophins auditor raised questions about the settlements, Mr. Shkreli and Mr. Greebel created fraudulent consulting agreements for the investors, thinking they could pay the money back without upsetting the auditor, the indictment states. From September 2013 to March 2014, they created fake consulting agreements for four investors, paying $7.6 million in cash and stock. Retrophins board did not approve of the consulting agreements, the indictment says.In 2014, Retrophin ousted Mr. Shkreli as its chief executive. A lawsuit filed this summer by the company mirrors many of the same accusations contained in the federal charges.Once again, Mr. Shkreli didnt let failure slow him down. In August of this year, he raised $90 million in a first round of financing for Turing, his new biopharmaceutical company.One of his first moves was to pay $55 million for the American marketing rights for Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug for toxoplasmosis and immediately increase the price by 5,000 percent. The jump brought the cost of a course of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.Congressional committees and politicians denounced his move, but Republicans and Democrats have been split on how far to pursue further regulation of the drug industry or its practices.News of his arrest prompted Representative Elijah Cummings, a leading Democrat on the House Oversight panel, to release this statement: Mr. Shkreli has lined his own pockets at the expense of patients who desperately need their medications, and he should be ashamed of himself.VideotranscripttranscriptMartin Shkreli on Skype With TeenagerDuring a live stream, Mr. Shkreli discussed rap, high school and a friend of his who is in jail.NADuring a live stream, Mr. Shkreli discussed rap, high school and a friend of his who is in jail.Despite the public outcry, Mr. Shkreli neither reversed his decision nor showed any regret in the numerous interviews he has conducted with the media in recent weeks.Instead, he threw gasoline on the fire. After leading an investor group to take control of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, a failing California biotechnology company, Mr. Shkreli agreed to license the worldwide rights and said he would immediately elevate the price of a drug used to treat Chagas disease, a potentially deadly parasitic infection.Even as he defends his strategy on his never-ending Twitter feed, arguing that no one is denied the drugs or pays more than $10 out of pocket, a fair trade-off for more research, he asserts, he still makes time to heckle his critics. Last week, he tweeted: Should one of my companies change its name to Wu-Tang Pharmaceuticals? (Lawsuits be damned.)And then there are the bizarre, hourslong live streams, including a conversation he had on Monday with a girl who identified herself as a student at Hunter.Mr. Shkreli told her that he was planning to dominate the rap industry, have Hunter renamed for himself and bail a rapper out of jail.When the girl asked if he would attend a school dance with her, he demurred, adding, I am blushing though.Mr. Shkrelis antics have not gone unnoticed by federal law enforcement officials.When asked on Thursday if agents had seized the rare Wu-Tang Clan album that Mr. Shkreli reportedly bought, Robert L. Capers, the United States attorney, was coy.I wondered how long it was going to take to get to that, he said. Were not aware of where he got the funds that he raised to buy the Wu-Tang Clan album.

Business

AdvertisingCredit...via Toys "R" UsDec. 6, 2015One day last year, Jessica Nelson was surprised to find her toddler, Aiden, watching videos online in which people opened box after box of new toys, from Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs with trinkets inside to all manner of Disney merchandise.The next day we saw him watching more and more and more of them, said Ms. Nelson, who lives in Toledo, Ohio. He was pretty obsessed.She and her son, who turned 3 on Monday, had entered the world of unboxing videos, an extremely popular genre on YouTube where enthusiasts take products out of their packaging and examine them in obsessive detail. This year, according to YouTube, people have watched videos unveiling items like toys, sneakers and iPhones more than 1.1 billion times, for a total of 60 million hours.The videos ability to captivate children has led toy makers, retailers and other companies to provide sponsorships and free toys to some of the most popular unboxing practitioners, who in turn can make a lucrative living. Hasbro and Clorox have ads that YouTube places on the videos.Now, marketers are becoming even more involved. This season, Target hired four YouTube toy experts to create videos of favorite toys. Two of them were prominent child unboxers, including Evan of EvanTubeHD, who turned 10 on Sunday. Running on the retailers website, the videos promote its online childrens gifting hub and wish list app.Other advertisers are diving in deeper. In September, the Walt Disney Company hosted a live, 18-hour marathon of the unboxing of toys and other merchandise tied to this months release of the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens. YouTube stars around the world opened products starting in Sydney, Australia, and ending at Lucasfilm in San Francisco.Brands being brands, many want to exert even more control over the concept. Toys R Us created stop-action animations in which toys unbox other toys. The two-minute-plus videos, which started in late October on the companys YouTube channel, are a centerpiece of its digital advertising campaign for the holidays.It was inspired by how kids really play, said Richard Lennox, the retailers chief marketing officer. While they use the unboxing concept, the videos have a more overt promotional feel.In the first episode, which has gotten more than one million views, two Little People Knights rescue a Journey Girls Italy Holiday Doll from her plastic box. Oh, you come with so many beautiful accessories, coos one knight.ImageCredit...via Toys "R" UsToys R Us will keep making the videos well beyond the holiday season, said Wil Boudreau, chief creative officer at BBDO Atlanta, the retailers ad agency for its overall holiday campaign.Toy makers especially are intensifying their embrace of the genres stars, in some cases taking the concept into traditional advertising. Last year, Spin Master hired EvanTubeHD for a TV commercial for its Spy Gear toys in addition to YouTube videos. The company attributes a 65 percent jump in Spy Gear sales in 2014 in large part to Evans salesmanship. This year, the company created an animated online series around him and his sister, Jillian.Toys naturally dominate this time of year, but unboxing videos, which began with tech products, are spreading to other brands, including fashion, cars, software and cable TV services.The New York lingerie company Adore Me, whose customers are largely digital-savvy millennials, has created several television ads since the summer that employed unboxing. Morgan Hermand-Waiche, the companys chief executive, said the spots produced about 20 percent better results than its other ads, measured by the response rate and sales generated from them.To meet growing demand from brands, Fullscreen, a network of YouTube creators, has sought to sign up more unboxers, said Kevin McGurn, the companys head of sales.Not everyone is thrilled with the rise of the videos, which skirt digital and parental ad blockers. On Nov. 24, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy filed a second complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about commercially oriented YouTube videos, including unboxing. It followed an initial complaint in April that claimed some sponsored videos violated F.T.C. rules because they were not labeled as such.The Toys R Us videos are extended commercials that happen to be on YouTube, said Josh Golin, the executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. He is especially concerned that they are aimed at children, who have trouble distinguishing commercial messages from editorial content.Mr. Lennox said that Toys R Uss videos are not advertising according to YouTube rules and that the company complies with existing law. YouTube said it asked creators to disclose if their videos contained paid product placement and that it excluded those from its YouTube Kids site.Marketers appear undeterred. Indeed, the bigger challenge may be overkill. The temptation is to rush in with promotional content and overdo it, said Carol Spieckerman, president of the strategy firm Spieckerman Retail. If viewers perceive that brands exert too much control over YouTube personalities, she said, that could cast doubt on the authenticity that has made them effective.For now, though, the videos still work. Ms. Nelson, for one, has bought her son Easter eggs with surprises inside to supplement his fascination with Kinder egg unboxings.Ive caught myself watching the videos and even getting excited, she said. It gives me good ideas for birthday and Christmas presents.

Business

Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 15, 2018TIJUANA, Mexico The vanguard of what President Trump has labeled an invasion force formed an orderly line at about 6:45 a.m. on Thursday near a major border crossing between Tijuana and the United States and waited patiently.About 80 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have been traveling with a large migrant caravan had come to the crossing, with stories of victimization and persecution, to make appointments for asylum interviews in the United States.But other than the line of migrants, it was mostly business as usual along this westernmost stretch of the Mexico-United States southwest border.A steady flow of pedestrians and cars traversed the official border crossings, in an apparently smooth and normal process. Contractors worked on the steel border fence that reaches across the beach and into the Pacific Ocean, unfurling concertina wire along the top of the barrier and across the sand while American military police officers looked on.The migrants in line had been the first members of the caravan, which started in Central America more than a month ago, to make it to Mexicos northern border. They arrived on Sunday, and by trying to set up their asylum interviews were now moving yet another step closer to their goal of reaching American soil.Joe Rivano Barros, a field officer for Raices, a Texas-based advocacy group that has been helping the entourage, scoffed at the notion that this group was a menace to the United States.They are poor, and harmless, he said, and theyre excited to be part of the United States.Migrants from the caravan have been arriving in Tijuana since Sunday in spurts scores here, hundreds there entering the city mostly on donated buses.Some 800 had made it by Wednesday night and 900 or so more by Thursday, with the rest expected over the next few days.The caravans coordinators and government officials said they expected a total of about 5,000 migrants to gather in Tijuana and nearby municipalities in the next several days, while some municipal and state authorities have offered a more conservative estimate of 3,000 to 4,000.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesOfficials from the state of Baja California said Thursday that some 9,000 migrants were currently moving through Mexico in caravans, though not all were expected to wind up in the state.For weeks leading up to the midterm elections, Mr. Trump and his administration issued frenetic warnings about the caravans threats to national security and the American economy.The president, calling the caravan an invasion, deployed thousands of troops to reinforce border security, and border agents were reassigned to buttress staffing at major entry points.My plan is to cross to the other side, said Jos Amaya, 36, a Honduran migrant, adding that he had not ruled out any option, legal or illegal.But Irineo Mujica, a member of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a transnational advocacy group assisting the caravan, cautioned, We are definitely not going to storm the wall.Although the caravan has not posed any apparent danger to the United States, it is already threatening a potential crisis for Tijuana and the surrounding state of Baja California.Local and state officials have been scrambling to figure out how to shelter and care for the thousands of migrants. Even before the caravans arrival, the region was under stress because of a backlog in asylum applicants forced to wait as many as five or six weeks for an appointment to make their case at the American border.Many have holed up in migrant shelters in the meantime.With the caravans arrival this week, the regions network of shelters is now close to or at capacity, officials said, and supplemental emergency shelters have been forced to open in churches and other places.On Wednesday night, the authorities opened a temporary shelter in a sports complex in the city, but it has capacity for fewer than 400 migrants because, officials said, there was insufficient money to cover the costs of housing more.State officials said the governor had appealed to the federal government for financial assistance to forestall a possible humanitarian crisis.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesBut some migrants from the caravan have avoided the shelters, saying they feared being trapped behind locked doors at night and detained by the migration authorities. Instead, they have slept outdoors in parks and on the beach.Many migrants who have already arrived have been biding their time and figuring out their next move: whether to apply for sanctuary in the United States, try to cross illegally or remain in Mexico and possibly seek legal status here.For those who intend to apply for asylum likely a minority of the total caravan coordinators and advocates hope to organize legal workshops to review their cases and help them to prepare for their interviews with American border officials.Last spring, advocates provided similar help to a large caravan of mostly Central American migrants that traversed Mexico and ended up in Tijuana. At its peak, that caravan numbered about 1,500, by some estimates.Of those, several hundred eventually applied for asylum, with hundreds of others either crossing illegally into the United States or remaining in Mexico.Several migrants said Thursday that they were waiting for the rest of the caravan to show up before they settled on their strategy. Groups that have been helping to coordinate the caravan have inculcated in the participants the philosophy of strength in numbers.And for many participants, the size of the caravan, which began in Honduras in mid-October, was a big draw, promising security from the perils of the migrant trail.The high profile of the caravan also attracted an outpouring of humanitarian support along the way, making the migration nearly free for its participants, who survived on donated food, water, medical care, used clothing and other services.But in some sectors of Tijuana society, patience with the caravan is already wearing thin. Late Wednesday night, a group of residents in an affluent beachside neighborhood confronted migrants who were spending the night in a park.The residents cursed the migrants, telling them they were not welcome. A contingent of police officers rushed to the scene and kept the sides apart until the confrontation subsided.Several migrants said they remained awake and vigilant for the rest of the night, worried they would be attacked while they slept.

World

Vladimir Putin Strips for Jesus ... And Frozen Lake Dip 1/19/2018 Vladimir Putin is not losing his religion -- he IS getting half naked for it though ... in public. The Russian President took off a perfectly warm sheepskin coat and boots to take a dip in an icy lake about 250 miles north of Moscow. He wasn't alone. Putin was commemorating the baptism of Jesus in Orthodox Christian tradition ... and people do it all over Russia every year. This was the first time Putin publicly marked the Epiphany. His favorite horse was spared from the bone-chilling tradition. See also Vladimir Putin You Might Want to Rethink Religion/ Spirituality Politix

Entertainment

DealBook|BTG Pactual and the Perils of Supervoting Stockhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/dealbook/btg-pactual-and-the-perils-of-supervoting-stock.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 3, 2015BTG Pactual offers a case against companies issuing multiple classes of stock. The investment banks former boss, Andr Esteves, who is incarcerated, has ceded voting control in a stock swap with his partners. Its a neat fix, but reveals yet another risk of supervoting stock. Investors in companies with similar structures like Google, Moelis & Company and nearly every major media firm should take heed.Mr. Esteves was arrested on Nov. 25 on suspicion of obstructing an investigation into corruption at Petrobras, Brazils state-owned oil company, and is being kept in jail pending trial. This week he stepped down from his executive roles at BTG Pactual. Such a scandal is damaging enough for any bank, which relies on investor confidence to function. But Mr. Esteves also owned about a quarter of the companys equity, and his golden share gave him veto power over strategic decisions.ImageCredit...Paulo Fridman for The New York TimesSwapping seven senior partners nonvoting preferred stock for Mr. Esteves stake appears to have resolved this aspect of the scandal. A terse release put out by the company did not offer any details on the terms but did explain that he no longer controls the company and that the exchange was pursuant to its bylaws.That last point appears to show that BTG Pactual had at least prepared for extracting itself from its entrenched shareholder if things went awry. This form of key-man risk, though, does not get anywhere near the attention of a top employee dying or quitting the firm.More American firms are opting for dual-class stock. It gives Ken Moelis more than 90 percent of the vote at his mergers and acquisitions firm. Last year, Google introduced a third class of stock, which has no votes, to ensure the founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page retain absolute control. Its simply not obvious how these and other firms with multiple classes of shares will deal with unexpected situations. Bylaws to deal with them may not exist at all, may not cover all eventualities, or could be disputed.Supervoting stock creates a host of problems. It makes companies harder to analyze, creates a risk a firm will not be run in the best interest of all investors and encourages insiders to think of a corporation as their fief. What happens when an unexpected event such as an accusation of crime, or mental incapacity affects a controlling shareholder is a risk that deserves more investor attention.

Business

Skip to contentSkip to site indexScienceLog inTodays PaperScenes From Sundays Lunar EclipseBy Michael Roston and Matt McCannMay 16, 2022 Scenes From Sundays Lunar EclipseMichael Roston and Matt McCannWatching the Moon Scenes From Sundays Lunar EclipseMichael Roston and Matt McCannWatching the Moon Irwindale, Calif.Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated PressBlood moon. Flower moon. Total eclipse. Whatever you called it, Earths shadow draped over the moon Sunday, a reminder our world is one of many in harmony with other heavenly bodies. Look back at lunar eclipse photos from around the world Better Understand Space and AstronomyWe can help you keep track of things going on in our solar system and all around the universe.Never miss a rocket launch, astronaut landing or other events that are out of this world with The Timess Space and Astronomy Calendar.The solar system is filled with robotic explorers. Learn more about the spacecraftstudying the secrets of the sun, moon and other worlds.Keep track of the major meteor showersthat light up night skies all year long.Confused by black holes? Youre not alone. Let us unpack some of the universes most mysterious forces for you.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySite IndexGo to Home Page newsHome PageWorldCoronavirusU.S.PoliticsNew YorkBusinessTechScienceClimateSportsWildfire TrackerObituariesThe UpshotInternationalCanadaEspaolToday's PaperCorrectionsTrendingOpinionToday's OpinionColumnistsEditorialsGuest EssaysLettersSunday ReviewOpinion VideoArtsToday's ArtsArt & DesignBooksBest Sellers Book ListDanceMoviesMusicPop CultureTelevisionTheaterWhat to WatchVideo: ArtsLivingAutomotiveGamesEducationFoodHealthJobsLoveMagazineParentingReal EstateStyleT MagazineTravelListings & MoreReader CenterThe AthleticWirecutterCookingHeadwayLive EventsThe Learning NetworkTools & ServicesPodcastsVideoTimesMachineNYT StoreManage My AccountNYTLicensingnewsHome PageWorldCoronavirusU.S.PoliticsNew YorkBusinessTechScienceClimateSportsWildfire TrackerObituariesThe UpshotInternationalCanadaEspaolToday's PaperCorrectionsTrendingOpinionToday's OpinionColumnistsEditorialsGuest EssaysLettersSunday ReviewOpinion VideoArtsToday's ArtsArt & DesignBooksBest Sellers Book ListDanceMoviesMusicPop CultureTelevisionTheaterWhat to WatchVideo: ArtsLivingAutomotiveGamesEducationFoodHealthJobsLoveMagazineParentingReal EstateStyleT MagazineTravelMoreReader CenterThe AthleticWirecutterCookingHeadwayLive EventsThe Learning NetworkTools & ServicesPodcastsVideoTimesMachineNYT StoreManage My AccountNYTLicensingSubscribeHome DeliveryDigital SubscriptionsGamesCookingEmail NewslettersCorporate SubscriptionsEducation RateMobile ApplicationsReplica EditionInternationalCanadaEspaol

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MMA Fighter Sergio Da Silva Pleads Not Guilty To Robbing Bank 1/29/2018 MMA Fighter Sergio da Silva just pled not guilty to robbing a NYC bank over the summer ... TMZ Sports has learned. Officials say Silva -- who fought at Bellator 180 -- busted into a CitiBank in Queens on August 24 claiming to have a gun, and threatening to shoot whoever didn't cooperate. Cops say Silva got away with around $50k in cash. Silva was arrested, and charged with 2 felony robbery charges ... including 1st degree robbery while displaying a firearm. SdS's attorney, David Fish, tells us, "We intend to show at trial that hes not guilty of what hes alleged to have committed. The allegations are very serious. I think Sergio has a lot of confidence in that the truth will come out at trial." Silva, who was present in the NYC court, pled not guilty to both charges. He's due back in court in April.

Entertainment

Feb. 23, 2014One company used sensors to read body movements. Another recommended TV programs. Several others offered location and mapping services.All of them had at least one thing in common: They were among the more than 20 relatively small companies Apple says it has bought within the last 15 months.As fellow tech giants have reached billion-dollar deals in recent years to add significant new arms to their businesses like Facebook buying WhatsApp for as much as $19 billion, and Microsoft buying Nokias handset business for more than $7.1 billion Apple has ventured down a different path.The company has avoided jaw-dropping takeovers in favor of a series of smaller deals, using the companies to buttress or fill a gap in products that already exist or are in development. Still, in the past few years, Apple has gradually increased its overall spending on these acquisitions. In the last quarter, for instance, Apple spent $525 million on acquisitions, nearly double what it spent in the same period a year ago.And while the deals may be small particularly given Apples nearly $160 billion cash hoard they offer a window into where the secretive company is headed and which products and services it is trying to build or improve.Apples biggest acquisition last year was PrimeSense, a company with about 150 employees that Apple bought for $300 million to $350 million, according to reports. PrimeSense developed sensors that helped Microsoft let Xbox owners control games using body movements, and some analysts say Apple could eventually apply PrimeSenses skills and technology to a television set. Apple also bought Matcha.tv, a service that recommended things to watch on TV, another acquisition that signals its strong interest in the living room.And Apples purchase of location data services like Locationary, HopStop and Embark suggests a steadfast interest in Internet services especially mapping, where Apple has been harshly criticized for lacking the competence of its competitors Google and Nokia.Theyre pre-emptively investing in areas where they think there are opportunities to grow, said Ben Bajarin, a consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies who follows Apple. Without doubt Apple is a bit more focused and lean in their approach and disciplined about the things they buy.But as the growth of Apples profit has slowed in the past couple of years, some pundits and analysts have called for the company to break into other markets and create new revenue streams through a game-changing deal. Investors and analysts have suggested that Apple should buy Tesla to build cars, Facebook to get into advertising, Netflix to get deeper into the entertainment industry, and even Yahoo to get into the search business.Apple declined to comment for this article, but none of those possibilities appear close to coming true.Still, Timothy D. Cook, the companys chief executive, has said in the past that Apple would have no problem paying billions for another company if it would help Apple make more high-quality products.And the company is well aware how a blockbuster deal can help. In 1996, Apple acquired NeXT, the computer company founded by Steven P. Jobs after he had been forced out of Apple, largely to bring Mr. Jobs back to the company. It turned out to be one of the most transformative tech acquisitions in history: With Mr. Jobs back at the helm, Apple rose from near-bankruptcy into a dominant company.But in general, spending huge amounts of money on a buyout comes with major risks, said Brent Thill, an analyst for UBS AG, a financial services company that has clients in the tech industry.For one, the founders of an acquired company the star talent who receive the most money in a high-paying acquisition often tend to take the money and run to another new venture. For another, there can be cultural disagreements: A small company that is focused on introducing new technologies may not line up with the interests of its owner, which are to rake in greater profit.Also, when a small company merges with a bigger business, it becomes less nimble because it is tied to legacy technologies of a larger corporation, and it can no longer innovate as quickly to keep up with competitors.The history of the tech industry is littered with big deals that turned out poorly. In 2010, Hewlett-Packard bought Palm, the struggling mobile device maker, for $1.2 billion and shuttered Palms operations after releasing the TouchPad, a tablet that was only on sale for about seven weeks before it was killed.Similarly, Google bought the legacy handset maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012 and, after sales of its first flagship smartphone were disappointing, reached a deal to sell it to Lenovo for $2.9 billion. ImageCredit...Julie Jacobson/Associated PressA lot of the tech acquisitions, in my opinion, have gone way off the tracks, Mr. Thill said.Apple has kept the stakes low in recent years. Several of the companies it has bought had as few as one or two people, like SnappyLabs, a one-man developer of a camera app. The founder, John Papandriopoulos, an electrical engineer, had developed an app to make the iPhones camera take high-resolution photos at a faster frame rate than Apples built-in camera software. Apple bought the company this year and made Mr. Papandriopoulos a software engineer.These tiny acquisitions, made in large part to add the skills of an individual as much as the company, are known as acquihires in Silicon Valley. Most other major tech companies make them frequently as well. Facebook has been especially keen about buying small companies, like when it acquired Beluga, a group messaging app, to improve Facebooks messaging services, and when it bought Push Pop Press, a digital book maker, to make its newsreader Paper.When Apple buys a start-up with more than a couple of people, it is often looking for groups with specific skills who work well together as a team, according to a person who worked at a start-up Apple acquired last year, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. Apple then takes these small teams and assigns them to new projects or pairs them with older teams at Apple.Other deals are made in an effort to quickly blend new technology into existing products. For example, its 2008 purchase of PA Semi, a chip maker, helped Apple design more advanced processors for iPhones and iPads. And its 2012 acquisition of AuthenTec helped enable the fingerprint-sensing technology that eventually wound up in new iPhones.Other deals are clearly part of Apples effort to play catch-up in one particular area: maps.In 2012, Apple updated the built-in maps software for its mobile devices to replace Googles mapping data with its own. Apples maps, which were lackluster compared with Googles, quickly drew scrutiny, and Timothy D. Cook, Apples chief executive, issued an apology.To help the company catch up, last year it bought Embark and Hopstop, which provide public transit directions, and WiFiSlam, a company that provided maps for indoor areas. Apple in previous years acquired three other mapping companies: Placebase, Poly9 and C3 Technologies. Maps was a place where they did a lot of acquisitions, and that was a product that came out very flat, said Maynard Um, a financial analyst for Wells Fargo. They had the option to invest organically to get that product up to speed or go out and acquire other things.But just as those acquisitions suggest areas where the company is trying to catch up, others offer strong hints about new areas where the company is aiming to be a leader.One of those deals was reached with PrimeSense, the chip maker that makes 3-D sensors. Although the companys technology has so far been used mostly for applications on a TV, and Apple would likely look into similar uses, Mr. Bajarin of Creative Strategies said he expected Apple to look far and wide for other uses of the technology. Possible options, he said, could include things like turning the iPhones camera into a 3-D scanner, which could send images to be reproduced by a 3-D printer, for instance.Apple has historically never done anything because someone told them to do something, Mr. Um said. They do what they think is right and they go down that path.

Tech

Politics|Senators Ask White House Economists to Turn Over Tariff Findingshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/politics/senators-ask-white-house-economists-to-turn-over-tariff-findings.htmlCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 14, 2018WASHINGTON Two senators have asked President Trumps Council of Economic Advisers to turn over an analysis that shows the administrations tariffs would slow economic growth.The internal analysis, which was first reported by The New York Times last week, contradicts the public statements of several Trump administration officials who have said that Mr. Trumps plan to impose tariffs on aluminum, steel and a broad array of Chinese products will not dampen economic growth. The existence of such a study has raised questions about whether the Trump administration is pursuing policies that its own experts know is at odds with economic reality.Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, and Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, sent a letter to Kevin Hassett, chairman of the council, asking him to hand over any research on tariffs by June 27. The two senators, who sent the letter on Wednesday, lead the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.To better understand the potential consequences of the administrations trade policies, we respectfully request that you produce the C.E.A. economic analysis relating to the administrations steel and aluminum tariffs and all supporting data and documents, they wrote.The council does not publicly release all of its research and it is not clear how much damage it estimates the tariffs and potential retaliation from other countries would do to the administrations economic growth projections. Mr. Trump has made achieving sustainable 3 percent economic growth a centerpiece of his agenda.Mr. Hassett has dodged the question when asked about it in public settings, suggesting that the threat of tariffs will encourage other countries to lower their trade barriers and therefore boost global economic growth.If you model a future where everybody else reduces their trade barriers to ours, then thats massively good for the global economy and massively good for the U.S. economy, Mr. Hassett said last week.Gary D. Cohn, the former director of Mr. Trumps National Economic Council, said at an event hosted by The Washington Post on Thursday that he was already seeing signs that companies were holding back on investment out of fears of a trade war. He said that tit-for-tat tariffs could negate the economic benefits of Mr. Trumps tax cuts.If you end up with a tariff battle, you will end up with price inflation, you could end up with more consumer debt, those are all historic ingredients for an economic slowdown, Mr. Cohn said.On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell acknowledged anecdotal concern about business investment slowing as a result of the tariffs but said, so far, the Fed had no data to support that.We really dont see it in the numbers, he said. I would put it down as more of a risk.A C.E.A. spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Senate request.

Politics

Tyga Doesn't Pussyfoot Around Vulgar Album Cover 1/24/2018 TMZ.com Tyga's got a message for haters of his new album cover -- check your delicate sensibilities and enjoy it for what it is ... art. We got the "Rack City" rapper Tuesday leaving Prada on Rodeo Drive in Bev Hills and asked him about his highly controversial artwork for his new album, "Kyoto." We won't describe it ... here it is in all its glory: Tyga laughed off the backlash his cover's received ... some calling it furry porn and even disrespectful to the Japanese flag. But the rapper counter-punched with some solid arguments ... for starters, the man behind the paintbrush is Japanese cult artist Hajime Sorayama. If this cover's got you hot or bothered, Tyga's apparently got more on deck.

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Credit...David Scott/NASAThe Great ReadThe lunar rovers of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 parked American automotive culture on the lunar surface, and expanded the scientific range of the missions astronaut explorers.Jim Irwin with the lunar roving vehicle on the moon on July 31, 1971. The Apollo 15 astronauts spent 18 and a half hours on the moons surface and traveled a distance of about 17 miles using the lunar rover.Credit...David Scott/NASAJuly 27, 2021Dave Scott was not about to pass by an interesting rock without stopping. It was July 31, 1971, and he and Jim Irwin, his fellow Apollo 15 astronaut, were the first people to drive on the moon. After a 6-hour inaugural jaunt in the new lunar rover, the two were heading back to their lander, the Falcon, when Mr. Scott made an unscheduled pit stop.West of a crater called Rhysling, Mr. Scott scrambled out of the rover and quickly picked up a black lava rock, full of holes formed by escaping gas. Mr. Scott and Mr. Irwin had been trained in geology and knew the specimen, a vesicular rock, would be valuable to scientists on Earth. They also knew that if they asked for permission to stop and get it, clock-watching mission managers would say no. So Mr. Scott made up a story that they stopped the rover because he was fidgeting with his seatbelt. The sample was discovered when the astronauts returned to Earth, Mr. Scott described what hed done, and Seatbelt Rock became one of the most prized geologic finds from Apollo 15.Like many lunar samples returned to Earth by the final Apollo missions, Seatbelt Rock never would have been collected if the astronauts had not brought a car with them. Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 are the NASA lunar missions that tend to be remembered most vividly. But at the 50th anniversary of Apollo 15, which launched on July 26, 1971, some space enthusiasts, historians and authors are giving the lunar rover its due as one of the most enduring symbols of the American moon exploration program.Foldable, durable, battery-powered and built by Boeing and General Motors, the vehicle is seen by some as making the last three missions into the crowning achievement of the Apollo era.Every mission in the crewed space program, dating back to Alan Shepards first flight, had been laying the groundwork for the last three Apollo missions, said Earl Swift, author of a new book about the lunar rover, Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings.You see NASA take all of that collected wisdom, gleaned over the previous decade in space, and apply it, Mr. Swift said. Its a much more swashbuckling kind of science.Once Neil Armstrongs small step satisfied Project Apollos geopolitical goals, NASA emphasized science, said Teasel Muir-Harmony, curator of the Apollo collections at the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum in Washington. While the first moon-walkers retrieved samples near their landing sites, scientists had long hoped for a lunar road trip that promised rare rocks. Plans for a lunar rover were finally given the green light just two months before Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans on the moon.Though moon buggies had been imagined for years, driving a car on the moon is more complicated than it sounds. Throughout the 1960s, engineers studied a variety of concepts: tank-like tracked vehicles, flying cars, even a rotund monstrosity shaped, as Mr. Swift describes it, like an overgrown Tootsie Pop, with its spherical cabin up top of a single long leg, which in turn was mounted on a caterpillar-tread foot. Ultimately, a carlike buggy came out on top.There were other outlandish ideas, like a pogo stick, or a motorcycle things that I am glad they didnt pursue, Dr. Muir-Harmony said. The lunar rover is, in some ways, relatively practical.The moon car was also quintessentially American. The rovers exposed chassis, umbrella-like antenna and wire wheels meant it looked like no car on Earth, yet its connection to the American auto industry and the nations love affair with the automobile captivated public attention like nothing since Apollo 11, Dr. Muir-Harmony said.Starting with Project Mercury in the 1960s, a Florida car dealer allowed astronauts to lease Chevrolet cars for $1, which were later sold to the public. The Apollo 15 crew chose red, white and blue Corvettes. A photo spread in Life magazine showed the astronauts posing with their iconic American muscle cars alongside the moon buggy, making the lunar rover look cool by association, Dr. Muir-Harmony said. Theres a lot to unpack in that picture, she added.ImageCredit...LIFE MagazineMr. Irwin and Mr. Scott helped drum up excitement once they and the rover reached the moon. During the missions second day, the astronauts drove to a crater named Spur, where they found a large white crystalline rock, a type of mineral on geologists wish lists because it might provide clues about the moons origins.The astronauts could barely contain their glee: Oh, boy! Mr. Scott shouted. Look at the glint! Mr. Irwin said. Guess what we just found? Mr. Scott radioed to Earth, as Mr. Irwin laughed with joy. Guess what we just found! I think we found what we came for.The white rock was later named Genesis Rock, because scientists initially thought it dated to the moons formation.The astronauts excitement, and their car, brought the Apollo missions back down to Earth, Dr. Muir-Harmony said. It provided a point of access, even as the exploration of the moon was becoming increasingly complex and complicated to follow.Mr. Swift notes that some news reports at the time considered the rover an inevitable, almost comic product of the most automotive people on Earth, although there was nothing inevitable about this extraterrestrial horseless carriage.To travel along with the astronauts instead of using a separate rocket, the rover had to weigh less than 500 pounds, but bear twice that in human and geological cargo. On the moon, it had to operate in temperature swings of more than 500 degrees Fahrenheit between sunlight and shade; withstand abrasive lunar dust and micro-meteoroids traveling faster than bullets; and cover a sharp, rugged surface that contained mountains, craters, loose gravel and powder. GM and Boeing engineers scrambled to finish their design in time for the final Apollo missions under threats that NASA would cancel the rover program before it ever left the ground.If it hadnt been for a couple of engineers at General Motors, there wouldnt have been a rover at all, Mr. Swift said in an interview.His book also explains that immigrant engineers, including Mieczyslaw Gregory Bekker, raised in Poland, and Ferenc Pavlics, who was born in Hungary, persevered despite large budget overruns, blown deadlines and technical challenges. Though astronauts tend to claim more of the spotlight, engineers played seminal roles in the space program, Mr. Swift said, and some like Mr. Bekker and Mr. Pavlics highlighted the impact that immigrants had on American innovation.Americas race to reach the moon, both within NASA and at the aerospace companies that built the hardware, relied on the minds and talents of immigrants on Americans who happened to start their lives elsewhere, he wrote.Once the rover arrived and astronauts unfolded it on the moon, the experience of driving was also unexpectedly odd. Astronauts compared it to other Earthly conveyances: Mr. Irwin said the car rose and fell like a bucking bronco, and Mr. Scott said it fishtailed like a speedboat when he tried to turn at the breakneck speed of 6 miles per hour.Mission managers planned for the rover to travel only as far as the astronauts could walk, in case anything happened and they had to hoof it back to their spacecraft. But Apollo crews covered greater distances with every mission as NASAs confidence grew. When the astronauts left the moon, the rovers were left at the landing sites, where they remain, gathering dust and cosmic rays. Spacecraft orbiting the moon occasionally take their pictures, and in some images, rover tracks are visible.Astronauts found more interesting rocks, enabling scientists to ask different types of questions, said Barbara Cohen, a planetary scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who studies the samples. The rover also allowed astronauts to focus on science more than worrying about running out of oxygen or other consumable resources, she said.She recalled participating in a NASA analogue mission several years ago, where scientists would don spacesuits and carry out experiments in a desert field station as though they were on the moon or Mars. She remembered participants getting ready to collect a sample and being interrupted by mission controllers who wanted to check their vitals.We were like, Come on, she recalled. That drove home to me that the geology is not solely in charge. Thats one thing the rover does for you; it enables different science questions to be posed that can be more answerable at specific sites.Genesis Rock, a mineral dating to the moons earliest days, exemplifies Dr. Cohens point. Scientists are still debating heatedly how the moon came to be and what conditions were like there, and by extension, here on Earth, for the first billion years.Dr. Cohen is among several scientists preparing to open untouched samples that have been sealed since they were returned home during the Apollo 17 mission. She will study noble gases in the samples to understand how solar radiation affects moon dust.Katherine Burgess, a geologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., will study the pristine samples to measure how radiation from the solar wind affects hydrogen and helium levels inside moon dust. Spacecraft can detect helium on the moon from orbit, but scientists still dont know how it varies across lunar terrain. Without those samples to confirm it, its still just an open question, she said.Future missions might use lunar helium, especially a variant called helium-3, as a fuel source for nuclear reactors. That means a future generation of lunar rovers may be powered by a material the first generation identified the presence of a half-century ago.Even as scientists study those original samples, many are hoping for a fresh batch, sent home with a new generation of astronauts or collected by rovers descended from the original version. In May, General Motors announced a partnership with Lockheed Martin to build a new rover for NASAs Artemis program, which aims to return American astronauts to the Moon this decade.Although they were built decades apart and by different teams, the lunar rover program informed the first generation of Mars rovers, too, especially Sojourner, the first vehicle on another planet. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where NASA Mars rovers are built, designed six-wheeled, flexible-framed rovers in a similar vein as early GM designs, Mr. Swift said. I do think you find an inspirational lineage in that early GM work, he said.Science drives todays NASA more than geopolitics, but the space agency still promotes and carries out human space travel for reasons that go beyond rock prospecting. Dr. Muir-Harmony said the lunar rovers of Apollo, and its modern successors, represent that sense of adventure.Science is such an important outcome of Apollo, but it is important to recognize what the public is engaged with. The appeal of the lunar rover is connected to the appeal of human spaceflight, which is being able to witness their joy and a sense of vicarious participation, she said.Plus, the adventure of driving across the moon, the greatest road trip of all time, is hard to resist.Then and now, samples and material from the moon are not getting the focus of public attention, she said. The rover is.

science

TrilobitesCredit...Amy BloomfieldMarch 3, 2017Blood laced with a natural antifreeze pumps through the veins of wood frogs. They rest suspended, somewhere between life and death, awaiting springs arrival in frozen winter forests. Beneath a blanket of decaying leaves, salamanders are waiting, too.Tap, tap. Its time for the race.Each year in late March and early April, from New Jersey to Maine, forest-dwelling amphibians like spotted salamanders and wood frogs wake up from their winter homes and migrate during the night to vernal pools for breeding. Some animals travel through the woods, never to be seen by humans, while others cross broken habitat, trying sometimes fatal journeys across streets.But some of them were waking up early late last month, the result of unseasonably warm weather, say reports from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Volunteers helping to usher the amphibians across the street in the Hudson Valley last week saw wood frogs, spotted salamanders, four-toed salamanders and spring peepers. In some pools, male wood frogs are already calling for females that show up later.When weather is warm and wet, as it has been recently and is in the forecasts for next week, hundreds to thousands of the animals migrate at once, in whats called a big night.Although our Hudson Valley volunteers didnt witness a big night of migration last month, we did see early movement, said Laura Heady, a conservationist who runs a program to protect estuaries and land in the Hudson Valley for the D.E.C. and Cornell University. We may be experiencing seasonably cold temperatures over the next few days, but the current forecast suggests next week will be rainy and warm. If these conditions prove true, I suspect more amphibians will be back on the move.Some of these species, like spring peepers, are just traveling through the night, but others, like spotted salamanders and wood frogs, depend on the inconspicuous vernal pools, or wicked big puddles, as they are called in Massachusetts.ImageCredit...New York State Department of Environmental ConservationThe lucky ones arrive just as the ice begins to break around the edges of the pools. There, adult amphibians go through courtship, mate and fertilize eggs. Then those eggs develop into adults themselves. All of this must happen fast before the water dries up in the summer.Its a race against dryness, Ms. Heady said.In some cases, it is also a game of Frogger. Slow-moving amphibians, just waking up, dont always make it past even light traffic, said Ms. Heady.Since 2009, more than 300 volunteers have ushered around 8,500 amphibians across the streets from just above New York City to Albany. They also counted 4,000 to 5,000 dead amphibians.Mortality estimates vary but are surprisingly high, sometimes reaching nearly 40 percent in New York, said James Gibbs, a biologist at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said in an email. These animals are facing a major new source of mortality in many areas as it is hard to get away from roads in New York State.People who want to help save the slippery night travelers can volunteer as crossing guards in New York and other Northeastern states. But they have to be ready to get wet, cold and slimy in the middle of the night, on a road that may or may not have any creatures to shepherd.If you volunteer, you can expect to park your car safely off the road and wear safety gear and lights to make yourself visible. Bring a flashlight or headlamp, amphibian identification guide and a data form, to record how many you see alive or dead, how long youre there, how much distance you covered and other information, like the amount of traffic. You should wash your hands, but avoid lotion, bug spray and hand sanitizer amphibian skin is sensitive, and you may need to pick them up or nudge them along. Those who dont want to get close can do a windshield survey and monitor traffic instead.If weather permits next week, you could experience a big night.Its really incredible if you love nature and you can withstand being out in the rain, Ms. Heady said.

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Credit...Bianca BagnarelliViral evolution is a long game. Heres where scientists think we could be headed.Credit...Bianca BagnarelliPublished Oct. 12, 2021Updated Nov. 3, 2021Listen to This ArticleTo hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.On Jan. 9, 2020, about a week after the world first learned of a mysterious cluster of pneumonia cases in central China, authorities announced that scientists had found the culprit: a novel coronavirus.It was a sobering announcement, and an unnervingly familiar one. Nearly two decades earlier, a different coronavirus had hurdled over the species barrier and sped around the world, causing a lethal new disease called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The virus, which became known as SARS-CoV, killed 774 people before health officials contained it.But even as scientists worried that history might be repeating itself, there was one glimmer of hope. Although all viruses evolve, coronaviruses are known to be relatively stable, changing more slowly than the common flu.There was, I think, a sense that would work in our favor, and that the nightmare scenario of it being like influenza constantly changing and needing updated vaccines all the time would probably not be the case, said Dr. Adam Lauring, a virologist and infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan. What many scientists had not counted on was unchecked global spread. Over the following weeks, the new virus, SARS-CoV-2, skipped from Wuhan, China, to a cruise ship in Japan, a small town in northern Italy and a biotechnology conference in Boston. Country by country, global coronavirus trackers turned red.To date, more than 237 million people have been infected with the virus, and 4.8 million have died 700,000 in the United States alone.With every infection come new opportunities for the virus to mutate. Now, nearly two years into the pandemic, we are working our way through an alphabet of new viral variants: fast-spreading Alpha, immune-evading Beta, and on through Gamma, Delta, Lambda and, most recently, Mu.We just have uncontrolled infections in much of the world, and thats going to lead to more chances for the virus to evolve, Dr. Lauring said.Even for a virus, evolution is a long game, and our relationship with SARS-CoV-2 is still in its infancy. We are extremely unlikely to eradicate the virus, scientists say, and what the next few years and decades hold is difficult to predict.But the legacy of past epidemics, as well as some basic biological principles, provides clues to where we could be headed.The genetic lotteryViruses are replication machines, hijacking our cells to make copies of their own genomes. Sometimes they make small mistakes, akin to typos, as they replicate.Most of the time, these errors have no benefit for the virus; many are harmful and quickly disappear. But occasionally, a virus hits the genetic lottery: a mutation that confers an advantage. This fitter version of the virus can then outcompete its peers, giving rise to a new variant.The coronavirus could shift in countless ways, but there are three concerning possibilities: It could become more transmissible, it could become better at evading our immune system or it could become more virulent, causing more serious disease.SARS-CoV-2 has already become more transmissible. The virus is just better at transmitting from one person to another than it was in January of 2020, said Jesse Bloom, an expert in viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. And this is due to a variety of mutations that the virus has acquired, some of which we understand and some of which we dont.One of the first of these mutations had already emerged by late January 2020. The mutation, D614G, likely stabilized the spike protein that the virus uses to latch onto human cells, making the virus more infectious. It quickly became widespread, displacing the original version of the virus.As the virus spread, more mutations sprang up, giving rise to even more transmissible variants. First came Alpha, which was about 50 percent more infectious than the original virus, and soon Delta, which was, in turn, roughly 50 percent more infectious than Alpha.Now were basically in a Delta pandemic, said Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University. So another surge, another spread of a slightly better variant.Although some experts were surprised to see the hyperinfectious variant, which has more than a dozen notable mutations, emerge so quickly, the appearance of more transmissible variants is textbook viral evolution.Its hard to imagine that the virus is going to pop into a new species perfectly formed for that species, said Andrew Read, an evolutionary microbiologist at Penn State University. Its bound to do some adaptation.But scientists dont expect this process to continue forever.There are likely to be some basic biological limits on just how infectious a particular virus can become, based on its intrinsic properties. Viruses that are well adapted to humans, such as measles and the seasonal influenza, are not constantly becoming more infectious, Dr. Bloom noted.It is not entirely clear what the constraints on transmissibility are, he added, but at the very least, the new coronavirus cannot replicate infinitely fast or travel infinitely far.Transmission requires one person to somehow exhale or cough or breathe out the virus, and it to land in someone elses airway and infect them, Dr. Bloom said. There are just limits to that process. Its never going to be the case that Im sitting here in my office, and Im giving it to someone on the other side of Seattle, right?He added: Whether the Delta variant is already at that plateau, or whether theres going to be further increases before it gets to that plateau, I cant say. But I do think that plateau exists.ImageCredit...Bianca BagnarelliDodging immunityIn addition to becoming more transmissible, some variants have also acquired the ability to dodge some of our antibodies. Antibodies, which can prevent the virus from entering our cells, are engineered to latch onto specific molecules on the surface of the virus, snapping into place like puzzle pieces. But genetic mutations in the virus can change the shape of those binding sites.If you change that shape, you can make it impossible for an antibody to do its job, said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine.Delta appears to evade some antibodies, but there are other variants, particularly Beta, that are even better at dodging these defenses. For now, Delta is so infectious that it has managed to outcompete, and thus limit the spread of, these stealthier variants.But as more people acquire antibodies against the virus, mutations that allow the virus to slip past these antibodies will become even more advantageous. The landscape of selection has changed, said Jessica Metcalf, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University. From the point of view of the virus, its no longer, I just bop around, and theres a free host.The good news is that there are many different kinds of antibodies, and a variant with a few new mutations is unlikely to escape them all, experts said.The immune system has also evolved to have plenty of tricks up its sleeve to counteract the evolution of the virus, Dr. Pepper said. Knowing that there is this complex level of diversity in the immune system allows me to sleep better at night.Certain T cells, for instance, destroy virus-infected cells, helping to reduce the severity of disease. Together, our assortment of T cells can recognize at least 30 to 40 different pieces of SARS-CoV-2, researchers have found.Its a lot harder to evade T cell responses than antibody responses, said Dr. Celine Gounder an infectious disease specialist at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.And then there are B cells, which generate our army of antibodies. Even after we clear the infection, the body keeps churning out B cells for a while, deliberately introducing small genetic mutations. The result is an enormously diverse collection of B cells producing an array of antibodies, some of which might be a good match for the next variant that comes along.Theyre actually a library of guesses that the immune system makes about what variants might look like in the future, said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.So far, studies suggest that our antibody, T cell and B cell responses are all working as expected when it comes to SARS-CoV-2. This virus is mostly playing by immunological rules we understand, Dr. Crotty said.No interest in killing usWhether the virus will become more virulent that is, whether it will cause more serious disease is the hardest to predict, scientists said. Unlike transmissibility or immune evasion, virulence has no inherent evolutionary advantage.The virus has no interest in killing us, Dr. Metcalf said. Virulence only matters for the virus if it works for transmission.Because people who are hospitalized may be less likely to spread the virus than those who are walking around with the sniffles, some have theorized that new viruses become milder over time.One commonly cited example is the myxoma virus, which Australian scientists released in 1950 in an attempt to reduce the population of invasive European rabbits.Initially, the myxoma virus proved to be fantastically virulent, one scientist wrote, killing more than 99 percent of the rabbits it infected. After just a few years, however, several somewhat milder strains of the virus emerged and became dominant.But myxoma is not a simple story of a virus gradually becoming less virulent.Early variants that were too nice were also discovered in the mid-1950s, said Dr. Read, who has studied the virus. They caused little disease but transmitted poorly, so never came to dominate.The rabbits also evolved new immune defenses that allowed them to fight off infection more easily, and then the virus fired back, acquiring new tricks for depressing the rabbits immune systems.Seventy years its still going gangbusters, Dr. Read said.It is too early to say whether SARS-CoV-2 will change in virulence over the long-term. There could certainly be trade-offs between virulence and transmission; variants that make people too sick too quickly may not spread very far.Then again, this virus spreads before people become severely ill. As long as that remains true, the virus could become more virulent without sacrificing transmissibility.Moreover, the same thing that makes the virus more infectious faster replication or tighter binding to our cells could also make it more virulent. Indeed, some evidence suggests that Delta is more likely to result in hospitalization than other variants.I could actually keep this game of imagining going on for a long time, Dr. Read said. On my good days, Im optimistic that the disease severity will go down through time. Because clearly, people being isolated does affect transmission. On my bad days, I worry about it going the other direction.Uneasy equilibriumAlthough many possible paths remain open to us, what is certain is that SARS-CoV-2 will not stop evolving and that the arms race between the virus and us is just beginning.We lost the first few rounds, by allowing the virus to spread unchecked, but we still have powerful weapons to bring to the fight. The most notable are highly effective vaccines, developed at record speed. I think there is hope in the fact that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines at this point are more effective than flu vaccines have probably ever been, Dr. Bloom said.Even the first generation vaccines provide substantial protection against disease, and there is plenty of room to improve them by tinkering with the dosing and timing, tailoring them to new variants or developing new approaches, such as nasal sprays that may be better at halting transmission.I have great faith that we can sort any detrimental evolutionary trajectories out by improving our current or next generation vaccines, Dr. Read said.The occasional breakthrough infection or booster could help top up our flagging immunity and teach our bodies to recognize new mutations, ultimately making us less vulnerable to the next variant that comes along.Maybe you have a re-infection, but its relatively mild, which also boosts your immunity, Dr. Gounder said.Meanwhile, as the number of completely vulnerable hosts dwindles, and transmission slows, the virus will have fewer opportunities to mutate. One recent paper, which has not yet been reviewed by experts, suggests that rising vaccination rates may already be suppressing new mutations.And the evolution rate could also slow down as the virus becomes better adapted to humans.Theres low-hanging fruit, Dr. Lauring said. So there are certain ways it can evolve and make big improvements, but after a while there arent areas to improve its figured out all the easy ways to improve.Eventually, as viral evolution slows down and our immune systems catch up, we will reach an uneasy equilibrium with the virus, scientists predict. We will never extinguish it, but it will smolder rather than rage.What that equilibrium point looks like exactly how much transmission there is and how much disease it causes is uncertain. Some scientists predict that the virus will ultimately be much like the flu, which can still cause serious illness and death, especially during seasonal surges.Others are more optimistic. My guess is that one day this is going to be another cause of the common cold, said Jennie Lavine, who explored that possibility as an infectious disease researcher at Emory University.There are four other coronaviruses that have become endemic in human populations. We are exposed to them early and often, and all four mostly cause run-of-the-mill colds.Covid-19 might just be what it looks like when a novel coronavirus spreads through a population without any pre-existing immunity. This may not be such a different beast than everything else that were accustomed to, Dr. Lavine said. Its just a bad moment.Of course, plenty of uncertainties remain, scientists said, including how long it will take to reach equilibrium. With infections beginning to decline again in the United States, hopes are again rising that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.But much of the world remains unvaccinated, and this virus has already proved capable of surprising us. We should be somewhat cautious and humble about trying to predict what it is capable of doing in the future, Dr. Crotty said.While we cant guard against every eventuality, we can tip the odds in our favor by expanding viral surveillance, speeding up global vaccine distribution and tamping down transmission until more people can be vaccinated, scientists said.The actions we take now will help determine what the coming years look like, said Dr. Jonathan Quick, a global health expert at Duke University and the author of The End of Epidemics.The future, he said, depends much, much more on what humans do than on what the virus does.

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Stormy Daniels Headlines at Vegas Strip Club ... During AVN Weekend 1/27/2018 JANUARY 2018 TMZ.com Stormy Daniels has become the embodiment of good ol' fashioned capitalism ... appearing Friday night at a Vegas strip club and reveling in her newly-found fame. Stormy, who reportedly scored $130k in hush money to keep quiet over an alleged tryst she had with Donald Trump in 2006, wowed the crowd at Little Darlings Strip Club. She briefly flashed patrons, but basically showed up on stage as a newly-minted national celeb. She's in town for the 'AVN Awards Show' which goes down tonight. We're guessing she'll be the star of the evening.

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SE USA) HUMAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service INIWIX30 National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland 20892 October 20, 2021 The Honorable James Comer Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Reform U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Representative Comer: Thank you for your continued interest in the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). I am writing today to provide additional information and documents regarding NIH's grant to EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. It is important to state at the outset that published genomic data demonstrate that the bat coronaviruses studied under the NIH grant to EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. and subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) are not and could not have become SARS-CoV-2. Both the progress report and the analysis attached here again confirm that conclusion, as the sequences of the viruses are genetically very distant. The fifth and final progress report for Grant RO1AI1 10964, awarded to EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. is attached with redactions only for personally identifiable information. This progress report was submitted to NIH in August 2021 in response to NIHs compliance enforcement efforts. It includes data from a research project conducted during the 2018-19 grant period using bat coronavirus genome sequences already existing in nature. The limited experiment described in the final progress report provided by EcoHealth Alliance was testing if spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model. All other aspects of the mice, including the immune system, remained unchanged. In this limited experiment, laboratory mice infected with the SHC014 WIV1 bat coronavirus became sicker than those infected with the WIV1 bat coronavirus. As sometimes occurs in science, this was an unexpected result of the research, as opposed to something that the researchers set out to do. Regardless, the viruses being studied under this grant were genetically very distant from SARS-CoV-2. The research plan was reviewed by NIH in advance of funding, and NIH determined that it did not to fit the definition of research involving enhanced pathogens of pandemic potential (ePPP) because these bat coronaviruses had not been shown to infect humans. As such, the research was not subject to departmental review under the HHS P3CO Framework. However, out of an abundance of caution and as an additional layer of oversight, language was included in the terms and conditions of the grant award to EcoHealth that outlined criteria for a secondary review, such as a requirement that the grantee report immediately a one log increase in growth. These The Honorable James Comer Page 2 measures would prompt a secondary review to determine whether the research aims should be reevaluated or new biosafety measures should be enacted. EcoHealth failed to report this finding right away, as was required by the terms of the grant. EcoHealth is being notified that they have five days from today to submit to NIH any and all unpublished data from the experiments and work conducted under this award. Additional compliance efforts continue. The second document is a genetic analysis demonstrating that the naturally occurring bat coronaviruses used in experiments under the NIH grant from 2014-2018 are decades removed from SARS-CoV-2 evolutionarily. The analysis compares the sequence relationships between: . SARS-CoV-1, the cause of the SARS outbreak in 2003; SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 pandemic; WIV-1, a naturally occurring bat coronavirus used in experiments funded by the NIH; RaTG13, one of the closest bat coronavirus relatives to SARS-CoV-2 collected by the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and BANAL-52, one of several bat coronaviruses recently identified from bats living in caves in Laos. While it might appear that the similarity of RaTG13 and BANAL-52 bat coronaviruses to SARSCoV-2 is close because it overlaps by 96-97%, experts agree that even these viruses are far too divergent to have been the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2. For comparison, today's human genome is 96% similar to our closest ancestor, the chimpanzee. Humans and chimpanzees are thought to have diverged approximately 6 million years ago. The analysis attached confirms that the bat coronaviruses studied under the EcoHealth Alliance grant could not have been the source of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic. If you or your staff have questions, NIH would be pleased to brief you on these documents. Lane ) qi clie Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. Principal Deputy Director Close

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Meek Mill $10k Donation to Colin Kaepernick ... from Prison 1/29/2018 Meek Mill isn't gonna let being behind bars stop him from joining Colin Kaepernick's cause ... becoming the latest celeb to team with Kaepernick on his $10k for 10 days initiative. You might've heard -- for the final $100k of Colin's $1 million pledge for social justice, Kaep's been partnering with huge names in sports and entertainment to match his individual $10k donations. So far, Serena Williams, Snoop Dogg, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant have all stepped up. And now, Colin's second-to-last donation has come from the imprisoned rapper -- who's serving 2 to 4 years for a probation violation Kaep's spoken out against in the past. "Despite my brothers current circumstances, he continues to stay involved and connected in the community of his hometown of Philly," Colin said. "Ive spoken to Meek several times since his incarceration and during one of these calls, is when he pledged ... were both donating $10,000 each for a combined $20,000 to Philadelphias Youth Service Inc." Respect.

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Credit...Nathan Griffith/CorbisMarch 15, 2016WASHINGTON In an effort to curb what many consider the worst public health drug crisis in decades, the federal government on Tuesday published the first national standards for prescription painkillers, recommending that doctors try pain relievers like ibuprofen before prescribing the highly addictive pills, and that they give most patients only a few days supply.The release of the new guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ends months of arguments with pain doctors and drug industry groups, which had bitterly opposed the recommendations on the grounds that they would create unfair hurdles for patients who legitimately have long-term pain.In the end, the agency softened the recommendations slightly but basically held its ground, a testament to how alarmed policy makers have become over the mounting overdoses and deaths from opioid addiction. Opioid deaths including from heroin, which some people turn to after starting with prescription painkillers reached a record 28,647 in 2014, according to the most recent federal statistics.It would be hard for me to overstate how thrilling it is to read these guidelines after all these years, said Dr. Carl R. Sullivan III, director of the addictions program at West Virginia University, whose state has been a center of the epidemic. This is a very big deal. These prescribing practices have been an embarrassment for so long.The guidelines are part of a growing backlash against practices developed two decades ago, when doctors across the country began prescribing opioids for routine pain amid claims by pharmaceutical companies and some medical experts that they could be used to treat common conditions like back pain and arthritis without addiction. Those claims ended up in court and were found to be false.Since then, opioid painkillers like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin have become the most widely prescribed drugs in the country, with sales of nearly $2 billion a year, according to IMS Health, a research firm that collects prescribing data.But the thinking about the drugs has changed, and the guidelines reflect that.It has become increasingly clear that opioids carry substantial risk but only uncertain benefits especially compared with other treatments for chronic pain, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the C.D.C., said on a phone call with reporters.We lose sight of the fact that the prescription opioids are just as addictive as heroin, he said. Prescribing opioids is really a momentous decision, and I think that has been lost.The federal government has lagged the states in its response to the opioid epidemic. Many have already set out rules for doctors to follow, as have some professional medical societies. So proponents of national guidelines applauded their release, which they said was overdue.This is the first time the federal government is communicating clearly to the medical community that long-term use for common conditions is inappropriate, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the head of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. Its one of the most significant interventions by the federal government.Although the federal guidelines are nonbinding, they are important because they are now the broadest blueprint in place addressing opioids use. Some observers said doctors, fearing lawsuits, would reflexively follow them, and insurance companies could begin to use them to determine reimbursement.These will not be seen as voluntary, said Myra Christopher, the director of the Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy, a coalition of medical and patient advocacy groups focused on chronic pain care that had opposed the guidelines. These will become the definition of the standard of care, because of the clout of the Centers for Disease Control.The guidelines recommend what many addiction experts have long called for: that doctors first try ibuprofen and aspirin to treat pain, and that opioid treatment for short-term pain last for three days, and rarely longer than seven. That is far less than current practice, in which patients are often given two weeks or a months worth of pills.The recommendations are meant for primary care doctors, who prescribe about half of all opioids but often have little training in how to use them. They call for patients to be urine tested before getting prescriptions and for doctors to check prescription tracking systems to make sure patients are not secretly getting medicine somewhere else. They do not apply to prescriptions for patients receiving cancer or end-of-life treatment, or to patients who have had surgery.Supporters said the guidelines could also affect dental practices. In a study of more than two million patients undergoing surgical tooth extractions covered by Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor, researchers at Harvard University found that nearly half of the patients were dispensed an opioid, including 61 percent of teenagers.But some doctors groups were worried the guidelines would have unintended consequences for people like cancer survivors with continuing pain who were no longer able to get their medicine. The American Medical Association said in a statement we remain concerned, saying the science justifying some of the recommendations was sparse, and that the guidelines conflict with some state laws. (The C.D.C. said state laws would pre-empt the national guidelines because the guidelines are nonbinding.)Many groups who have vociferously opposed the development of the guidelines struck muted tones after their release.Robert Twillman, the executive director of the American Academy of Pain Management, said the numbers are still arbitrary, referring to the recommended limits for daily dosage and days of treatment, but added that on the whole, its not bad.The Washington Legal Foundation, a conservative group that has filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting positions taken by pharmaceutical companies, had threatened to sue the C.D.C. to block it from issuing the guidelines, saying that the agency had failed to follow federal rules in developing the proposal. Richard A. Samp, the groups general counsel, said Tuesday that it was still reviewing its legal options but did not believe that the C.D.C. had addressed its concerns.Dr. Frieden said the guidelines were meant to be a tool for doctors and for patients to chart a safer course, describing them as a benchmark for medical practice, not an unbending dictate.For years, doctors, regulators and pain treatment advocates were deadlocked over how to address the opioid crisis. But a soaring death toll and new data showing risk seems to have broken that logjam.Dr. Frieden cited one study that found one of every 32 patients started on opioid therapy whose treatment was increased to very high doses died of opioid-related causes.The urgency of the epidemic, its devastating consequences, demands interventions that, in some instances, may make it harder for some patients to get their medication, said Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse. We need to set up a system to make sure they are covered. But we cannot continue the prescription practice of opioids the way we have been. We just cant.

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Credit...Tyrone Siu/ReutersDec. 27, 2015Until a few weeks ago, Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul and Republican party benefactor, was better known for suing newspapers than owning them.Mr. Adelson, the chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, has sued The Daily Mail, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and a columnist for The Las Vegas Review-Journal for defamation.Now, Mr. Adelson controls The Review-Journal. His family secretly bought it this month through a shell company headed by an executive, Michael E. Schroeder, who declined to identify its owners when the deal was announced.It took just days for the Review-Journal reporters to unravel the mystery of the papers ownership, but the revelation has spawned a new round of mysteries and raised concerns about Mr. Adelsons motivations in buying Nevadas largest paper.Also, while Mr. Adelsons family was in talks to buy The Review-Journal, three of its reporters were asked to start monitoring three Nevada judges one of whom is overseeing a lawsuit against Mr. Adelson. Subsequently, a small Connecticut paper owned by Mr. Schroeder, The New Britain Herald, published a critical article about the judge that appeared to use fabricated quotations and had the byline of a person who does not appear to exist.Billionaires buying newspapers is nothing new. In recent years, Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, acquired The Washington Post and John Henry, a former commodities trader, purchased The Boston Globe. Media watchdogs routinely question whether new owners will use papers to advance their personal agendas, but both of those transactions have been beneficial for the publications.However, across Las Vegas and inside the Review-Journal newsroom there are heightened concerns about the papers direction.The purchase of the Review-Journal signals a tectonic shift in the political landscape of Las Vegas and Nevada and has the potential to reverberate all the way to the White House, the Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith wrote last week. Mr. Smith filed for bankruptcy in 2007 while defending himself in a libel lawsuit brought against him by Mr. Adelson, who eventually dropped the case.Mr. Adelson has already become a newspaper force in Israel, the country where his wife was born. In 2007, he started a free daily there, Israel Hayom, and has used it as a powerful weapon in support of the countrys prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Adelson added to his Israeli newspaper holdings last year when he bought a small religious publication, Makor Rishon. The Adelson Family Foundation has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support to JNS.org, a Jewish news service based in the United States, according to public records.Mr. Adelsons family paid $140 million for The Review-Journal, a steep price given that The Review-Journal and a group of other publications was sold only nine months earlier for $102.5 million. Still, it is a relatively small sum for someone whose fortune is estimated at $23 billion.In a statement published last week on The Review-Journals front page, the Adelson family assured readers that they would run the paper fairly, invest in it and hire a readers advocate to scrutinize its operations. We regard ourselves as stewards of this essential community institution, the statement read.The statement did little to tamp down concerns. Last week, The Review-Journals editor resigned, expressing worry over Mr. Adelsons ownership. Reporters say that corporate managers are closely editing articles about the deal and crucial details are being taken out. A veteran reporter at The Bristol Press, another Connecticut paper owned by Mr. Schroeder, announced his resignation on Thursday in a Facebook post, accusing Mr. Schroeder of journalistic misconduct of epic proportions.Some observers say that Mr. Adelson might use the Nevada paper to promote his political allies and protect his extensive gambling interests in Las Vegas, which include the Venetian and Palazzo hotels, and the adjoining Sands Expo convention center. His company also operates hotels and casinos in Bethlehem, Pa., Macau and Singapore.I dont think anyone thinks he is doing this to benefit the Las Vegas community or Clark County, said Alan Deutschman, a professor of business journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. Everyone thinks this is in his self-interest.Mr. Adelson declined requests to be interviewed for this article. Mr. Schroeder declined to comment when asked several questions.In a statement, a spokesman for Las Vegas Sands, Ronald Reese, defended Mr. Adelsons lawsuits against journalists. When careless reporting or malicious attacks impugn his reputation, Mr. Reese said, he has an obligation to the companys shareholders and its 50,000 employees to set the record straight. (The Daily Mail paid damages to Mr. Adelson and issued an apology; his lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal reporter is continuing.)Mr. Adelsons interest in The Review-Journal, which has a circulation of 167,000, stretches back to February, when a company named New Media Investment Group bought the newspaper and several smaller publications for $102.5 million in cash. Soon after, Mr. Adelsons family expressed an interest in The Review-Journal to New Media, a publicly traded affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, the large investment firm based in New York.By September, secret talks between the two sides were apparently advancing. Late that month, a Delaware limited liability company called News and Media Capital Group was formed that served as the shell company through which Mr. Adelsons family acquired The Review-Journal. Nothing on that filing indicated its connection to Mr. Adelson. Instead, the only person on it was Mr. Schroeder, listed as the manager of the company.Events then took a strange turn. In early November, three reporters at The Review-Journal said they were instructed by the papers corporate managers to spend days observing three local judges and their courtroom behavior. One judge selected for monitoring was Elizabeth Gonzalez, who is handling a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in 2010 against Mr. Adelson and his casino company by Steven Jacobs, a former chief executive of its operations in Macau.About that same time, an executive of New Media Investment Group contacted the editor of The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, another newspaper it owns, and suggested that he send reporters to Las Vegas to investigate possible corruption among judges there. The editor of the Sarasota paper, Bill Church, said he refused to do so. Despite the reporters having filed 15,000 words on their courthouse reporting, The Review-Journal did not publish an article either.But then at the end of November, as the Adelson family purchase of The Review-Journal neared completion, Mr. Schroeders New Britain Herald ran an article about business courts that was sharply critical of Judge Gonzalez. The same article appeared in his other paper, The Bristol Press.The article appeared under the byline Edward Clarkin. But two people quoted in the article said they never spoke to a person by that name and that quotations attributed to them were fabricated.Melanie Brown, a spokeswoman for Steve Arwood, the head of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, said that Mr. Arwoods quotation was either made up or cobbled together from public comments he had made. He never did an interview with this publication, or on the subject of business courts, she said.There is no Edward Clarkin living in Connecticut, according to public records. Mr. Clarkin has written five other articles four restaurant reviews and a book review all of them appearing in Connecticut papers controlled by Mr. Schroeder. The Review-Journal reported last week that Mr. Schroeders middle name was Edward, and his mothers maiden name was Clarkin.Asked whether he was writing under the nom de plume Edward Clarkin, Mr. Schroeder declined to comment.Mr. Schroeder appears to have a connection to the Adelson family through Russel Pergament, the publisher of JNS.org, which syndicates articles from Mr. Adelsons paper Israel Hayom in the United States. Mr. Schroeder and Mr. Pergament worked together at BostonNOW, a defunct free daily newspaper.Mr. Pergament could not immediately be reached for comment.To deal with the fallout from its Review-Journal purchase, the Adelsons have hired Mark Fabiani, a crisis communications specialist who worked in the Clinton White House and for the cyclist Lance Armstrong. Mr. Fabiani did not respond to inquiries about whether the issue of Nevada judges came up during sales talks.Michael E. Reed, chief executive of New Media Investment Group, the company that sold the paper, said in an email it did nothing wrong or inappropriate with regard to this specific topic. He said his companys interest in judges was part of an investigative news project, and added that New Media, which will continue to manage The Review-Journal, had never had a business or personal relationship with Mr. Schroeder.On Christmas Day, Steve Collins, the Bristol Press reporter who quit amid accusations of journalistic misconduct by his papers publisher, Mr. Schroeder, received a $5,000 award from a nonprofit run by Jeremy Stone, son of the investigative journalist I.F. Stone. In an email, Mr. Stone, the president of the activist organization Catalytic Diplomacy, praised Mr. Collins for resigning.Mr. Collins, Mr. Stone wrote, personifies what journalistic independence means and often requires.

Business

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/technology/personaltech/iphone-bedtime-sleep.htmlTECH TIPApples iOS software includes a tool for planning a serious slumber schedule and sticking to it.June 27, 2018Q. How does this Bedtime thing on the iPhone work? Does it automatically track your sleep?A. The Bedtime feature, introduced with iOS 10 in 2016, is more of a planning and reminder app to nudge you in and out of bed. You can keep track of the sleep periods you scheduled, but the tool doesnt specifically log how much sleep you get each night or the movement during that sleep.To use Bedtime, you first need to set it up. On the iPhones home screen, open the Clock app and tap the Bedtime icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap the Get Started button. The app guides you through setting up your weekly sleep schedule, including the time to set your workday wake-up alarm, the days of the week you need the alarm and how many hours of sleep youd ideally like to get each night. You can also set an alert to pop up when it is time to go to bed, and choose a relatively soothing sound like chirping birds, a gentle piano rhythm or peaceful instrumental music as your alarm.ImageCredit...The New York TimesYou can turn the feature off or on by tapping the button in the upper-right corner of the Bedtime screen. Tap the Options button in the upper-left corner if you want to adjust your settings. The large clock graphic in the center of the screen shows your sleep schedule, but if you wake up before the alarm or fiddle around on the phone in bed, the app notes your wake time.Tap the Sleep Analysis chart or More History to open the iOS Health app, where you can see charts of your sleep schedule. The Recommended Apps list at the bottom of the Health screen lists third-party programs that do more precise sleep tracking or that work with sleep-monitor devices. Apples iOS 12 update, due this fall, can dim and quiet the iPhone during Bedtime hours.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