Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s Rough-Edged Mayor, Tries the Sandpaper

nytimes.com - CHICAGO — Alderman Scott Waguespack was in a conference room at City Hall in the spring of 2011 for a formal sit-down with this city’s newly elected mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Waguespack attempted some small talk, he said, but Mr. Emanuel was not much interested.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’” recalled Mr. Waguespack, now a chief adversary of the mayor. “Then he said, ‘Let me tell you something,’ and he went off at me. Just started yelling and swearing. He went so far off the handle that I almost got up and walked out.”

Role of Illness in Germanwings Crash Raises Worry About Stigma

nytimes.com - An intense focus on the role of the co-pilot’s mental illness in the Germanwings jetliner crash has raised concerns that it risks unfairly stigmatizing millions of people with mental disorders and making it less likely they will seek treatment. That, in turn, could make it even harder to identify people working in high-risk professions who pose a threat to public safety.

The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, would not be the first aviator to hide the fact that he was having psychiatric difficulties or that he had received mental health treatment.

Imaginary Health Care Horrors

nytimes.com - There’s a lot of fuzzy math in American politics, but Representative Pete Sessions of Texas, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, recently set a new standard when he declared the cost of Obamacare “unconscionable.” If you do “simple multiplication,” he insisted, you find that the coverage expansion is costing $5 million per recipient. But his calculation was a bit off — namely, by a factor of more than a thousand. The actual cost per newly insured American is about $4,000.

Now, everyone makes mistakes.

Train companies mustn’t get away with ripping us off

thetimes.co.uk - Are we supposed to be shocked by the Crown Prosecution Service’s figures that 2,587 rail passengers were prosecuted last year for fare dodging? I could come up with as many cases where train companies deserve to be taken to court for scamming their passengers.

They could include the woman who bought a ticket from London to Dundee online but arrived at King’s Cross to find the ticket-printing machine broken. She was told by staff to board the train, only for a ticket inspector to charge her £162.50 for a new ticket.

Raffaele Sollecito: I never want to see Amanda Knox again

thetimes.co.uk - Raffaele Sollecito said today he does not want to see his former girlfriend Amanda Knox again and will sue anyone who calls him an “assassin” as he sought to forget the seven years and five months he stood accused of killing the British student Meredith Kercher.

Mr Sollecito, 31, said the years he spent fighting to clear his name alongside Knox, including four years in jail in Italy, amounted to “kidnapping” by a justice system that convicted, acquitted, and again convicted the pair before Italy’s high court dramatically threw out their case on Friday.

Isis lay waste to homes in Tikrit ahead of battle

thetimes.co.uk - The anonymous phone caller had a simple but devastating message for Latif Rajab, an Iraqi oil ministry employee who had recently fled Tikrit.

“The man on the phone said he was standing outside my home and asked if I would return — knowing that I would never do so,” Mr Rajab said. “Then he said, ‘Listen to this!’”

There was a huge, rumbling explosion. When the noise subsided, the man spoke again. “That was your house being blown up,” he told Mr Rajab.

The destruction of houses by Islamic State of anyone suspected of having ties to the government is part

Thousands of pensioners’ private data ‘sold to cold-callers’

thetimes.co.uk - An investigation has been started into claims that highly sensitive details of thousands of people’s pension savings are being sold on the open market.

The revelation comes just a week before the government’s new pension freedoms take effect and confirms experts’ fears that scammers will rush to exploit the new rules, which will allow people to take their entire pension pot in one lump sum.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) today said it was looking into the allegations that details of people’s pay, pension pots and investments were being passed on to criminals and cold-calling firms.

Parents fail to see that their own children are fat

thetimes.co.uk - Parents of obese children struggle to recognise that their child has a weight problem, according to new research.

The study found that almost a third of patients underestimated where their child’s BMI (body mass index) sat on official obesity scales, which classify children as obese, overweight, healthy weight or underweight.

The scientists questioned the parents of 2,976 children taking part in the National Child Measurement Programme. Just four parents identified their children as obese, while 369 children officially fell into that category.

Netanyahu rages over imminent nuclear deal

thetimes.co.uk - Israel’s prime minister accused the United States yesterday of negotiating a nuclear deal that was a “danger to humanity” as international diplomats appeared on the brink of a landmark agreement with Tehran.

As negotiators from Iran and six world powers in the Swiss city of Lausanne inched closer to a deal before tomorrow’s deadline, a desperate Binyamin Netanyahu again lambasted the concessions being made by the west. He believes the emerging deal will leave Tehran with the capacity to swiftly develop atomic weapons.

Goodbye to All That

thetimes.co.uk - Britain’s first coalition government in 65 years has come to an end not, as widely expected, with a bang but in an orderly and almost courteous manner. In the coming election campaign it will no doubt be derided as an awkward hybrid, the political equivalent of the mythical centaur. That would be unfair. The coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats not only confounded many critics but can also lay claim to having been a genuinely transformative government.

The Liberal Democrats have sometimes placed irksome restraints on their Conservative partner but the coalition generated reforming zeal in a way

‘Expert’ report on fracking risks was written by activist

thetimes.co.uk - A report that persuaded doctors to oppose fracking was partly written by a campaigner opposing shale gas extraction near his home.

Medact, a health charity, said that its report had examined fracking “through a comprehensive public health lens” and found it could increase “risks of cancer, respiratory disease and birth defects”.

The “expert” report prompted a prominent group of health professionals to write to the British Medical Journal calling for fracking to be banned “on public health and ecological grounds”.

Captain quit long hauls for his family

thetimes.co.uk - The experienced captain of the Germanwings plane had recently switched to short-haul flights so that he could spend more time with his young family.

Patrick Sonderheimer, who was 34, transferred from Germanwings’ parent company, Lufthansa, and gave up long-haul flying a year ago because he wanted to see more of his wife and their two children. He joined the company in 2005 and was extremely experienced, with more than 6,000 flying hours.

“He was an outgoing, enthusiastic and helpful man who radiated happiness,” said Elke Bonn, who runs a kindergarten near Düsseldorf attended by Mr Sonderheimer’s children, a girl, 6,

Why overweight celebrities have Amelia Freer on speed dial

thetimes.co.uk - The nutritional therapist Amelia Freer, a former PA to Prince Charles, has helped some very famous men shed pounds, from high-flying city executives to pop stars. Last week the Grammy Award-winning singer Sam Smith posted a picture on Instagram of himself holding Freer’s new book, Eat. Nourish. Glow.: 10 Easy Steps for Losing Weight, Looking Younger and Feeling Healthier.

Beneath it he wrote: “Three weeks ago I met a woman who has completely changed my life. Amelia Freer has helped me lose over a stone in 2 weeks and has completely transformed my relationship with food.

2,500 commuters taken to court for dodging rail fares

thetimes.co.uk - More than 2,500 rail passengers were prosecuted last year for failing to a buy a ticket amid growing concerns over “white collar” fare dodgers.

Figures from the Crown Prosecution Service show that commuters were taken to court for a series of rail scams including refusing to pay, pretending they had lost their ticket and trying to travel further than their fare allowed.

In some cases, travellers were prosecuted for trying to give a false name when challenged by rail staff for failing to buy a ticket.

Malaysian man to be hanged for murder of British medical students

thetimes.co.uk - A Malaysian man has been sentenced to hang for stabbing to death two British medical students on the island of Borneo last summer.

Zulkipli Abdullah, a 24-year-old fish seller, received a mandatory death sentence after being convicted of the murder of Neil Dalton and Aidan Brunger, both 22, in the Malaysian city of Kuching in August.

The two men, both students at Newcastle University, bled to death on the street after an altercation in a bar with a group of five local men, several of whom were found to have taken crystal metamphetamine.

Guinea declares new emergency to choke off ebola resurgence

thetimes.co.uk - Ruth Maclean Johannesburg

A 45-day “health emergency” has been declared in Guinea after the ebola virus started to make a comeback as residents became lax about health controls.

Alpha Condé, the president of the west African country, said in a television address that security forces would be deployed and corpses tested for the virus. “I regret to note that there is an increasing abandon . . . of the precautions necessary to save the lives of our people,” he said. Five regions are to be placed under emergency measures, all in the southwest of the country.

A soldier’s deadliest enemy will soon be a judge

thetimes.co.uk - Our armed forces are hobbled by human rights laws that were never intended for combat

Britain’s armed forces have often faced multiple enemies. Over the past decade this combination of threats has proliferated. But the most serious opponent — the one that could paralyse our military capability and leave us weakened — is the most unexpected: judicial imperialism.

By applying human rights laws designed for the stable conditions of peaceful, postwar Europe to our forces operating in extremely violent and fast-moving combat situations, judges are damaging the fighting capability of the most accomplished military force in Europe.

Dinner tonight: Strawberry, chickpea, feta and herb salad

thetimes.co.uk - A very seductive lunch box arrived for me the other day from a food PR company. A Kilner jar layered up with chickpeas, feta, rocket and strawberries, those big ones called Viva that are in season now in southern Spain and northern Morocco and flooding our supermarkets.

I wouldn’t normally eat strawberries at this time of year but my lunch was so delicious, the strawberries crunchier than normal but full of flavour, that I shopped specially for my version of this funky Greek salad. I served it with chicken kebabs but it is surprisingly satisfying on its own.

Man killed trying to save his brother from an oncoming Tube train

thetimes.co.uk - A 35-year-old man was killed trying to save his younger brother from being hit by a Tube train after a night out in London.

Nick Mann and his brother Robert, 32, were waiting at Old Street station shortly after midnight on Saturday after a night out at Rooz Studios, a music venue in east London, when the younger man climbed down onto the tracks.

Robert, who lives in Manchester and had been visiting his brother, is understood to have been trying to retrieve something from the tracks — possibly his wallet or mobile phone — after dropping it.

Don't do these things while dining out

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - Having basic public etiquette and table manners is a must for everyone. Here are some things you should avoid doing when dining out -

Talking loudly: Soft-spoken people are always appreciated, especially at public spaces. Do not talk too loudly, your gossip is not for others to hear and your voice should not go beyond your table.

The loud chewer: Do not eat your food and make noise. Chew your food with your mouth closed

The photo-mode: You do not have to click a picture of everything that comes to your table.

Another blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh

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DHAKA: A blogger was hacked to death in the Bangladesh capital on Monday, in the latest brutal attack on the country's independent writers, a senior officer said.

Police have arrested two men over the murder which comes just weeks after an American aethist blogger was also hacked to death in Dhaka, a crime that triggered international outrage, the officer said.

READ ALSO: US-based Bangla blogger hacked to death in Dhaka

'Situation is critical': Hundreds of Indian nurses caught up in Yemen fighting

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than half of the 4,000 Indian nationals caught up in the conflict in Yemen are nurses, the foreign ministry said on Monday, the latest security scare for medical staff working in the Middle East after dozens were kidnapped in Iraq last year.

READ ALSO:

Delhi sends 2 ships to Yemen to evacuate Indians

Yemen crisis, liquidity to sway markets

India to airlift its nationals from war-torn Yemen

The nurses, mostly from Kerala, are often hired on harsh terms with middlemen taking up-front fees, and hospitals are reluctant to let them go because they would have to close without foreign staff.

Rahul Gandhi ‘on leave’, can’t appear in court for RSS defamation case

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - BHIWANDI: A Bhiwandi magistrate on Monday exempted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from personal appearance in a defamation case filed against him by an RSS leader.

When the matter came, Gandhi's lawyer sought an exemption from appearance for four weeks. "Gandhi is on leave even from Parliament at the moment. He has been on leave since February even before the Bombay high court dismissed his plea to quash the case,'' said his counsel Prasad Dhakephalkar. "He has the highest regard for the judiciary and submits to this court's jurisdiction,'' he added.

How I was pulled into the world's largest party

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - BETTIAH: On Sunday, when the BJP pipped the Communist Party of China to second place with a claimed membership of 8.80 crore, it gave me a new, false and faceless identity: number 1087369859. A membership that I neither sought nor desired suddenly drenched me saffron. I was trap-hunted into the fold of the world's largest political party.

I was watching the Kiwi batsmen tied to their crease against the gentle outside-the-off-stump spin of Glen Maxwell in the World Cup final when I was drawn out of my crease, err room, by a phone call from an unknown number.

Ministry dilutes penalties proposed in road safety bill

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - NEW DELHI: After making tall claims of bringing road safety laws of disciplining drivers to reduce road deaths drastically, the road transport ministry has watered down the penalties it had originally proposed in the Draft Road Transport and Safety Bill.

While the original draft had proposed to dramatically step up punishments for rash driving including the provision of seven years of jail if negligent driving resulted in the death of a child, the final version has brought it down to at least one year.

Being There: Heidegger on Why Our Presence Matters

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com - Photo

Credit Getty Images

A cognitive scientist and a German philosopher walk into the woods and come upon a tree in bloom: What does each one see? And why does it matter?

While that may sound like the set-up to a joke making the rounds at a philosophy conference, I pose it here sincerely, as a way to explore the implications of two distinct strains of thought — that of cognitive science and that of phenomenology, in particular, the thought of Martin Heidegger, who offers a most compelling vision of the ultimate significance of our being here, and what it means to be fully human.

Islamic State Destruction Renews Debate Over Repatriation of Antiquities

nytimes.com - Assyrian relics that have stood for 3,000 years smashed and desecrated. Ruins from Babylonian times bombed and bulldozed. Scrolls and shrines ravaged from Somalia to Timbuktu.

Museum directors, archaeologists, collectors and others with a fierce passion for safeguarding antiquities have been united in their disgust as Islamic militants make a show of ravaging artifacts from the ancient world.

But the devastation has also intensified a bitter debate over whether American museums, Western collectors and others should be returning disputed artifacts to the lands where they originated, a practice known as repatriation.

GNC to Strengthen Supplement Quality Controls

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Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

GNC, the country’s largest specialty retailer of dietary supplements, has agreed to institute sweeping new testing procedures on its herbal products that far exceed quality controls mandated under federal law.

The action to be announced Monday comes after the New York State attorney general’s office accused GNC and three other major retailers of selling herbal supplements that were fraudulent or contaminated with unlisted ingredients that could pose health risks to consumers.

Movement to Increase McDonald’s Minimum Wage Broadens Its Tactics

nytimes.com - ATLANTA — On a recent Friday, Kwanza Brooks, a $7.25-an-hour McDonald’s worker, climbed into a 14-person van to take a four-hour ride from Charlotte, N.C., to Atlanta.

As she and other workers headed south, Ms. Brooks, a short, fiery woman, swapped stories with her companions about unsafe conditions and unfair managers. Upon arriving, they joined more than 400 other people — including home care aides, Walmart workers, child care workers and adjunct professors — at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev.

Foreigners Are Attacking ... American TV!

nytimes.com - American late-night television shows have probably never had so many anchors with foreign accents as they will have soon. Trevor Noah, a South African comedian, will become at least the third non-American native to host a popular TV comedy show later this year when he takes over “The Daily Show” from Jon Stewart. He will join two Britons, John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” and James Corden, who recently started hosting “The Late Late Show” on CBS.

Mr. Noah is an unconventional choice to host a show on American television, which has had plenty of British actors and comedians over the years.

Eroding Freedom in the Name of Freedom

nytimes.com - When the federal government adopted a religious protection act in 1993, same-sex marriage was not on the horizon.

An informal coalition of liberals and conservatives endorsed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it seemed to protect members of vulnerable religious minorities from punishment for the exercise of their beliefs. The federal legislation was set off by a case involving Native Americans who were fired and denied unemployment benefits because they took part in ceremonies with peyote, an illegal drug.

A Truce in the War Over Family

nytimes.com - THE war over the family has been a disheartening part of American politics for decades. Conservatives saw growing numbers of children born outside of marriage and thought the family as they knew it was in trouble, the result of a cultural decline — a decrease in personal responsibility, and a growing dependence on government social welfare programs. Liberals saw families struggling and thought the problems reflected poverty and the dearth of good jobs.

But today, while partisanship is sky high, the two camps are showing surprising signs of a truce.

Germanwings Co-Pilot Was Treated for ‘Suicidal Tendencies,’ Authorities Say

nytimes.com - DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Before he received his pilot’s license or achieved his dream of flying passenger jets, the co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings jetliner was so troubled that he underwent treatment for “suicidal tendencies,” a prosecutor said Monday, raising questions about what the airline should have known about his condition.

The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was at the controls last week as the Airbus A320 jet dived from cruising altitude to smash into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard.

China Appears to Attack GitHub by Diverting Web Traffic

nytimes.com - HONG KONG — The Chinese government has long used a sophisticated set of Internet filters known as the Great Firewall as a barrier to prevent its citizens from obtaining access to foreign websites with information it deems threatening.

But in a recent series of attacks on websites that try to help Internet users in China circumvent this censorship, the Great Firewall appears to have been used instead as a weapon, diverting a portion of the torrents of Internet traffic that flow through it to overload targeted websites.

Inquiry of Silk Road Website Spurred Agents’ Own Illegal Acts, Officials Say

nytimes.com - On the so-called dark web, drug dealing and other illicit sales have thrived in recent years, the authorities have said, through hidden websites like Silk Road and hard-to-trace digital currencies like Bitcoins.

On Monday, the government charged that in the shadows of an undercover investigation of Silk Road, a notorious black-market site, two federal agents sought to enrich themselves by exploiting the very secrecy that made the site so difficult for law enforcement officials to penetrate.

The agents, Carl Mark Force IV, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Shaun W.

Andreas Lubitz’s Home City Is Left to Clear Away Emotional Wreckage

nytimes.com - MONTABAUR, Germany — When employees at a Burger King in this city between Frankfurt and Cologne heard that one of their former co-workers had been aboard the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps last week, they prepared a condolence card for the family.

Then the workers heard that Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the plane, who had once worked as a part-time cook at the restaurant, was believed to have deliberately steered the other 149 people on board the Airbus A320 to their deaths.

Red Meat Is Not the Enemy

nytimes.com - There are people in this country eating too much red meat. They should cut back. There are people eating too many carbs. They should cut back on those. There are also people eating too much fat, and the same advice applies to them, too.

What’s getting harder to justify, though, is a focus on any one nutrient as a culprit for everyone.

I’ve written Upshot articles on how the strong warnings against salt and cholesterol are not well supported by evidence. But it’s possible that no food has been attacked as widely or as loudly in the past few decades as red meat.

Which States Make Life Easier or Harder for Illegal Immigrants

nytimes.com - For immigrants here illegally, life can be very different from one state to another. Some states have been reluctant to accept them, while others have moved to incorporate them. Unauthorized immigrants are barred from receiving most federal benefits. Related Article

Where Unauthorized Immigrants Can Get Driver’s Licenses

Ten states and the District of Columbia allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses using a foreign passport or birth certificate or evidence of current residency in the state.

Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

nytimes.com - As Jay Z sees it, there is a clear solution to the problems facing musicians in the streaming age. They should band together — behind him, of course.

On Monday, Jay Z, the rap star and entertainment mogul, announced his plans for Tidal, a subscription streaming service he recently bought for $56 million. Facing competition from Spotify, Google and other companies that will soon include Apple, Tidal will be fashioned as a home for high-fidelity audio and exclusive content.

But perhaps the most notable part of Jay Z’s strategy is that a majority of the company will be owned by artists.

The Fifth Season of ‘The Walking Dead’ Turned Into a Post-Apocalyptic Debate Club

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Credit Gene Page/AMC

The sword came off the wall, but it was too late to make a difference.

“The Walking Dead” has always walked a line between comic book (or video game) and sociological treatise. The second half of its fifth season on AMC, which ended on Sunday night, was like eight episodes of post-apocalyptic debate club — a thought experiment that weighed the value of stability and community against the imperative of ruthless preparedness.

Ruthlessness won — marked by the decision of Michonne (Danai Gurira), who had held out hope until the end for a peaceful life in the fractured suburbia of Alexandria, to strap on her katana.

Comedian Trevor Noah: ‘We overcame apartheid. That’s a fantastic label to have’

thetimes.co.uk - So Mario Balotelli was trying to be “anti-racist with humour”, the footballer has insisted, when he posted on Instagram an image of that other famous Mario above the words: “Jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a jew.” Balotelli’s effort might have misfired spectacularly, but if you’re looking for someone who really can beat racial stereotyping through humour, look no further than the South African comic Trevor Noah.

Noah is in a racial bracket of his own: he grew up under apartheid in Soweto as the son of a black Xhosa mother and white Swiss father.

A tearful farewell for father of Singapore

thetimes.co.uk - Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Singapore yesterday to bid farewell to the country’s founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who died last week at 91.

Enduring torrential rain, Singaporeans chanted Mr Lee’s name as the coffin, draped in the red-and-white national flag, travelled along a nine-mile route through the city atop a two-wheeled gun carriage.

A 21-gun salute echoed out across the city and a ceremonial flypast took place, with one plane peeling off from the formation to symbolise a “missing man”.

Vigilantes help Nigeria to carry on voting

thetimes.co.uk - Barely taller than his shotgun, Balarabe Mohammed was not a typical warrior, but nor were any of his comrades.

The motorbike mechanic, who has a form of dwarfism, was on duty this weekend alongside fellow vigilantes who were guarding their hometown against Boko Haram as millions of Nigerians braved threats of violence and delays to vote in the presidential polls.

Some were armed with homemade guns and wore bandoliers of buckshot shells. Others carried longbows with quivers full of hand-cut arrows. Some had machetes hewn from the leaf springs of car suspensions.

A Bad Deal

thetimes.co.uk - If a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme is clinched in the coming days, it will be hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough. It will be nothing of the kind. Judging by leaks from the negotiating table, Tehran has not done enough to allay suspicions that it intends eventually to produce nuclear weapons.

Worse, if the framework agreement is signed on the basis of current drafts it will contribute to a reckless recasting of the US position in the Middle East. Iran would be upgraded to the status of regional ally, while Israel, whose fears have been largely ignored during a year

Head or heart? It’s a Wizard of Oz election

thetimes.co.uk - Both the main party leaders are reverting to type, terrified at the consequences of failing to win over floating voters

Fifteen years ago, the American pollster John Zogby devised a question that he used to get below the surface of voters’ reactions to politicians. “Imagine you live in the land of Oz,” he asked. “The candidates are the Tin Man, who is all brains and no heart, and the Scarecrow who is all heart and no brains. Who would you vote for?”

Using this unconventional measure, he became one of the only pollsters to correctly predict the result of the 2000 US Presidential election.

Italy’s most feared mafia clan smuggled cocaine using Costa Concordia

thetimes.co.uk - The doomed cruise ship Costa Concordia was used to smuggle cocaine by Italy’s most feared mafia, police have revealed.

Investigators using wiretaps discovered that ‘Ndrangheta gangsters from Calabria had found a way to smuggle cocaine to Europe from Latin America and the Caribbean using cruise ships. Twenty people have been arrested following the revelations.

In one overheard conversation about shipments, mobsters discussed “the ship that made us look ridiculous all around the world”.

For prosecutors there was no doubt that the men “were referring to the Costa Concordia and the famous shipwreck of January 13, 2012,” court documents cited by

Miliband faces threat of mutiny over cuts

thetimes.co.uk - Ed Miliband’s efforts to cut public spending and clear the deficit will be sabotaged by his own MPs after the election, the Labour leader has been warned.

As an attempt yesterday to woo business leaders backfired, Mr Miliband was told that a hardcore group of “30 to 40 left MPs” were preparing to oppose any attempt to make cuts.

The threat from John McDonnell, the leader of the Socialist Campaign Group, raises the prospect that left-wing Labour MPs will join forces with Scottish Nationalists to challenge the first budget of a Labour government.

Williams wife and children in battle over estate

thetimes.co.uk - A bitter dispute between Robin Williams’s widow and his children over who inherits the comedian’s personal effects was played out in court yesterday.

Susan Schneider Williams, his third wife, and his three adult children by two other women, Zachary, 31, Zelda, 25, and Cody, 23, have been locked in a row over Williams’s estate since he killed himself last August, aged 63. The matter was due to be heard yesterday by a probate judge in San Francisco.

The actor, who had suffered from depression, was found dead at his home in Tiburon, an affluent town just north of San Francisco.

In conversation with the new beauty Queens of India. Tune into TIMES NOW tomorrow at 7:30 am

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Athletes Finding Their Voice in Derek Jeter’s Digital Venture

nytimes.com - David Ortiz’s blustery rant about being unfairly branded a cheater for testing positive for a banned substance in 2003 made news Thursday, not only for its strident tone, but for where it appeared.

Instead of being reported by a newspaper or a website known for breaking news, Ortiz’s remarks appeared as a first-person essay on The Players’ Tribune, Derek Jeter’s digital venture.

The scoop was a small triumph for a website that has a mission to give an athlete a platform to say what is on his or her mind, serious or not, without a reporter playing the journalistic middleman.

Citi Bike Resumes Service After Weekend Maintenance

nytimes.com - New York City’s bike-sharing program was up and running on Sunday after abruptly shutting down for part of the weekend.

On Friday evening, Citi Bike announced it was suspending service for the weekend, a first for the program since it started in 2013. Citi Bike apologized for the short notice and said it was working to improve the system before the warmer riding months.

But it did not provide details about what work was being done and why it had to be done with so little warning to users.

On Saturday afternoon, Citi Bike sent members an email saying the maintenance work had been completed earlier than planned and stations were being brought back online.

Cyclone Roller Coaster at Coney Island Gets Stuck at Top of Track

nytimes.com - The Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island got stuck near the top of its track on Sunday, marring its season debut and forcing passengers to walk down the tracks to safety, an amusement park official said.

The incident happened around noon, as the 87-year-old wooden roller coaster made its second trip of the day during the spring opening celebration for its home, the amusement complex Luna Park.

Photos and videos taken by witnesses showed park workers climbing toward the three-car roller coaster, which was stuck several feet from the flags and gate that mark the uppermost point of the track.

As Job Rate Rises, Older Workers Are Often Left Behind

nytimes.com - THOMAS R. COLLINS, 66, a former sheriff’s deputy, takes little comfort in the lower national unemployment rate because, like many older workers, he has had a long spell of joblessness since he retired in 2010.

A former lieutenant in the Cook County sheriff’s department in Illinois, Mr. Collins receives a pension, which, he said, is a “nice cushion,” but he needed to cover other expenses. He continued a part-time job in security for the retail clothing discounter Syms, in Niles, Ill., but the company went out of business the next year, in 2011, and the position disappeared.

Michigan State Outlasts Louisville to Advance to the Final Four

nytimes.com - SYRACUSE — The moment was worth savoring, so Michigan State stayed on the court long after the final buzzer sounded, the nets came down and Travis Trice’s back began tightening up enough to almost double him over. Matt Costello skipped around, and Lourawls Nairn Jr. wept. They stayed until there was no one left to hug. Then they went into the locker room and hugged some more.

It seemed completely improbable and yet entirely reasonable at the same time. Michigan State, a No. 7 seed, had no business being in the East Regional final and yet handled business as usual.

Ted Cruz and the Media

nytimes.com - This article was initially published as a letter to subscribers of The Upshot’s weekly newsletter. You can sign up for the email here to get this and all of the best of The Upshot.

Ted Cruz received almost 4.5 million votes in the 2012 Texas Senate election, which he won in a landslide. Millions more Americans, outside Texas, agree with his aggressive brand of conservatism. He has been one of the most influential figures in Congress lately, and this week he became the first major candidate to announce an official 2016 presidential campaign.

Singaporeans and World Leaders Gather for Final Farewell to Lee Kuan Yew

nytimes.com - SINGAPORE — Thousands of Singaporeans braved a torrential downpour on Sunday for a final farewell to the country’s founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, whose funeral drew a long list of leaders and dignitaries from across the globe.

The funeral procession wound through rain-soaked streets to the National University of Singapore, where a service was held ahead of a private cremation. Mr. Lee’s coffin was taken on a route that was meant to be symbolic of his accomplishments, passing by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau — a tribute to his reputation for incorruptibility — and two of the country’s oldest government-backed housing developments in a nation with one of the world’s highest rates of homeownership.

In Delaying Vote on Loretta Lynch as Attorney General, G.O.P. Is in a Quandary

nytimes.com - WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans bolted for a two-week spring recess with the confirmation of Loretta E. Lynch as attorney general in jeopardy, and themselves in a quandary: Accept a qualified nominee they oppose because she backs President Obama’s policies or reject her and live with an attorney general they despise, Eric H. Holder Jr.

The nomination of Ms. Lynch, a seasoned United States attorney from New York, has laid bare the difficult politics confronting the new Republican majority. Lawmakers have found nothing in Ms.

Tweeting Mom’s Goodbye

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Credit Amanda Greenberg

My mother finally closed her eyes amid the grim bleats of the intensive care unit for a little sleep. I slipped my hand from hers and sat back. I picked up my phone to call my wife but saw it was 3 in the morning. I looked at emails, but didn’t really read them. Then I remembered something my mother had said a couple of hours before, as we knew our time together was winding down. It had made me smile; and now I sent out a tweet:

“Mother: I don’t know why this is going on so long.

‘Hot Bench,’ a Court Show From Judge Judy, Is a Surprise Hit

nytimes.com - LOS ANGELES — A plaintiff shuffled onto a courtroom set at Sunset Bronson Studios here with a simple complaint. She had lent money to a shady guy who — shocker — turned out to be a total deadbeat.

Judge Judith Sheindlin, the irascible star of “Judge Judy,” would have swiftly deemed the woman too dumb to live and rendered an insta-verdict. But here on “Hot Bench,” no spat is too small for serious investigation. As the cameras rolled, a three-judge panel began to solemnly sort it out.

The concept sounds ridiculous: It takes three legal heavyweights — a former New York State Supreme Court justice, a Yale-educated litigator and a criminal defense lawyer — to adjudicate dog bites and fender benders?

Two Bodies Recovered at East Village Explosion Site

nytimes.com - As firefighters worked on Sunday afternoon to pull two bodies from the scene of an explosion that demolished three buildings in the East Village, a brother of one of the men reported missing in the blast urged his friends and relatives not to give up hope.

Neal Figueroa clambered partway up a police barrier, kissed a white rose he held and tossed it toward the rubble. “Nicholas, come home,” he shouted to his missing brother, 23-year-old Nicholas Figueroa. “We’re here for you! Don’t give up!”

Within hours, the Figueroas would learn that one of the bodies — found after three days of sifting through the wreckage at Second Avenue and Seventh Street — had been identified as their Nicholas, who had been on a date at Sushi Park, a restaurant at 121 Second Avenue.

Afghanistan’s Next Chapter

nytimes.com - Now that President Obama has decided to slow the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, he and the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, have an obligation to prove that the additional American investment will be worth it. It will not be easy, and it may not be possible. For more than a decade, the Afghan government has stubbornly resisted taking most of the political, economic and military steps needed to put the country on a firm footing.

Mr. Obama’s decision to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan at least through 2015 is a change from his previous plan to cut that force in half by the end of the year.

Stand Up for Your Cats

nytimes.com - TAYLOR SWIFT, I salute you.

Not for your snappy songs and sartorial flair, although these are all fine things. I applaud you for the fact that you have almost single-handedly skewered the myth of the owner of the feline as a tragic, rejected “crazy cat lady.”

Ms. Swift regularly poses with, and posts about, her two Scottish fold cats — Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson — with unabashed pride. She posts their pictures on Instagram and has been featured in commercials where she is swarmed by fluffy cats, all the while still managing to somehow remain desirable.

New York State’s Medical Marijuana Rules Shaping Up as Unusually Restrictive

nytimes.com - ALBANY — When New York State’s lawmakers were mulling legalizing the medical use of marijuana last summer, some proponents feared that the proposed law was so restrictive that it would prevent many patients from receiving the drug.

Now, with the state’s Health Department close to issuing final regulations about the new program, the law’s supporters say their fears may soon be realized.

The law itself is quite restrictive: Only 10 conditions qualify for medical use of marijuana; the drug may not be smoked; and New York will initially allow only 20 dispensaries across the state, run by five organizations.

Uzbeks Vote on Expected 4th Term for Authoritarian Leader

nytimes.com - TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — Uzbeks went to the polls in droves on Sunday for an election in which the result was a foregone conclusion: maintaining President Islam Karimov in power in the authoritarian Central Asian state, which he has led since 1989.

The main significance of the event seemed to be signaling that Mr. Karimov, 77, harbored no plans to step down any time soon, especially since a rift within his immediate family has taken on the overtones of a Shakespearean drama involving corruption and betrayal.

Germanwings Crash Settlements Are Likely to Vary by Passenger Nationality

nytimes.com - The extraordinary circumstances that led to last week’s crash of the Germanwings jet, where a pilot seemingly brought down an airplane, killing everyone aboard, means that the airline’s insurers could end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the victims’ families, according to legal experts.

But while the airline is responsible for the actions of its pilot, not all relatives will be entitled to the same payout. The families of the three American victims, for instance, are likely to get a larger payment from the airline than other passengers because courts in the United States usually award larger compensation than European courts.

Germanwings Crash Investigators Sorting Through Physical and Psychological Clues

nytimes.com - DÜSSELDORF, Germany — As aviation experts in the French Alps piece together the shattered fragments of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed there on Tuesday, investigators here are engaged in a task that is at least as challenging: trying to understand what drove Andreas Lubitz, who was at the controls, to the apparent decision to fly the plane into a mountainside.

In what amounts to one of the most high-profile cases to date of forensic psychiatry, French and German investigators must not only piece together the strands of Mr.

Jeb Bush and Scott Walker Point G.O.P. to Contrary Paths

nytimes.com - HUDSON, N.H. — As Jeb Bush mingled with Hispanic workers on a company tour a few weeks ago on his first trip here as an all-but-declared candidate for president, he was able to guess the region in Colombia where one woman was born just from hearing her accent.

That night, he told Republicans that their party had to “go out and reach out to people of every walk of life, not with a divisive message but one that is unifying.”

A day later, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, making his own maiden New Hampshire swing, proudly donned a hat given to him by a gun-rights group and, highlighting his frugality, bragged about the sweater he had bought at Kohl’s for a dollar.

Our Man in Tehran

lens.blogs.nytimes.com - Thomas Erdbrink, the Tehran bureau chief for The New York Times, has been reporting from Iran for more than a decade. In a video series begun on NYTimes.com last week, he gives a personal view of the country, where nothing is as it seems.

Mr. Erdbrink was born in the Netherlands and went to Iran in 2002. A year later he married Newsha Tavakolian, a well-known Iranian photographer who has been featured on Lens several times.

In a text that accompanies the video series he writes:

When I tell people that I have lived in Iran for 13 years, they’re often shocked.

What Silicon Valley Learned From the Kleiner Perkins Case

nytimes.com - Kleiner Perkins’s victory Friday in the gender discrimination suit brought by Ellen Pao could be seen as an affirmation of the Silicon Valley old boys club. But venture capitalists have said that the trial has already put the tech industry on notice: It can no longer operate as a band of outsiders, often oblivious to rules that govern the modern workplace — even if that has been a key to its success.

Silicon Valley has always prided itself on doing business differently. Forget bureaucracy and the traditions of bigger, older companies, the thinking goes.

Before Starbucks, a Bronx Cafe Blended Coffee and Racial Dialogue

nytimes.com - Vernicia Colon did not know whether to be angry, amused or flattered when Starbucks announced its campaign to prompt barista-led conversations on race. She knew the complexities of being an overlooked “other” in the usual black-white discussions, and not just because she is the child of a Puerto Rican mother and a black father.

Months before Starbucks’s much-derided “Race Together” initiative, she ran the Mix Coffeehaus, a South Bronx pop-up shop that used the act of ordering coffee to get customers to explore their own racial identity.

Jet Crash Tests Germany’s Faith in Its Precision

nytimes.com - BERLIN — Even in the nightmarish immediate aftermath of the plane crash in the French Alps on Tuesday, Carsten Spohr, the former pilot who runs Germany’s Lufthansa airline, was sure of one thing: the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, 27, was “100 percent” fit to fly.

Mr. Lubitz, after all, had been through the widely respected Lufthansa training system — “one of the best in the world,” Mr. Spohr said — and had met all other requirements to fly commercial aircraft.

In the decades since it emerged from the ruins of Nazism, this country — which reunited in 1990 and in recent years has dominated Europe as its economic powerhouse — has come to define itself as orderly, rule-driven and well-engineered.

Apple and Beats Developing Streaming Music Service to Rival Spotify

nytimes.com - In what would be the biggest change to its music strategy in years, Apple is pressing ahead with a sweeping overhaul of its digital music services that would allow the company to compete directly with streaming upstarts like Spotify.

Almost a year after agreeing to pay $3 billion for Beats, the maker of hip headphones and a streaming music service, Apple is working with Beats engineers and executives to introduce its own subscription streaming service. The company is also planning an enhanced iTunes Radio that may be tailored to listeners in regional markets, and, if Apple gets what it wants, more splashy new albums that will be on iTunes before they are available anywhere else, according to people briefed on the company’s plans.

Review: ‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ Focuses on Another Apple Era

nytimes.com - The main point of the new business-oriented biography “Becoming Steve Jobs,” by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli is that Steve Jobs has been misrepresented. Blame Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” (2011), as the authors do, for the public perception that Mr. Jobs never outgrew the managerial style of the scheming, screaming, cheating, smelly hothead he may — may — have been in his early years. Instead, Mr. Schlender and Mr. Tetzeli say in their new book, Mr. Jobs developed a wise, mature, deliberate executive style for which he is seldom given credit, one that helped lead Apple to glorious heights.

GNC to Strengthen Supplement Quality Controls

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Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

GNC, the country’s largest specialty retailer of dietary supplements, has agreed to institute sweeping new testing procedures that far exceed quality controls mandated under federal law.

The action to be announced Monday comes after the New York State attorney general’s office accused GNC and three other major retailers of selling herbal supplements that were fraudulent or contaminated with unlisted ingredients that could pose health risks to consumers.

Gene Saks, Tony-Winning Director of Neil Simon Hits, Dies at 93

nytimes.com - Gene Saks, an actor who switched to stage and film directing in midcareer, winning three Tony Awards and becoming the leading interpreter of the plays of Neil Simon, died on Saturday at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 93.

The cause was pneumonia, his wife, Keren, said.

As a director, Mr. Saks focused on comedy, and he excelled with the kind of snappy, battle-of-the-sexes material that might be termed the theater of repartee. He often said he was concerned that laugh lines be not simply jokes but also expressions of character; nonetheless, he was known for his comic instinct and for helping actors with line readings and timing to make a scene work.

Yale’s Beinecke Library Buys Vast Collection of Lincoln Photos

nytimes.com - Abraham Lincoln last visited New Haven in March 1860, when, as a likely presidential candidate, he gave a speech on slavery. He is now set for a triumphal return.

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University will announce Monday that it has purchased one of the largest private collections of 19th-century American photography, devoted primarily to Lincoln and the Civil War, from the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation, run by the family that has collected and preserved the material for five generations.

Deal Is Reached on New York State Budget; Ethics Measures Are Included

nytimes.com - ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders on Sunday night reached an agreement on the next state budget, capping weeks of deliberations over issues like deterring public corruption and improving public schools.

The pact includes education reforms as well as several new ethics measures that Mr. Cuomo proposed in response to the seemingly never-ending series of scandals in Albany. The marathon of malfeasance was punctuated in January by the arrest of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, who at the time was the Assembly speaker, on federal corruption charges.

Iran Backs Away From Key Detail in Nuclear Deal

nytimes.com - LAUSANNE, Switzerland — With a negotiating deadline just two days away, Iranian officials on Sunday backed away from a critical element of a proposed nuclear agreement, saying they are no longer willing to ship their atomic fuel out of the country.

For months, Iran tentatively agreed that it would send a large portion of its stockpile of uranium to Russia, where it would not be accessible for use in any future weapons program. But on Sunday Iran’s deputy foreign minister made a surprise comment to Iranian reporters, ruling out an agreement that involved giving up a stockpile that Iran has spent years and billions of dollars to amass.

In Westchester, a Skinny House With Big Aims Vies for a Spot in History

nytimes.com - MAMARONECK, N.Y. — The red-shingled house on Grand Street shares several attributes with its neighbors. It has three stories, a full basement, hardwood floors and a neat yard.

But one thing has always set this house apart, turning heads on nearby Interstate 95 and, last week, prompting New York officials to recommend its addition, along with 21 other properties and districts, to the National Register of Historic Places: It is only 10 feet wide.

Called the Skinny House, the gabled structure stitched into a modest street in this Westchester County suburb has a back story to rival its unusual architecture.

Off the Dribble and Into a Firestorm in Indiana

nytimes.com - In an interview with The Indianapolis Star on Sunday, Mike Pence, the Republican governor of Indiana, tried to extricate himself from a cage of intolerance and divisiveness into which he had put himself and his state. After coming under ferocious criticism from around the country, he said that he would now support legislation to “clarify” that the state’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which he signed into law last week, would not discriminate against gays and lesbians.

Supporters of the law, which prevents the state from “substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion,” say it protects the rights of people and business owners from compromising their religious beliefs; opponents say it opens the door to discrimination.

How Patricia Field, Costume Designer for Fashionable Characters, Spends Her Sunday

nytimes.com - Patricia Field, a New York fashion fixture since opening her first boutique in 1966, has also become a successful costume designer, dressing Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada,” Vanessa Williams in “Ugly Betty” and Sarah Jessica Parker in “Sex and the City.” Her next project, “Younger,” will debut on TV Land on March 31. When she’s not at her namesake store on the Bowery, the fiery-headed 73-year-old lives in the Seward Park Cooperative on the Lower East Side with her poodles, Sultana and Putana, also known as Pooty.

De Blasio to Name Former ‘Right-Hand Man’ of Boston Mayor as His Chief of Staff

nytimes.com - Earning a place in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s close-knit inner circle is not easy. In choosing top aides, the mayor often seeks municipal know-how, liberal bona fides and the approval of those he trusts.

Thomas G. Snyder, who will become the mayor’s new chief of staff next month, brings all three.

Mr. Snyder, 62, whose role is to be announced on Monday, is a longtime labor organizer and liberal advocate who worked for many years under Mr. de Blasio’s cousin, John W. Wilhelm, at Unite Here, the powerful hotel and restaurant workers’ union that Mr.

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 5 Finale Recap: Rick, Do It

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Credit Gene Page/AMC

Updated, 1:06 a.m.

Season 5, Episode 16, “Conquer”

Spoilers and conflicted bloodlust lurk below.

“Just do it.”

That was me, talking to my television first as Glenn put a gun to Nicholas’s head and then again as Sasha took aim at Father Gabriel toward the end of Sunday’s 90-minute “Walking Dead” season finale. I doubt I was alone.

I stand by that statement. I don’t feel great about it, though, not after Deanna followed suit, ordering Pete’s execution, and then Mr. “All Life Is Precious” Morgan showed up to judge us all.

Secrecy on the Set: Hollywood Embraces Digital Security

nytimes.com - SAN FRANCISCO — For years, Lulu Zezza has played one of the toughest roles in Hollywood.

Ms. Zezza, who has managed physical production on movies like “The Reader” and “Nine,” also oversees the digital security of everything that goes into the making of a film on set, including budgets, casting, shooting schedules and scripts.

Not all that long ago, keeping tabs on Hollywood secrets was pretty simple. Executives like Ms. Zezza could confiscate a crew member’s company-issued computer or cellphone once shooting ended.

Toshio Shibata’s Mesmerizing Photographs of Water

nytimes.com - The Japanese photographer Toshio Shibata is fascinated by water — in particular, the way it interacts with man-made structures. For the later half of his almost-40-year career in photography, he has explored this relationship in novel ways, hiding horizon lines and taking the perspective of the water itself with his camera, visually evoking its rushing sound.

Each of Shibata’s photographs depicts a different kind of human intervention in the natural movement of water, many of them the kind of mundane engineering projects we rarely think about.

Germanwings Crash Leaves Home City of Andreas Lubitz, Pilot, Bewildered and Bristling

nytimes.com - MONTABAUR, Germany — When employees at a Burger King in this city between Frankfurt and Cologne heard that one of their former co-workers had been aboard the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps last week, they prepared a condolence card for the family.

Then the workers heard that Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the plane, who had once worked as a part-time cook at the restaurant, was believed to have deliberately steered the other 149 people on board the Airbus A320 to their deaths.

Masquerading As a Two-Family Home

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Credit Michael Kolomatsky/The New York Times

Ask Real Estate is a weekly column that answers questions from across the New York region. Submit yours to realestateqa@nytimes.com.

Value of a Single-Family Home

I own a two-unit house. My family and I occupy the top floors and we rent the garden apartment to a friend. Our certificate of occupancy, however, describes the house as a single-family home. In terms of resale, which would be more valuable: getting the certificate of occupancy updated or converting the downstairs space to be integrated with the rest of the house?

Ehud Olmert, Israeli Ex-Premier, Is Convicted of Fraud

nytimes.com - JERUSALEM — Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister who was forced from office under a cloud of corruption, was convicted on Monday of fraud and breach of trust in a retrial of a case involving an American businessman, whose sensational testimony in a Jerusalem court in 2008 was instrumental in Mr. Olmert’s downfall.

The American businessman, Morris Talansky, said at the time that he had provided Mr. Olmert with about $150,000 over 13 years, mostly in cash stuffed into envelopes, an assertion Mr.

Pay for Performance Extends to Health Care in Experiment in New York

nytimes.com - For a generation, doctors in New York’s economically depressed neighborhoods have been the ugly ducklings of the medical hierarchy. Many are foreign born and foreign trained, serve mostly minority and immigrant patients, and often run high-volume practices to compensate for Medicaid’s low rate of payment.

Now these doctors are in the vanguard of an experiment to transform New York’s health care services for the poor from a disorganized hodgepodge into coordinated networks of doctors, hospitals and other practitioners.

Foreclosure to Home Free, as 5-Year Clock Expires

nytimes.com - MIAMI — In September, Susan Rodolfi celebrated an unusual anniversary: five years of missed mortgage payments.

She is like a ghost of the housing market’s painful past, one of thousands of Americans who have skipped years of mortgage payments and are still living in their homes.

Now a legal quirk could bring a surreal ending to her foreclosure case and many others around the country: They may get to keep their homes without ever having to pay another dime.

The reason, lawyers for homeowners argue, is that the cases have dragged on too long.

Salman's driver confesses to hit-and-run accident

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - In a dramatic twist in the ongoing retrial of Bollywood actor Salman's driver confesses to hit-and-run accidents hit-and-run case, his driver Ashok Singh has confessed to being responsible for the accident, a lawyer said here on Monday.

READ: When celebs ran into legal trouble

"The driver Ashok Singh has been put up by the defence. He has told the court that he was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident," public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat told mediapersons here.

For latest Bollywood updates follow us on Twitter >>> @TOIEntertain

Steep Costs of Inmate Phone Calls Are Under Scrutiny

nytimes.com - Since the Pennsylvania police arrested Anthony Kofalt last March for walking out of a Walmart with 21 boxes of Crest White Strips he had not paid for, his wife, Heather, has spent $3,000 — about $60 a week — on phone calls to the prisons and jails where he has been held.

The cost of a 15-minute call is $12.95, although Mr. Kofalt is in a prison only a few hours’ drive from his wife’s home in Franklin, Pa. The cost for a similar non-prison call would be about 60 cents.

And every time Ms. Kofalt deposits $25 into the prison phone account, the private company that runs the system charges her $6.95.

Second Time’s a Charm for Martha McSally in Arizona

nytimes.com - WASHINGTON — In 2012, Martha McSally, a political novice, came so close to defeating her Democratic opponent, Representative Ron Barber, in Arizona that she flew to Washington for orientation and even appeared in the freshman class picture. She ultimately lost by fewer than 2,500 votes.

But Ms. McSally, a former Air Force fighter pilot and now a freshman Republican lawmaker from the district that includes Tucson, did not quit. She defeated Mr. Barber in a rematch last year, and now fills a seat once held by Gabrielle Giffords.

New Queens Plaza Skyscraper Gets Help From Historic Clock Tower Next Door

nytimes.com - The hands have not moved in decades, and the lights behind them went dark a year ago. But the gargoyles still glower atop the Long Island City clock tower, alongside its castellated turret, copper windows and granite shields.

Fourteen stories is nothing in today’s booming neighborhood, but until 1990, the brown-brick structure at 29-27 Queens Plaza North was the tallest building in Queens. Even still, it transfixes residents of this low-slung borough.

“Since I was a boy, I’ve probably passed by that building thousands of times in my life, like so many people in Queens,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, the local city councilman.

2016 Hopefuls and Wealthy Are Aligned on Inequality

nytimes.com - Appearing at a candidate forum in late January, three likely Republican presidential contenders — Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul — all made a striking confession: They considered “the increasing gap between rich and poor” to be a problem.

But on the question of whether the government should intervene to solve it, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Paul rejected that approach, and Mr. Rubio appeared to agree with them.

When “government takes over the economy,” Mr. Cruz said, “it freezes everything in place.

Health staff washing clothes at home risk carrying bacteria back to hospital

thetimes.co.uk - Hospital staff who take their uniforms home to wash may not be using water that is hot enough to kill off certain bacteria, a study found.

Nurses and other healthcare workers could be inadvertently spreading hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA, according to researchers from De Montfort University in Leicester, who are calling for national guidelines on cleaning uniforms and recommend that washing be moved back in-house.

They found 49 per cent of staff were not washing their uniforms at 60C — the temperature recommended as being sufficient to kill most micro-organisms — and 40 per cent were washing them in the same

Monkey catching making millionaires

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - Biggest Pre Launch in Pune 43 acre development. 1,2 and 3 Bed

A luxurious project in West Pune's most appreciating residential area

SHIMLA: Monkey menace prevailing in 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh may have left farmers worried but it has left some smiling as well with catching monkeys turning into a lucrative business in the hill state. It has enriched 336 people engaged in catching the simians by over Rs 3.22 crore till now. Monkeys are caught for sterilization and later released at the same spot.

Eating Eggs With Raw Veggies Boosts Nutritional Benefits, Study Says

time.com - Next time you’re eating a raw-vegetable salad, consider adding cooked eggs to the mix. A new study suggests that mixing eggs with raw vegetables increases carotenoid absorption almost ninefold, entailing a range of benefits including longer life span, fewer chronic illnesses and a reduced cancer risk.

Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana served 16 subjects three different varieties of the dish: an eggless salad, a salad with 1½ scrambled eggs and a salad with three scrambled eggs. There was a threefold to ninefold increase in carotenoid absorption from the salad containing the most eggs, according to Science Daily.

What the Apple Logo Tells Us About Memory - TIME

time.com - Over the course of the study, 85 undergraduate students, both Mac and PC users, were asked to reproduce an Apple logo by memory on a blank sheet ...

One in 10 Indians depressed, don’t ignore subtle symptoms

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Godrej Infinity. 43 acre project Prices Starting 45 lakhs all incl

MUMBAI: Extreme weepiness and severe melancholy are not the only calling cards of depression, a serious mental disorder that roughly affects 10% of the population. Doctors say the symptoms could be subtler or of a lower degree — a sudden habit of rash driving, making mean observations or even showing perpetual irritability.

As it emerges that Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who reportedly crashed a plane into the French Alps killing 150 people last week, was suffering from depression, doctors say there is a need to create greater awareness about the disorder.

Leading Suspect in Tunisia Museum Attack Is Said to Be Killed

nytimes.com - TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia's prime minister said Sunday a leading suspect in a deadly museum attack on foreign tourists has been killed in anti-terrorist operations, as tens of thousands of Tunisians marched through the capital to denounce extremist violence.

State news agency TAP cites Prime Minister Habib Essid as saying that Khaled Chaieb, also known as Abou Sakhr Lokman, was killed overnight in an operation in the Gafsa region near the Algerian border.

Chaieb is believed a prominent militant in al-Qaida's North African arm, and suspected of leading or helping lead the March 18 attack on the National Bardo Museum.

Notre Dame Is Just the Latest to Almost Defeat Kentucky

nytimes.com - CLEVELAND — The most consistent lament of Kentucky’s opponents this season has been, “Almost.”

Saturday night, a tenacious Notre Dame team became the 38th consecutive Kentucky opponent to say, “Almost.”

Kentucky opponents and their fans have learned over the course of a long season never to count chickens before they hatch; never to count Kentucky out of any game.

Whatever the situation, whatever the adversity, they’d been there before — seen it and come back. I’d watched firsthand as fans in Gainesville, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La., went delirious with expectation after their team took a lead, only to be crushed when one star Kentucky player or another came through in the clutch.

Singapore Bids Farewell to Lee Kuan Yew in Elaborate Funeral

time.com - (SINGAPORE) — Tens of thousands of Singaporeans undeterred by heavy rains lined a 15 kilometer (9 mile) route through the Southeast Asian city-state to witness an elaborate funeral procession Sunday for longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee’s coffin, protected from the downpour by a glass casing, lay atop a ceremonial gun carriage that was being led solemnly past city landmarks from parliament to a cultural center where the state funeral will be held. Walking slowly in the coffin’s wake as it exited parliament were Lee’s son, the current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, other family members and government officials.

In a Win Over Arizona, a Resounding Repeat for Wisconsin

nytimes.com - LOS ANGELES — It felt familiar, on both ends of the court and across the spectrum of emotions.

Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan freed the net from the rim with the last snip of the scissors, stepped off the ladder and was lifted to the shoulders of his players. Arizona Coach Sean Miller was escorted to the hurt of a quiet locker room in the embrace of his apologetic point guard.

For the second year in a row, Wisconsin had beaten Arizona in the West Regional final to advance to the Final Four.

The 85-78 victory Saturday at Staples Center puts the Badgers (35-3) in the national semifinals next weekend in Indianapolis.

In Bid to Inspire Faith in Senate, Kennedy Institute Has the Floor

nytimes.com - BOSTON — When creators of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate set out to rebuild the crumbling image of the world’s greatest deliberative body, they started from the ground up.

The new institute, which will be dedicated on Monday to the memory of the senator who spent nearly 50 years thundering from the Senate floor, has as its centerpiece a full-scale replica of the chamber, a re-creation startlingly authentic even to those who have spent countless hours in the real thing.

Restoration Politics

tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com - The Continental chic of Camelot in the ’60s, the gilded splendor of the Reagan-era ’80s — but what about a new take on the unique charms of Gerald and Betty Ford’s ’70s Southern California dreaming? Here’s looking at the most truly American of styles.

Photo

Credit Photographs by Anthony Cotsifas. Produced by Michael Reynolds

The city of Rancho Mirage in California, 11 miles southeast of Palm Springs, is famous for two things. The first is Sunnylands, the vast, low-slung pleasure palace that belonged to Walter Annenberg and his wife Lee.

The Rock ’n’ Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero

nytimes.com - I asked if he ever talked about it. Jason shook his head no. Did they find out anyway? “Always.”

The first time was at Fort Benning in 1994, in the middle of the hell of basic training. The ex-cop recruits in boot camp with him said that prisoners had more freedom than they did. There were guys who faked suicide attempts to get out of basic. But Everman never had any doubts. “I was 100 percent,” he told me. “If I wasn’t, there was no way I’d get through it.”

He had three drill sergeants, two of whom were sadists.

After Kleiner Trial, Expect Less Shooting From the Hip in Silicon Valley

nytimes.com - SAN FRANCISCO — John Doerr really needed a win, and late Friday the esteemed venture capitalist got one of the biggest of his career: a jury’s complete dismissal of gender discrimination claims against his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

But success in the courtroom is a tricky thing, and Kleiner’s victory contains perils that his company will still have to overcome, such as its image as a boys’ club. There is a less obvious one, too, which is how the details that came out during the trial may upend perhaps the most celebrated aspect of venture capitalism: investing on instinct, almost impulsively.

A Broadway Composer Takes a Night Off for Drag Queens

nytimes.com - Jeanine Tesori is the award-winning composer behind “Caroline, or Change” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” but Broadway shows aren’t truly her favorite thing.

“I don’t love going to musicals,” she said on a rainy night this month, sitting in the Fork, a diner on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea. “My ear works too hard.”

Her new show, “Fun Home” — the one that’s moving from the Public Theater to Broadway and generating lots of early Tony buzz — centers on a young lesbian whose father has died from an apparent suicide.

An Upbeat Emotion That’s Surprisingly Good for You

well.blogs.nytimes.com - Photo

Credit Illustration by Ben Wiseman

This article appeared in the March 29 issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Dark moods are bad for your health. Scientists have known for decades that a wide variety of unpleasant emotions, like shame, depression and anxiety, are linked to greater rates of ills like heart disease, inflammation, cancer and premature death. Conversely, positive feelings have been shown to be good for you.

Far less is known, however, about the health benefits of specific upbeat moods — whether contentment, say, might promote good health more robustly than joy or pride does.

Germanwings Pilot Andreas Lubitz Sought Treatment for Vision Problems Before Crash, Authorities Say

nytimes.com - DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Andreas Lubitz, who was flying the Germanwings jetliner that slammed into a mountain in the French Alps on Tuesday, sought treatment for vision problems that may have jeopardized his ability to continue working as a pilot, two officials with knowledge of the investigation said Saturday.

The revelation of the possible trouble with his eyes added a new element to the emerging portrait of the 27-year-old German pilot, who the authorities say was also being treated for psychological issues and had hidden aspects of his medical condition from his employer.

7 Wounded in Spring Break Shooting in Florida

nytimes.com - Spring break turned bloody when seven people in their early 20s were shot with a .40-caliber handgun early Saturday at a house in Panama City Beach, Fla. The shootings were described on an official Facebook page for Frank McKeithen, the Bay County sheriff.

The sheriff’s office responded to multiple emergency calls at 12:55 a.m. on Saturday to find the young men and women, several of whom were Alabama A&M; University students who had gone to Florida for spring break. The Facebook post described a “chaotic scene,” with victims found in and in front of the house and across the street.

Afghan Court Sentences AP Journalist's Killer to 20 Years

nytimes.com - KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan's highest court has ruled that the police officer convicted of murdering Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounding AP correspondent Kathy Gannon almost one year ago should serve 20 years in prison, according to documents sent to the country's attorney general on Saturday.

The final sentence for former Afghan police unit commander Naqibullah was reduced from the death penalty recommended by a primary court last year. Twenty years in prison is the maximum jail sentence in Afghanistan, said Zahid Safi, a lawyer for The Associated Press who had been briefed on the decision by the Supreme Court.

Vin Scelsa, Host of Radio’s ‘Idiot’s Delight,’ to Retire

artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com - Vin Scelsa, a master of free-form radio who has been a standby on New York radio stations for nearly 50 years, will retire on May 2 with the last installment of his long-running show, “Idiot’s Delight,” on WFUV, he announced on the air Saturday night.

Mr. Scelsa, 67, is one of the pioneers of free-form radio, the style of loosely structured, highly personal programming that became associated with rock D.J.s on FM stations in the 1960s and ’70s. In defiance of commercial radio’s development of narrowly defined playlists and audience research, Mr.

Indiana May Clarify Religious Objections Law

nytimes.com - INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana said he would support legislation to “clarify the intent” of a new state law that has attracted widespread criticism over concerns that it could allow discrimination against gay people.

In an interview on Saturday with The Indianapolis Star, the Republican governor said he had been in discussions with legislative leaders over the weekend. He expected that a clarification bill would be introduced this week to the religious objections law he signed on Thursday.

What to Do in Palm Beach, Fla.

nytimes.com - Ever since the oil tycoon Henry Flagler turned the alligator-infested jungle known as Lake Worth into a tropical paradise for the 1 percent (it was the Gilded Age, after all) with palatial hotels and a railroad to serve them, Palm Beach has been synonymous with the biggest and the best: fortunes, jewels, scandals. The 16-mile-long island of extravagant mansions, tony retailers and fanciful landscaping is rich in history and significant landmarks, from the magnificent Mar-a-Lago estate (completed in 1927 for Marjorie Merriweather Post, now Donald Trump’s private club) and the Paramount Theater (a former movie palace that houses a trove of vintage screen star photos) to St.

A Slice of Times Square, Always in Motion

nytimes.com - The miracle of photography is that it takes moving objects and makes them still. Yet in real life, motion is part of who we are, the pulse of the city around us. Adam Magyar invented a way to insert that motion into still images. What you see on this page are not block-wide streetscapes, but minutes in the life of a one-pixel-wide sliver of New York life, captured in all its chaos and motion.

Mr. Magyar, 42, a Hungarian-born photographer living in Berlin, set a jury-rigged digital camera on a corner in Times Square, with the frame narrowed to the thinnest possible vertical slit, and programmed it to record about 1,000 images a second.

Small Company Has Plan to Provide Primary Care for the Masses

nytimes.com - Virginnia Schock seemed headed for a health crisis. She was 64 years old, had poorly controlled diabetes, a wound on her foot and a cast on her broken wrist. She didn’t drive, so getting to the people who could tend to her ailments was complicated and expensive. She had stopped taking her diabetes pills months before and was reluctant to use insulin; she was afraid of needles and was worried that a friend’s son, a drug addict, might use her syringes to inject them.

She was, however, able to make a phone call.

Hockey’s Next Great One Draws a Crowd

nytimes.com - ERIE, Pa. — For Connor McDavid, an 18-year-old center for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League and the most anticipated N.H.L. prospect in decades, compliments accrue as steadily as goals and assists.

The Otters’ assistant coach Jay McKee, who played 13 seasons as an N.H.L. defenseman, has been known to pull out his phone on the bench during games to record a clip of McDavid’s dazzling play.

Tim Murray, general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, a self-described “glass-half-empty guy” not given to giddy appraisals, said he has not seen a better junior player.

Woman, 2 Year Old Killed, Man Injured in Washington Shooting

nytimes.com - BREMERTON, Wash. — A 29-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy were fatally shot early Saturday, and a third shooting victim was suffering from life-threatening injuries, sheriff's deputies in Washington state said.

Investigators used a police dog to search the Bremerton mobile home park where the shooting took place, but the dog did not pick up the suspect's scent.

"We feel confident the suspect is no longer in the mobile home park," Kitsap County Sheriff's Lt. Detective Earl Smith said.

The Kitsap Sun reports (http://bit.ly/1BFXjUs) that the boy's mother was trying to shield him when he was shot, but the mother was not hurt.

Grow your own – a foodies’ guide

thetimes.co.uk - Mark Diacono

Even the smallest kitchen garden can transform your cooking, and save you money, writes Mark Diacono

Even at the smallest of scales, growing a little of what you eat can be quietly life-changing, and it is remarkably simple, as long as you stick to two rules. First, be excited about whatever it is you grow. Value every few centimetres, every pot. Second, bite off what you can chew: building up from a small success is so much more rewarding than scaling back from a large failure. Even a collection of herbs in pots by the back door can transform every meal you eat, which is a satisfying outcome from little expense or effort.

Secrets from the Grave

thetimes.co.uk - The grave was once the final resting place. It has long been thought that interrupting the dead is a form of desecration but that is no longer true. Modern techniques of investigation mean we can now respectfully learn a great deal from the bones of the deceased.

More has been learnt of the lives of Miguel de Cervantes and Pablo Neruda from exhuming their remains and subjecting them to DNA tests. It is hardly a controversial judgment to say that this country’s greatest writer is the greatest of them all.

Yemen president: Shiite rebels ‘stooges of Iran’

thetimes.co.uk - Yemen’s embattled president has called Shiite rebels who forced him to flee the country “stooges of Iran.”

He also directly blamed the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding airstrikes against rebel positions continue until they surrender.

With Egypt’s president also calling for a regional Arab military force and another Gulf diplomat separately warning Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen could go on for months, the spectre of a regional conflict pitting Arab nations against Shiite power Iran also has been raised.

Investing: the lure of a classic motorcycle

thetimes.co.uk - David Budworth

Lamborghinis have been grabbing all the attention in recent months amid claims that pensioners could end up blowing their nest eggs, but many of those who are close to, or at retirement, have their eyes on another fast-moving investment, one with two wheels.

Classic motorcycles are increasingly being snapped up by collectors, some of whom may be in it purely for the money, others who, now in their fifties or sixties, want to relive their youth. Even City institutions are sniffing around the sector to cash in on the spending power of the “baby boomers” who have the income to

Why must they be teenagers in love?

thetimes.co.uk - Fans wail over the departure of Zayn Malik from One Direction, just the latest pop idol to be undone by adoration

My 12-year-old niece has posted a moody photo of Zayn Malik on Instagram with the caption #alwaysinour-hearts. Her arm bears his name drawn in ballpoint during chemistry class by a fellow mourner. It is easy to smirk at young girls’ grief for their boyband crushes. Unlike Top Gear fans, Directioners don’t lobby for their loved one’s return by signing belligerent petitions or storming Broadcasting House in a tank.

Terror attacks rock Nigerian elections

thetimes.co.uk - James Cowling

At least two people have been killed in suspected Boko Haram attacks targeting polling stations in Nigeria’s knife-edge presidential election, officials have said.

The terror group are thought to have been behind two attacks by gunmen in the villages in the north eastern Gombe state, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamists.

An election official said: “We could hear the gunmen shouting, ‘Didn’t we warn you about staying away from (the) election?”

Witnesses in the province said that insurgents driving five pickup vehicles had warned passers-by to leave or be killed, forcing election workers to abandon three polling stations.

Tories can’t shake off the ‘nasty party’ tag

thetimes.co.uk - Although David Cameron avoided any blunders in his TV interview, his party sticks in the craw of millions of voters

The moment that clinched Thursday night’s TV spectacular between the leaders of our two major parties came in the first twenty seconds. Before we’d even seen them. It came as Jeremy Paxman introduced them.

He said this: “David Cameron and Ed Miliband are the only people with a genuine chance of forming the next government.”

At this point the Tories won. For in that sentence resides the core of the election strategy the Conservative party will be unrolling over the next six weeks.

Police chiefs accused of ‘bully boy club culture’

thetimes.co.uk - James Cowling

Police chiefs have used their expenses to fund extramarital affairs and are guilty of “potentially predatory, sexual conduct towards junior colleagues”, a highly critical report has found.

The review warned of a “bullying boys’ club culture” and said many junior officers were too scared to confront their bosses over misconduct because they feared it would cost them their careers.

The report into leadership by the College of Policing found cases of racism, sexism and bullying in the police.

Two Men Remain Missing as Remnants of Explosion Are Scoured in Manhattan

nytimes.com - With hopes fading in the search for two men who have been missing since an explosion jolted a stretch of the East Village, emergency workers on Saturday continued to scour the debris of the three buildings that were destroyed on Thursday in the blast and ensuing fire.

Workers hauled axes, hammers and hooks as two cranes transferred debris to trash bins and heaps piled atop Second Avenue. Teams used rakes to pick through what remained.

The blocks adjacent to the site, near the intersection of East Seventh Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan, remained behind police barricades, guarded by officers wearing face masks.

Paul Walker’s Films, Beyond ‘The Fast and the Furious’

nytimes.com - When “Furious 7” opens on April 3, Paul Walker will appear one last time as Brian O’Conner, the role that introduced him to many moviegoers. Like several of Mr. Walker’s characters, O’Conner follows his heart. He begins his journey on one side of the law, but doesn’t stay there. Mr. Walker was the cool, laid-back California dude who often seemed to be having a ball on screen. In most of his films, he ran with a diverse crew and was ready with a bro handshake and a quick laugh.

Mr. Walker died in 2013, before he could complete “Furious 7,” the latest “Fast and Furious” installment, and his director, James Wan, called him “an accidental movie star.” He said Mr.

What’s at Stake in the Iran Negotiations

nytimes.com - Can the West trust Iran? Can Iran trust the West? A look at the bet each side is making in the nuclear talks, along with the challenges and risks that they face.

Post-Sept. 11, Cockpits Are Built to Protect From Outside Threats

nytimes.com - Although airplane cockpits are supposed to be the last line of defense from outside aggressors, airlines have fewer options if the threat comes from within.

By apparently locking the captain out of the cockpit before a German jet crashed Tuesday, the co-pilot appears to have taken advantage of one of the major safety protocols instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that turned cockpits into fortresses.

And the crash is already raising questions about possible gaps in how airlines review the mental health of their pilots.

Liberia Recommends Ebola Survivors Practice Safe Sex Indefinitely

nytimes.com - The Liberian government recommended on Saturday that survivors of Ebola practice safe sex indefinitely, until more information can be collected on the length of time the virus might remain present in body fluids including semen. Previously, male survivors were advised to abstain from sexual intercourse or to use condoms for three months, reflecting that the active virus had been detected for up to 82 days in semen.

Acting on new developments, all countries affected by the Ebola outbreak need to consider applying similar recommendations, said Dr.

T.J. McConnell Is a Mirror Image of Arizona Coach Sean Miller, Minus the Suit and Tie

nytimes.com - LOS ANGELES — The men’s basketball team from Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University opened the 2011-12 season with a game at highly ranked Arizona. The Duquesne coach at the time, Ron Everhart, said beforehand that his sophomore point guard, T. J. McConnell, reminded him of a young Sean Miller — a Pittsburgh-area star in high school, a four-year collegiate starter at Pittsburgh and now Arizona’s coach.

The Wildcats escaped with a narrow victory. McConnell played 37 minutes and had 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Months Before East Village Blast, Utility Found Gas Line Was Tapped in Dangerous Way

nytimes.com - More than seven months before an explosion and fire destroyed three buildings in the East Village on Thursday, utility workers discovered that the gas line to a restaurant in one of them had been tapped in a dangerous way, Consolidated Edison and the restaurant’s owner said on Saturday.

After detecting a “strong odor” of gas in the basement of 121 Second Avenue on Aug. 6, the utility workers found “multiple leaks” in hoses that had been connected to the line, creating a “hazardous situation,” said Philip O’Brien, a spokesman for Con Edison.

Tribes See Name on Oregon Maps as Being Out of Bounds

nytimes.com - Grant County, a mountainous patch of eastern Oregon, has few Native Americans, but maps point to a different past, marking a spring, a rock, three meadows and several creeks with “squaw” in their names.

Calling the term offensive, nearby tribes have asked for name changes, and state law is on their side. But what may seem like a simple matter has turned into a dispute with the county’s white leaders that has dragged on for years, and may have years to go. Oregon and many other states have learned the hard way that erasing objectionable place names is slow and difficult at best, risks opening old wounds, and can divide people along racial lines over what is offensive and whose history the names should reflect.

Almost 37-1, Kentucky Isn’t Done, Holding Off a Fearless Notre Dame

nytimes.com - CLEVELAND — When the final buzzer sounded and the desperation heave by Jerian Grant had gone safely long, the Kentucky players swarmed off the bench to jump and hug their victorious teammates on the floor, a signal of how close they had come to heartbreak.

It was the kind of celebratory reaction that an underdog usually has after scoring an upset against a heavy favorite in the N.C.A.A. tournament. But this was the other way around.

The mighty Kentucky Wildcats were the strong favorites, an undefeated juggernaut looking to make history with 40 wins and an unblemished record.

Australia to Join Regional Development Bank Led by China

nytimes.com - BEIJING — Australia plans to join an Asian infrastructure bank led by China, the government announced on Sunday, reversing an earlier decision taken at the urging of the United States not to become a member. The move made Australia the latest of a list of major American allies to sign up.

The office of Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement that Australia still had concerns about the management of the bank but recognized the pressing needs for infrastructure in Asia. The decision will allow Australia to “participate as a prospective founding member in negotiations to set up the bank,” the statement said.