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Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Thursday Briefing - The New York Times

Good Morning. We are covering a vaccine supply that has become a hot spot for the EU and protesters in Myanmar are building an armed resistance.

Italian authorities found a stash of 29 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in a factory near Rome. The discovery of so many doses raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company was trying to figure out a way to export them to the UK or elsewhere.

The European Union has demanded that AstraZeneca keep its delivery promises to the EU. The bloc is finalizing emergency legislation that would allow it to restrict vaccine exports for six weeks in an attempt to remove supply bottlenecks.

The new rules will make it difficult for pharmaceutical companies that manufacture vaccines in the EU to export them and likely disrupt supplies to the UK.

Details: Authorities visited the construction site after receiving a warning from the European Commission stating a discrepancy between what the company said about production in EU facilities and what the facilities said themselves.

The payment: The European Union was expected to receive more than 100 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca in the first quarter of this year, but it received only 16.6 million – a supply bottleneck that has affected vaccination efforts across the continent.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

With 90 percent of the votes counted in the general election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance had 52 seats while his opponents had 56 – both sides several seats fewer than the 61 required to form a majority coalition government.

If these numbers persist, they could add months to the political deadlock that has crippled the country for two years. Tuesday’s election was Israel’s fourth in two years. The final results are expected on Friday. Some suggest that both candidates would need the support of a small Arab party, Raam, to form a majority coalition.

Time for a change: Israeli commentators and analysts were embroiled in a debate about changes to the electoral system that could break the deadlock. But for some, the impasse is rooted in deeper rifts that divide society, divisions that have contributed to political fragmentation.

As the nation’s military kills, attacks and terrorizes unarmed civilians every day, some protesters say there is no choice but to fight the army on their own terms. Groups of students, activists and office workers with weapons have mobilized to form a kind of guerrilla force.

While protesters build barricades in towns to protect neighborhoods from military raids and keep going, armed forces in the woods train basic war techniques and plan to sabotage militarily allied facilities.

The boldness and desperation of the new front are a reaction to the ruthless actions of the military, which killed 275 people. Security forces shot at bystanders, ambulances and tortured inmates. Dozens of young demonstrators were killed by single shots in the head.

How it looks: The fighters at the front have piled up sandbags and built bamboo barricades, which they defend with homemade fire bombs. In some cases, they are supported by ethnic uprisings that the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, have targeted for years.

Quote: “We have to attack them back,” said a Yangon woman who spent a week at boot camp in the forest. “That sounds aggressive, but I think we have to defend ourselves.”

In two consecutive mass shootings, people again ask themselves: Why does the US have so many? A steadily growing number of researches always comes to the same result: The astronomical number of weapons, writes our columnist.

It started in response to the pandemic: a temporary policy allowed American museums to sell art from their collections to cover operating costs. Now museums across the country are debating whether to keep the measure.

The old guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors allowed museums to sell items when they no longer fit an institution’s mandate and when the proceeds were used to purchase other art, not pay salaries or other bills.

Museums that prefer to keep the new arrangement say it is necessary for their long-term survival. “It is misinformed to believe that every museum has a billboard full of billionaires,” said Anne Pasternak, director of the Brooklyn Museum. During the pandemic, the Brooklyn Museum raised nearly $ 35 million from auction sales.

Last month, the Met – the largest art museum in the US – even announced that it may be selling items to pay for staff involved in maintaining collections.

Those who oppose these sales argue that they undermine the mission of these museums. “If you want to flip images, there are many other types of institutions you can do it in,” Erik Neil of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., Told The Times. “And they’re called commercial galleries.”

What to cook

The pollo en fricasé offers chicken thighs and potatoes on the bone. Like so many Puerto Rican dishes, this one is very adaptable.

What to read

Sharon Stone writes about her life and death in a new memoir. Read a question and answer.

What should I do

A new study suggests that too much high-intensity exercise can be harmful to your health.

Something to see

The documentary “Seaspiracy” takes the viewer on a world tour that shows the many causes of the decimation of marine life.

Now is the time to play

Here’s today’s mini crossword puzzle and a clue: ___ Zhao, Oscar nominee for best director for “Nomadland” (five letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

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World News

Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Wednesday Briefing - The New York Times

In a two-page letter, federal health officials and an independent panel of medical experts accused AstraZeneca of collecting data on the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine.

The company had said that based on its US study, the vaccine appeared to be 79 percent effective in preventing Covid-19. However, the panel said its effectiveness could be anywhere from 69 to 74 percent and blamed AstraZeneca for an overly rosy description of the trial data.

AstraZeneca defended the data released Monday, saying the interim results appeared to be “consistent” with the more recent data collected during the trial. The company said it would release more complete results within 48 hours.

The results throw a wrench in efforts by elected leaders elsewhere to rebuild confidence in the shot. Confidence in the vaccine had already fallen across Europe after it was recently reported that a very small number of recipients had developed unusual blood clots.

Supply bottlenecks: The European Union is due to enact public emergency laws today that will allow it to curb the export of block-made Covid-19 vaccines for the next six weeks. The new regulations will make it harder for companies like AstraZeneca that make Covid-19 vaccines in the EU to export them and it will likely disrupt supplies to the UK.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

Two exit polls as well as early results of the elections in Israel indicated a clear result on Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his potential right-wing allies had only 60 seats, less than the 61 seats required to form a majority in the 120s. Seat of parliament.

A third poll gave an anti-Netanyahu bloc of parties a 61 seat head start, potentially blocking Mr Netanyahu’s path to victory and making the election too short to call them up. The uncertainty will likely lead to weeks, if not months, of negotiations and possibly more elections.

Mr Netanyahu campaigned to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including a vaccine rollout that the world will envy. Seeking re-election despite being on trial on corruption charges did not prove fatal to his chances.

Potential government: It was expected by many that Mr Netanyahu’s larger bloc would form a coalition with Naftali Bennett, a rival far-right who leaves Israel with one of the most conservative governments in its history, made up of ultra-Orthodox parties, ultra-nationalists, a group opposed to them fights, established gay rights and another whose leader supports the expulsion of Arab citizens of Israel who are considered unfaithful to the state.

Farmers from Punjab and other countries camped outside New Delhi for four months in protest. At the center of the dispute is a subsidy system that the government, economists and even many farmers all agree is broken.

The system was introduced in the 1960s to prevent famine by encouraging farmers to grow wheat and rice. It contained government-set minimum prices that helped farmers sell what they grow for a profit.

While the system is undoubtedly out of date, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rush to reshape it – his political party got new laws through parliament in a matter of days – could devastate large swaths of the country where farming remains a way of life. Our reporters looked at what went wrong and now they have taken stock of the protests.

Context: Almost 60 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people make a living from agriculture, although the sector only accounts for around 11 percent of economic output. For many, getting another job is not an option.

In 2017 a strange intruder came zooming through our solar system. Was it a comet? A cosmic iceberg? Or an alien space wreck?

This month’s astronomers offered the previously solid explanation: Oumuamua, as it is called, was a chip from a distant planet in another solar system. Long ago, a collision with an asteroid broke him off and sent him through space.

TikTok’s influence is selling thousands of books. Some avid readers – mostly teenage and 20 year old women – post videos of themselves reading or recommending novels. Occasionally they sob into the camera after a particularly devastating ending.

“It’s going to be this very emotional 45-second video that people instantly connect with,” the Barnes & Noble book director told The Times. “We haven’t seen these kinds of insane sales – I mean tens of thousands of copies a month – with other social media formats.”

An example: “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller. Sales soared after a popular TikTok video last year, and the book now sells about nine times as many copies a week as it did in 2012 when it won a prestigious fiction award. The book currently ranks third on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback literature.

Some publishers saw the potential and started paying users with large fan bases or sending them free books. Fees range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per post. For now, however, the majority of these videos are not being sponsored and are running organically.

Crispy tofu with panko and sesame seeds goes well with a coconut and lime dressing in this vegetarian dish.

If you like the farce and fraternal conflict of “Frasier”, you might like the British comedy “Back”, which brings together more jokes and details in a single episode than some shows can manage in one season.

Lana Del Rey’s sixth major label album “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” thinks that the singer “went back to get more insights into the island,” writes our reviewer.

Here’s today’s mini crossword and a clue: Used Cars? (five letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. I wish you a good Wednesday. – Natasha

PS The Times unveiled its 2021-22 class of fellows hailing from the US, as well as the UK and Vietnam.

The latest episode of “The Daily” shows a food critic who has lost her sense of smell due to Covid-19.

Sanam Yar contributed to the coverage. You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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Entertainment

Overview: On the Guggenheim, They Coronary heart New York and Indoor Dance

Review: At the Guggenheim, They Heart New York and Indoor Dance

The glissando that Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” starts is a siren scream, an announcement of joy and chutzpah, which also means “I love New York City”. On Saturday night, when pianist Conrad Tao was playing it in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum, dancer Caleb Teicher came in and hugged Nathan Bugh, a fellow dancer, tightly.

That was fun and cute – really perfect, expressing the emotions of the moment. Because there we were, a live audience, masked and carefully distributed on the spiral path of the rotunda, and experienced live performances indoors. Spring is here! The pandemic is over! Everyone is hugging!

At least that’s what it felt like for a moment. The pandemic is of course not over yet. And while that performance by Caleb Teicher & Co. heralded the personal return of the Works & Process franchise – with additional performances slated through June by companies rehearsing upstate bubble residences – all of these arrangements are tentative. NY Pops Up performances by Teicher’s company that were scheduled for the same day have been canceled due to new protocols. The indoor performances planned for this week at Park Avenue Armory have been postponed as some performers tested positive for Covid-19.

Teicher and the gang also recognized this precariousness. The second time Tao’s fingers moved up to the high note, another pair of dancers stopped short of contact and decided on an elbow bump. This was fun too, but in retrospect, the big hug and elbow bump seemed to sum up an event that was both wonderful and not ideal.

It began like the last prepandemic Works & Process event, a Teicher show, ended in February 2020: Bugh made Lindy Hop alone to music in his head. Despite the response, this was an uncomfortable opening. And the following selection, a piano interlude – Brahms’ Intermezzo in E minor – felt a bit random, although Tao interrupted the time in ice-cold cascades of sound.

“Rhapsody in Blue” was the main event, and Tao’s rendition (of his own arrangement for solo piano) was monumental, as big as the building. It was too big for Teicher and the dancers to keep up, but their attitude towards putting on a show gave the effort the innocent charm of the “Peanuts” cartoon.

The rhythmic irregularity of “Rhapsody” is a choreographic challenge. Teicher hit it cleverly with solos, duets and group encounters, all with a story-like hint of collisions and rendezvous in the city. Based on Lindy’s vocabulary, the dance was comfortably arranged in circles and other shapes suitable for the rotunda and intended to be seen from above. At times, large, slow Charleston strides were excitingly set against the drive of the music, and several duets that flippantly ignored traditional gender roles aroused the tenderness and romance of the music.

It was also enchanting when Tao was preparing again towards the end for another of the famous climbs in the score, and the dancers hesitated as if to admit there was no point keeping up with the pianist. But on the next high note, they crashed into a group hug before running off with arms outstretched like planes in an ad for United Airlines. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody” has been used in a variety of ways over the years. On Saturday, it made the air around us less scary and friendlier.

Rhapsody in blue

Performed on Saturday at the Guggenheim Museum.

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World News

The Democrats’ Immigration Drawback – The New York Instances

The Democrats’ Immigration Problem - The New York Times

For most of the decades the Democratic Party had a fairly clear stance on immigration. It advocated a mix of enforcement (like border security and deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes) and new laws for immigrants (like an increase in legal immigration and a path to citizenship for undocumented people).

In recent years, however, immigration advocates and progressive Democrats have grown dissatisfied with this combination. You have pointed out that Democratic support for tighter border security has not resulted in the bipartisan compromise it should have: Republicans continue to block bills that provide a route to citizenship.

In response, these progressives and activists have pushed the party to change. Bill Clinton ran for re-election on a platform that said, “We cannot tolerate illegal immigration and we must stop it.” Barack Obama once said: “We simply cannot allow people to flood into the United States undetected, without papers and without controls.” Instead, President Biden has emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants regardless of their legal status.

After taking office, Biden began to put this idea into practice. He announced a 100-day suspension of deportations (which a judge has blocked). He allowed more migrants – especially children – to enter the country instead of being detained. And Central American migrants, feeling the US has become more welcoming, are pouring north in the greatest numbers in two decades.

The upswing seems to have surprised the von Biden government, as Doris Meissner from the Institute for Migration Policy, which headed the immigration and naturalization service in the 1990s, told me. The Republicans have overthrown and accused the Democrats of preferring an “open border”.

Some Democrats are also unhappy. Biden’s policy “is an incentive for multitudes of people to come, and the only way to slow it down is to change the policy on our doorstep,” Texas representative Vicente Gonzalez told the Washington Post. Henry Cuellar, another Texas House Democrat, said the government was sending “terrible news.”

All of this is based on the fact that the Democratic Party no longer has a clear immigration policy.

While Donald Trump was president, he smoothed out internal tensions among the Democrats because they could unite against him. Trump used racist language; Democrats hated it. Trump separated families and caged children; Democrats promised to end this policy. Trump said he would build a border wall that Mexico is paying for; Democrats mocked his failure.

However, with Trump out of office, the party faces some tough, unresolved questions, including:

Do Democrats Still Advocate Deporting Anyone? Some activists criticized Obama as a “top deporter”. However, he focused the deportations on only two groups: newcomers and immigrants who had committed serious crimes.

If Democrats prefer more lenient policies than Obama’s, it’s not clear whether they support the deportation of anyone – or whether they believe instead that the humane solution is to allow anyone who can legally or illegally enter the US , to stay. The party’s 2020 platform does not mention any conditions under which a deportation is acceptable. Biden’s attempt to stop the deportations for 100 days underscores the party’s new stance.

Which migrants should be turned away at the border? And what should happen to them next?

There are no easy answers. One option is to prevent people from entering the country (as is currently the case with many adults traveling alone) – but this can lead to miserable conditions on the Mexican side of the border. A second option is to arrest people in the US while their legal cases are being investigated. Child detention is difficult, however, and many Democrats consider immigrant detention to be similar to Trumpism.

A third option is to take in migrants and order them to appear at a future court hearing (as is the case with many children and families). The adults often have to wear anklets. Still, the process can take years and raise other sensitive questions. Many migrants are not good asylum seekers; They come to find work or to be around relatives, which does not necessarily qualify them for legal entry.

Often it is left to the administration to decide who is ready for deportation.

There are possible political solutions to all of these questions. The US could increase legal immigration. It could build more detention facilities in humane conditions. It could do more to improve conditions in Latin America and get Mexico to control its own southern border. The Biden government follows many of these guidelines.

But if Biden and his aides seem less stable on immigration than many other policies, there is a reason: They are less stable.

Congress is unlikely to increase legal immigration many times over. Surveys show that while public opinion favors a route to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants, it also supports strict border security and the enforcement of existing immigration laws.

I’m not even sure if these views should be called conservative. In the past, many progressives supported immigration restrictions to keep wages high in the US. Today, working-class Americans – including many Asian-American, Black, and Latin American voters – tend to prefer more restrictions than progressive Democrats, who are often high-income professionals. This contrast could play a role in the recent Republican gains with minority voters.

“Unfortunately, the way the debate goes too often feels like, ‘Everyone should come and the border should be open,” said Cecilia Muñoz, a longtime immigrant attorney and former Obama adviser. “And that is what makes Americans fearful. “

One of the advantages of the old Democratic approach to immigration was that it was easy to describe: be firm on the border, be generous to people who have lived in the US for years. The new approach also has a lasting idea: be kinder to people who want to enter the country. But the Democrats still haven’t figured out the limits of this idea, which created an early problem for the Biden presidency.

How many immigrants should the US legally accept?

  • More: “There’s nothing wrong with open borders,” wrote Farhad Manjoo of the Times. Shikha Dalmia has argued that more immigration will fuel economic growth, and Matthew Yglesias wrote “One Billion Americans” in a book claiming that more immigration will help the US compete with China.

  • Fewer: “The ongoing argument for reducing immigration,” according to Philip Cafaro, revolves around higher wages. And David Frum of the Atlantic has suggested that less immigration will reduce the political appeal of nativism.

In flower: Spring has arrived in New York. Here come the cornflowers, butterfly milkweed, and black-eyed susans.

Lived life: Dr. Nawal el Saadawi was an Egyptian writer, doctor and advocate for women’s rights in the Arab world who told her own story about female genital mutilation in her memoirs. She died at the age of 89.

Model trains are the newest industry getting a pandemic boost from people looking for new hobbies. Märklin, a 162-year-old German company, is hiring new trainees as sales increase to learn the precise art of making miniature trains. (Take a virtual tour of the factory here.)

“It’s total chaos outside,” said one enthusiast. “But inside, around my little train set, it’s quiet, it’s picturesque.”

Spelling Bee’s pangram on Friday was unpopular. Here is today’s puzzle – or you can play online.

Here’s today’s mini crossword puzzle and a clue: palpitations (five letters).

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World News

Your Monday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Monday Briefing - The New York Times

We report on a visit by President Biden’s Defense Minister to Afghanistan and on India’s race for a second wave of the coronavirus.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin landed in Kabul on Sunday morning and was the first member of President Biden’s cabinet to enter the country that is home to America’s longest war.

The trip comes at a crucial time: The US is expected to withdraw its forces from the country on May 1st. Mr Biden said in an interview last week that meeting the deadline was “difficult”. He has not announced any specific plans for the withdrawal.

Mr. Austin’s arrival in Kabul came on Nowruz, the Persian New Year – a date on which the Islamic State committed to launch attacks in Afghanistan. The trip was supposed to remain confidential until two hours after he left, but local reporters reported his visit after meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

The stakes: A US withdrawal could increase the risk of the Taliban’s takeover of the country’s most important cities. When asked about Afghans’ concerns about withdrawal, Mr. Austin said: “We have done a lot to work with the Afghan security forces. And I don’t want to speculate about what might or might not happen in the future. “

The payment: Around 3,500 US soldiers are now stationed in Afghanistan. American troops have been permanently present in the country since 2001.

The coronavirus is once again spread across India. Confirmed infections have increased from a low of around 9,800 in February to around 31,600 daily. In the past two weeks, deaths from the virus have increased 82 percent.

The outbreak is concentrated in the state of Maharashtra, home of Mumbai. Entire districts are closed again. Scientists are investigating whether a new strain is more virulent in the state, like variants in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.

Officials are under pressure to aggressively promote tests and vaccinations, particularly in Mumbai. Increased vaccination in India could have an impact worldwide. India is a crucial link in the vaccine supply chain: it has dispensed or sold tens of millions of doses to other countries even though it has difficulty vaccinating its own people.

The Foreign Minister has said the availability of vaccines in India will determine how many doses go overseas. India’s slow vaccination campaign has also been plagued by public skepticism.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

The Chinese government has changed the political landscape in Hong Kong. His plan to drastically overhaul the local electoral system by demanding absolute loyalty from candidates running for office leaves political groups across the political spectrum wondering what participation, if any, is still possible.

Moderates aren’t sure they would pass Beijing’s litmus test, and opposition leaders aren’t sure they will try again to run candidates. The changes are also likely to reduce the number of directly elected seats in the local legislature, meaning the majority of lawmakers will be elected by allies of the government.

Quote: “If we keep playing this game, it’s like accepting what they are doing,” said a pro-democracy activist. “That would make me feel like an accomplice.”

Context: The changes to the voting system signal the exemption of a promise central to Hong Kong since its return to Chinese control in 1997: that its residents could one day choose their own leaders instead of being subject to the whims of London or Beijing.

Chandro Tomar may look like your typical Indian grandmother, but she is anything but: at 89, she is considered the oldest professional sniper in the world, and she has dozens of medals to show off. She is also a feminist icon in India.

In memory: Nawal el Saadawi, an Egyptian author, activist and doctor who became a symbol of the struggle for women’s rights in the patriarchal Arab world and who campaigned against female genital mutilation. She was 89 years old.

Caity Weaver, a member of the Times styles desk, ventured to Santa Fe, New Mexico to try Equus, a horse riding experience with a long list of famous clients including Bette Midler and Jeff Bezos. The program’s website encourages customers to imagine creating the life you truly deserve. In a recent conversation she reflected on her experience researching a story about whether we can learn from horses.

What did you know about Equus before you arrived in Santa Fe?

Little. They purposely don’t have a lot of photos on their website. The founders told me that they don’t want people to come up with a certain idea of ​​what their experience will be, because if it doesn’t work out, customers might be disappointed.

So what increased it to “I have to try”?

One thing that you keep asking yourself when you have an interesting experience is: is someone actually paying for it? And often the answer is no. But the customer list was so impressive – Margaret Atwood, Microsoft, many other names I recognized. So I was curious to probably get out whatever they wanted to get out. I would love if my life was as good as Bette Midler’s – I think.

What is something fun or unexpected that you learned?

Candace Croney, professor of animal behavior and wellbeing at Purdue University, told me to think of horses the way you think of cats – they are not like a dog that wants to be with you and want attention. A horse doesn’t really want to be the main thing – maybe it wants to be petted and petted, maybe not. I didn’t learn this before I left, but if I ever meet another horse I’ll just picture it like a big cat.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Until next time. – Carole

PS The New York Times Climate Hub, a 10-day event of live journalism, thought leaders and action on climate change, will be held in Scotland this November, alongside the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about the career of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

You can reach Carole and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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Entertainment

Virus Circumstances Delay Effort to Deliver Indoor Dance Again to New York

Virus Cases Delay Effort to Bring Indoor Dance Back to New York

It was one of the most famous experiments to bring indoor live performances back to New York City.

The Park Avenue Armory decided to use the cavernous, flexible space of their 55,000 square foot drilling hall to hold a short season called the Social Distance Hall. It received permission from state health officials to re-invite an extremely limited audience and planned to do all rapid tests for the coronavirus. To kick off, one of the great choreographers of the day, Bill T. Jones, turned to “Afterwardsness,” a new piece that explores the coronavirus pandemic and violence against blacks.

However, the highly anticipated performances, due to begin Wednesday for a sold out seven-day run, had to be postponed after several members of the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Company, Rebecca Robertson, tested positive for the virus, president and executive producer of the Armory said on Saturday in an email to ticket holders.

“The artists concerned are, thank goodness, comfortable,” wrote Robertson.

“While this is very disappointing to the artists, the armory and our audiences, this shift is a necessary part of the process of collectively returning to personal appearances in a responsible and safe manner,” she added.

Kyle Maude, director of production for the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Company, said three members of the company who had received a rapid antigen test tested positive on Thursday and that those results were later confirmed when they became more reliable in PCR -Test for which the results came back on Saturday.

The scheduled opening in March had brought the Armory ahead of the April 2nd opening date announced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for reduced-capacity performances in New York, but state officials had agreed to the early opening. Robertson told the New York Times earlier this month that the decision was made in part because the armory had tested its security procedures back in October when Afterwardsness was filmed in front of a live audience of volunteers in their drill hall.

The armory, whose spacious drilling hall holds a huge volume of air, seemed an ideal place to experiment with indoor performance. The plan was to limit the audience to 100, which is only about 10 percent of the capacity of the hall, and to accommodate people at a distance of at least two meters. A number of precautionary measures are in place for the spring season, including masks, quick on-site tests for all spectators, electronic ticketing and temperature checks.

The armory announced that all ticket holders for “Afterwardsness” would be reimbursed and that they would have early access to book tickets for the newly planned performances when dates are announced.

“Afterwardsness” should be “Social! the Social Distance Dance Club ”, conceived by the choreographer Steven Hoggett, the set designer Christine Jones and the musician David Byrne. Dates for this will be announced shortly, said the armory.

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Health

Brazil Covid variant detected in New York resident for the primary time, Cuomo says

Brazil Covid variant detected in New York resident for the first time, Cuomo says

On January 14, 2021, nurses chatting outside 28 de Agosto Hospital in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

MICHAEL DANTAS | AFP | Getty Images

Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that a more contagious variant of Covid-19, originally identified in Brazilian travelers, has now reached New York.

The strain was discovered by scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and verified by the Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Laboratories. The center collects approximately 90 random samples for genome sequencing every day and has sequenced more than 8,200 samples nationwide.

The patient with the Brazil variant is a Brooklyn resident in their nineties with no travel history, according to a press release.

“The discovery of the Brazilian variant here in New York further underscores the importance of taking all appropriate measures to continue protecting your health,” said Cuomo. The governor urged New Yorkers to continue wearing masks, avoid the crowds and get vaccinated if necessary.

The Brazilian strain, designated P.1, was first identified in four travelers from Brazil who were tested during a screening in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The P.1 variant was discovered in the USA at the end of January. The CDC has since reported 48 cases nationwide. The strain has a number of additional mutations that could affect its ability to be recognized by antibodies.

There is evidence that the variant is more contagious and may make the vaccine less effective. Oxford University researchers recently released data that was not peer-reviewed, suggesting they may be less resistant to vaccines. However, additional research is needed.

Cuomo’s announcement comes when daily cases increase in New York and 20 other states. In New York, mortality and hospitalization rates are falling as vaccine distribution accelerates.

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Business

How Amazon Crushes Unions – The New York Instances

How Amazon Crushes Unions - The New York Times

If safety was the greatest concern for the technicians, there were also concerns about equal pay – machinists said they received different amounts for the same work – and their lack of control over their fate. Part of Mr. Hough’s pitch was that a union would make management less arbitrary.

“One guy I only remember was his name Bob,” he said. “They took Bob into the control room and the next thing I saw Bob come down the stairs. He had taken off his work vest. I said, “Bob, where are you going?” He said, “You quit me.” I didn’t ask why. It was like this. “

Several technicians said they remembered being told at one meeting, “You are voting for a union, each of you will be looking for a job tomorrow.” In another case, the most outspoken union supporters were described as “Cancer and Disease for Amazon and the Facility,” according to Hough and a union memo. (In a report to the labor authority, Amazon said it had investigated the incident and “determined that it could not be substantiated”.)

Mr. Hough, a cancer survivor, said the reference offended him. He declined to attend another meeting of this manager. He said he definitely knew what she was going to say: that the union was going to cancel the election because it thought it was going to lose. Amazon had won.

On March 30, 2015, Mr. Hough received a written warning from Mr. Frye, his manager.

“Your behavior was rated as negative by colleagues / managers,” it said. “Insubordination” included the refusal to participate in the announcement of the Amazon victory. Another incident, Amazon said, could lead to termination.

The machinists’ union filed a complaint with the labor office in July 2015 alleging unfair labor practices by Amazon, including monitoring, threatening and “informing workers that it would be pointless to vote for union representation”. Mr. Hough spent eight hours that summer giving his testimony. While labor activists and unions in general believe the board is heavily leaned in favor of employers, union officials said a formal protest would at least show the Chester technicians that someone is fighting for them.

At the beginning of 2016, Amazon resigned itself to the board. The main focus of the bilateral agreement was for Amazon to publish an employee notice promising good behavior without admitting anything.

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Health

New York vaccine czar referred to as county executives to find out Cuomo help: report

New York vaccine czar called county executives to determine Cuomo support: report

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo listens to speakers at a vaccination site in New York on March 8, 2021.

SETH LITTLE | AFP | Getty Images

Larry Schwartz, director of New York vaccine rollout and longtime advisor to Governor Andrew Cuomo, has called some district officials over the past few weeks to rally their support for the governor while he grapples with an ongoing sexual harassment investigation, the reported Washington Post on Sunday, citing several officials.

A district chief, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing retaliation by the Cuomo administration, told the Post that it filed a notice on Friday with the Public Integrity Department of the Attorney General’s office of a possible ethics violation by Cuomo’s office would have.

Schwartz, a former top advisor to the governor who came back as an unpaid advisor to direct the state’s vaccine distribution, is in frequent contact with local officials to discuss vaccine planning and distribution.

However, his appeals to officials over the past few weeks regarding their loyalty to the governor raised concerns that the governor’s political situation and response to it could affect the state’s vaccination operation or result in preferential vaccination decisions.

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World News

A Village Erased – The New York Occasions

A Village Erased - The New York Times

The earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 wiped out the ancient Japanese village of Kesen. For the past decade, a small group of survivors have valiantly tried to rebuild the community, but a grim reality has crept in: this void will last forever.

KESEN, Japan – For centuries, this village has been shaped by the currents of time: war and plague, rice sowing and harvesting, planting and tree felling.

Then the wave hit. Time stood still. And the village became history.

When a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, more than 200 residents of Kesen village in Iwate Prefecture were killed. All but two of 550 houses were destroyed.

After the water receded, almost all of the survivors fled. They left behind their destroyed possessions, the graves of their ancestors, and the land their ancestors had farmed for generations.

But 15 residents refused to leave Kesen and vowed to rebuild. Since 2011, Hiroko Masuike, a photographer for the New York Times, has visited the village twice a year to document the survivors’ doomed mission to redesign their hometown.

“Our ancestors lived in this village 1,000 years ago,” said Naoshi Sato, 87, a lumberjack and farmer whose son was killed in the tsunami. “There were also disasters back then. Every time people stayed. They rebuilt and stayed. Rebuilt and stayed. I feel obliged to continue what my ancestors started. I don’t want to lose my hometown. “

Many of those who stayed, including Mr. Sato, lived without electricity or running water for months. For a year, Mr. Sato camped in the stinking ruins of his home. He has been dreaming of Kesen’s rebirth for a decade.

Every day for the first year after the tsunami, he hiked in the forest, cutting down the trees by himself that he had used to rebuild his two-bedroom house. When only two other families followed his example and rebuilt their homes, Mr. Sato’s wife and daughter-in-law realized the futility of his plan and left him behind.

Those who decided to stay in Kesen were old in 2011. Now, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, they are even older. Slowly, over the past ten years, a gloomy reality has settled over this place: There is no turning back. Kesen will never be restored. This emptiness will last forever.

Mr. Sato resigned that his mission might have been in vain. Three houses have been built and he has kept his former neighbor’s farmland from deteriorating, but admits that the village will die with no new residents.

“I am very sad,” he said. “I regret that people won’t be back.”

He blames the government. It took nine years and $ 840 million for authorities to complete a project to convert the hill above the village into land for housing.

Until then, it’s too late. Almost everyone who left a decade ago has found a new home elsewhere. Unlike other nearby towns in the town of Rikuzentakata, which have also received government funding, the new raised area above the destroyed village lacks amenities such as shops and a supermarket.

“Given the coronavirus pandemic, I am fortunate to live here,” said Sato. To make sure his joke was understood, he added, “The air is clean and there aren’t too many people.”

A handful of newly built houses have been built on the hill around the Kongoji Temple. Like the mythical ship of Theseus, whose components have all been replaced over time, Kongoji is both the same temple that has been in the community for 1,200 years and an entirely new one, built in 2017.

The temple has served as a community calendar for centuries, marking the time with 33 events per year. These rites have practically come to a standstill, but on Thursday, Nobuo Kobayashi, Kongoji’s chief monk, will greet the scattered members of the congregation for a memorial service in Kesen.

Mr. Kobayashi has worked tirelessly to ensure that families have a place to mourn loved ones, but he is realistic that the temple will keep reverberating with noises other than wails of grief.

“Of course I want to rebuild the kind of temple we had before the tsunami,” said Kobayashi. “But people don’t want to go back to the place where they lost friends and family. And there is fear; People are afraid of another tsunami. “

An anniversary is a haphazard but useful reminder of how time goes by. Ten years is a satisfactory round number, but it’s just one of many numbers that tragedy can be measured against.

A decade feels like forever to those who lost a child in just seconds, but it is a brief moment in the history of Japan. It is an even shorter point in the billions of years of history of the tectonic plates, the dragging of which triggered the earthquake and tsunami.

It is this long run of history that gives the holdouts hope that Kesen will rise from the rubble again.

Mr. Sato, the lumberjack, will be 88 years old next week. He wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning and puts a cup of green tea on his house altar – an offering to the spirits of his son and ancestors. And then, like his ancestors, he takes care of his rice field and vegetable patch.

“I would like to see what this place will look like in 30 years,” he said. “But until then I have to see it from the sky. And I don’t think that will be possible. “

Hiroko Masuike reported from Kesen, Japan.