The Pour

Kinh Doanh, Be Trap | school teacher |

IN his 72 years, Serge Hochar has produced 53 vintages of Château Musar, a wine that has enthralled several generations only partly because of its unusual provenance, the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon.

From Strife-Marked Vineyards

Sasha Maslov for The New York Times

Serge Hochar with his Château Musar at the Spotted Pig.

By ERIC ASIMOV

Published: April 2, 2012

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On a whirlwind visit to New York last week, he conducted a late-night tasting at the Blue Ribbon wine bar, poured wines at a dinner at the Spotted Pig and led a lunchtime serving of older vintages at the John Dory, all in less than 48 hours. At the Spotted Pig, Mr. Hochar shared some of his hard-earned wisdom with a predominantly young crowd that seemed to hang on every word.

"I know nothing about wine," he said. "I know how to make wine, but I know nothing about wine, and each day I discover that I know less."

It was an unusual message in a world that seems so wedded to technical facts and certainty. Far more often wine discussions center on easily discernible questions of pH and acidity, the source of wood for barrels, fermentation temperatures and viticultural techniques. But Mr. Hochar, slender and natty in a gray suit and red tie, was having none of that.

Instead, he spoke in gnomic phrases, which perhaps did little to further an understanding of precisely how Musar is made, but did much to explain why his audience, and I, find his wines compelling.

"He's like a philosopher in a way," said Christy Frank, who discovered Musar as a business school student and now runs a wine shop, Frankly Wines, in TriBeCa, which is adorned with an image of Musar in stained glass. "I love that he never answers the question he's asked but always takes it to another level and makes it about life rather than about wine."

The wines themselves are remarkable. The red, a blend of cabernet sauvignon with cinsault and carignan, is like an otherworldly Bordeaux — rich, ripe, lightly spicy with its own peculiar funk that people tend to love or hate. The white is even more unusual, made of obaideh and merwah, ancient indigenous grapes. Both are complex and worthy of long aging.

But just as significant was the Musar story. Through the decades of strife that engulfed Lebanon, Mr. Hochar continued making his family's wines. Aside from the general astonishment that wines so good could come from so unheralded a viticultural source, Château Musar became an emblem of perseverance and human achievement in the wake of dehumanizing conflict.

Now, as Lebanon has quieted down, a new generation has fallen in love with the wines of Musar. The wines themselves exert their charms, of course, but much of the allure comes from Mr. Hochar's way of doing business, of making his own rules and persuading his audience through the power of his charisma.

At the Spotted Pig dinner, for example, he insisted on reversing the usual order of food and wine service. After beginning with appetizers and Musar's Jeune Rosé and Jeune Blanc, which Mr. Hochar described as modern wines made at the behest of Musar's winemaker, the next course was char-grilled lamb with Swiss chard, zaatar yogurt and a compote of black olives and tomatoes , served with three vintages of Musar red. This was followed by quail marinated in cinnamon and saffron, served with three vintages of Musar white.

"Once you taste the wines, you'll understand why my white is my biggest red," he explained.

It's the sort of wisdom that endears him to fans, like Carla Rzeszewski, the wine director at the Spotted Pig, who, with the chef, April Bloomfield, spent four days putting together the brilliant menu to go with the wines.

"I think I fell in love with these wines before I knew Serge," Ms. Rzeszewski said. "But I think the wine follows the winemaker, if the wine is honest and true and raw."

Of the three reds, all delicious with the lamb, the 2001 was lovely, pure and very young, all elbows and knees. The 2000 had a touch of characteristic funk to it, yet seemed even more disjointed than the '01. By contrast the 1993 was mellow and fully integrated, with a core of fruit augmented by subtle earthy, almost animal aromas and an attractive funkiness that seemed to stem primarily from volatile acidity, or V.A., a quality that when too pronounced can be a flaw. But Mr. Hochar sees it differently.

"Wine is such a complex thing, and V.A. is part of wine," Mr. Hochar said. "If you have none, it's a flaw. It's part of fermentation. It's a question of balance. Life is harmony."

After the reds came the quail and the white wines. Indeed, as Mr. Hochar suggested, they were bigger than the reds — not more alcoholic, but richer. At room temperature, their texture and opaque complexity reminded me of good white Bordeaux or the white Riojas of López de Heredia. The '04 had a slightly honeyed quality yet was stone dry. The '03 offered more mineral flavors, while the '01 seemed to lack a bit of harmony. Best of all was an older white served with the cheese, a gorgeous 1975 that had the same sweet-yet-dry quality as the '04.

"As they grow older, they grow younger," Mr. Hochar said.

The one consistent thing about the wines is how inconsistent they are, as Mr. Hochar might say. Each vintage is profoundly individual, partly, no doubt, because wine from Lebanon, one of the oldest wine regions in the world, is so unusual, and partly because Mr. Hochar makes so little use of modern winemaking techniques, which might serve to file away Musar's distinctive edges.

"The dimension of taste in Lebanon is different than anywhere else," he said. "Not better, but different. Better has no meaning."

In a world full of wines trying to be the best, many people find it refreshing to see a wine simply trying to be itself.

"Everybody is hungry for something that's just honest," Ms. Rzeszewski said, "that's forthcoming about where it comes from, instead of just being polished."

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Court Upends 9-Year Fight on Housing Mentally Ill

nha dat a | school teacher |

A federal appeals court, ruling on procedural grounds, struck down on Friday a judge's order that New York State transfer thousands of mentally ill adults in New York City from institutional group homes into their own homes and apartments. In doing so, the court brought a nine-year legal battle to an abrupt end without resolving the underlying issues of how the state cares for such patients.

By MOSI SECRET

Published: April 6, 2012

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Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Cliff Zucker of Disability Advocates hopes the state will negotiate without a lawsuit.

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Though the lower court judge had ruled the current system violated federal law by warehousing people with mental illness in far more restrictive conditions than necessary, the appellate panel said the nonprofit organization that began the litigation, Disability Advocates, did not have legal standing to sue.

The panel, comprising three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, acknowledged that its decision essentially reset the long-running battle to its starting point.

"We are not unsympathetic to the concern that our disposition will delay the resolution of this controversy and impose substantial burdens and transaction costs on the parties, their counsel and the courts," the opinion said.

The long-term implications for the mental health system are unclear. But it immediately removes the pressure on the state to move more than 4,000 people with mental illness who live in the city's large group homes into what is known as supportive housing, in which patients live alone but continue to receive specialized treatment and services.

Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, said in a written statement that the administration was reviewing the decision. "The governor's commitment to improving the quality of care for vulnerable populations and supporting opportunities for community living for people with disabling conditions is clear," Mr. Vlasto said in the statement.

Cliff Zucker, the executive director of Disability Advocates, who less than two years ago was celebrating the lower court's order for immediate changes to the system, said he would now seek to reach a settlement with state officials. "We are hopeful that this administration has recognized that this is a problem that needs to be solved and we'll be able to solve it without recommencing litigation," he said.

Barring such a deal, it is also possible that the Justice Department, which intervened late in the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, could file a new lawsuit, Mr. Zucker said.

Disability Advocates brought the lawsuit in 2003 after a series of articles in The New York Times described a system in which residents were poorly monitored and barely cared for, left to swelter in the summer and sometimes subjected to needless medical treatment and operations for Medicaid reimbursement.

After a five-week nonjury trial in 2009, Nicholas G. Garaufis, the Federal District Court judge overseeing the case, ruled that the practices violated the Americans With Disabilities Act. In a series of subsequent decisions, he ruled that the state must immediately begin moving patients out of the group homes and into supportive housing.

The plan, limited to New York City, would have given nearly all current and future adult home residents the opportunity to move into supported housing scattered throughout the boroughs, where they would live independently while also receiving help like case-management services and visits from psychiatrists and nurses. The plan was drawn from a proposal presented by advocates for mentally ill people that was backed by the Justice Department.

The state, which has vigorously defended the current system, argued that the advocates had overestimated the demand for supported housing and underestimated the cost, making a quick transition for the bulk of the population in adult group homes unfeasible. The state appealed the ruling.

The appellate court suspended the order to begin transferring patients immediately, later lifted the suspension and finally stopped the order again, leading to the ruling on Friday.

Although Judge Garaufis's order to transfer thousands of people was not addressed in the ruling, the appellate court said it did "have concerns about the scope of the proposed remedy."

"If this controversy continues, and if the renewed litigation reaches the remedial phase, the parties and the district court will have another opportunity to consider an appropriate remedy," the court said.

But the heart of the ruling was on the procedural matter over whether Disability Advocates, a private nonprofit organization contracted to provide services for people with mental illness, had the legal standing to sue state agencies and officials on their behalf. On this point the appeals court ruled that Judge Garaufis was wrong.

In a statement celebrating the ruling, Jeffrey Edelman, the president of New York Coalition for Quality Assisted Living, which represents adult homes, defended the current system for housing people with mental illness and "the rights of these adults to live in the homes of their choice, rather than becoming the targets of others' dangerous social experiments."

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Nikko Saigon receives five-star status

cong nghe | school teacher |

The Hotel Nikko Saigon at 235 Nguyen Van Cu Street in District 1 on Tuesday held a ceremony to mark its new five-star ranking, recognized by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Nikko Saigon receives five-star status

By Minh Duy in HCMC

Chiyuki Fujimoto (R), general manager of the Nikko Saigon and La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, at the ceremony to mark the hotel's five-star status - Photo: Courtesy of the Hotel Nikko Saigon

The Hotel Nikko Saigon at 235 Nguyen Van Cu Street in District 1 on Tuesday held a ceremony to mark its new five-star ranking, recognized by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

The hotel opened in December and has 334 rooms and suites, and 53 service apartments in a high rise 23-storey building.

The Nikko Saigon, invested by Fei Yueh Vietnam Co., is managed by the Japanese-based JAL Hotels Company Limited.

Theo en.baomoi.com

Wal-Marts Good-Citizen Efforts Face a Test

rao vat | school teacher |

Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: April 30, 2012

WASHINGTON — Besides its success in selling goods that range from groceries to televisions, Wal-Mart has also shown a highly developed ability to sell itself.

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Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart's top lobbyist, put the company in a positive light at the White House.

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The country's biggest retailer has adroitly used millions of dollars in campaign contributions, charity drives, lobbying campaigns, and its work for popular causes like childhood nutrition and carbon emissions to build support in Congress and the White House.

It also uses these methods to increase its "favorable" ratings, especially with liberals. And as Wal-Mart's top lobbyist explained to investors in 2010, the company thinks the strategy has worked.

"Across the board, our reputation with elected officials is improved, not only here in the U.S. but around the world," the lobbyist, Leslie Dach, boasted as he ticked off poll numbers that he said demonstrated the company's improving public profile. That popularity, he said, "makes it easier for us to stay out of the public limelight when we don't want to be there."

With controversy building over its role in a Mexican bribery scandal, Wal-Mart's desire to stay out of the limelight will now be put to a test. To help weather the fallout, Wal-Mart will rely on the relationships it has worked assiduously to develop in Washington during the last decade — relationships that its critics say have insulated it from political threats.

For years Wal-Mart had reliable allies in the Republican Party, while it struggled to develop support among Democrats. But in recent years it has joined with the Obama administration on a number of its initiatives, including President Obama's health care plan, environmental safeguards and childhood obesity. At the same time, it has aggressively lobbied the administration and Congress on dozens of policies affecting its business operations, including global trade, taxes, immigration , business regulation and waste disposal standards.

Industry experts say its political priorities could now be jeopardized by accusations first disclosed in The New York Times that Wal-Mart had paid $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials and covered up the payments.

"Reputation is very important to Wal-Mart," said Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who wrote a book on the retail giant. "They put a lot of money into building it. And to the extent that the Mexico situation reinforces a negative narrative out there — that Wal-Mart plays fast and loose with the law and is a big bully — this is a setback."

The Justice Department is investigating the bribery accusations. Two leading House Democrats, Henry A. Waxman of California and Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, sent letters last week seeking to determine what role Wal-Mart might have played in lobbying efforts by the Chamber of Commerce and the business community to scale back the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That federal law bans bribing foreign officials.

But a number of prominent political figures from both parties are standing by the company.

Representative Darrell Issa, the California Republican who leads the House oversight committee, indicated last week he had little interest in investigating the Wal-Mart affair.

Companies like Wal-Mart should not be called before Congress "just to get headlines," he said in one interview.

Blanche Lincoln, the former Democratic senator from Arkansas and a longtime backer of her home state retailer, said in an interview that she thought that Wal-Mart could ride out the negative publicity over the Mexico controversy.

"Because they are big, when things happen it's very visible, but when these things happen, they make a conscious decision to correct what needs to be corrected, and they do it in an amazing and positive way," she said.

Representative Dan Boren, Democrat of Oklahoma, echoed that view in a phone call he made to a reporter at the request of Wal-Mart executives. "Wal-Mart has built up a lot of good will on the Hill," Mr. Boren said. "They've been a great corporate citizen. I'm confident this will be just a blip on the radar."

Mr. Issa, Ms. Lincoln, and Mr. Boren, like many lawmakers both Democratic and Republican who have backed the company, all received contributions over the years from Wal-Mart's political action committee or employees.

In all, Wal-Mart's PAC and employees donated nearly $1.7 million to federal candidates in the 2010 election cycle — more than double the amount a decade earlier, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group in Washington that tracks campaign data.

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7 Relatives Die as S.U.V. Drops 60 Feet Off Bronx Highway

may tinh bang | columbia university summer school |

It could not have taken more than a few terrifying seconds from the moment the S.U.V.'s driver lost control on an elevated highway on Sunday to the moment it came to a violent rest about 60 feet below, in a nonpublic area of the Bronx Zoo . The vehicle's seven occupants, spanning three generations of a Bronx family, were killed on impact, their bodies still inside.

Marcus Yam for The New York Times

Investigators at the scene of a crash that killed seven people in the Bronx.

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

Published: April 29, 2012

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Multiple Deaths in a Bronx Accident

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Marcus Yam for The New York Times

Juan Gonzalez, wearing a green shirt, whose wife, Maria, was driving the S.U.V. on Sunday, outside his Bronx home with Ms. Gonzalez's son Jonel, wearing a yellow sweatshirt.

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Marcus Yam for The New York Times

At the site where an S.U.V. landed Sunday after falling off the Bronx River Parkway, police collect evidence from the accident.

Outside the S.U.V., scattered in the shade of a late April sun, were the remnants of what had been: a workbook from St. Lucy's School in the Bronx, a leather purse, a diaper bag, a DVD from the Hellboy fantasy series — all spread out next to the S.U.V., its damaged frame and its occupants turned upside down.

About 20 yards to the east and 20 yards above, on an overpass of the Bronx River Parkway, not as many signs of the horrifying accident were evident, but what was left was still telling: a clean trail of skid marks that cut straight across three southbound lanes, leading toward a guardrail that separated the parkway from the earth and streets below.

The guardrail bore no scars from the S.U.V., for there was no impact; police investigators said the driver had lost control, and the vehicle first struck a Jersey barrier at the center median, and then veered sharply to the right, hitting a curb that propelled it directly over the guardrail.

Police Highway Patrol investigators did detect oil on the guardrail, which had dripped down from the S.U.V. "as it sailed over the railing and down to the ground," said Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department.

The S.U.V., after falling dozens of feet, landed at the southeast corner of the 265-acre property, far from where animals are kept and visitors are allowed. All seven people in the S.U.V. were killed: two grandparents who had been visiting from the Dominican Republic, their two adult daughters and three grandchildren, ages 10, 7 and 3. Everyone had been wearing a seat belt, the police said.

It was the deadliest accident in New York City since March 2011, when a bus heading to Chinatown from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut crashed on Interstate 95 in the Bronx.

"Sometimes you come upon events that are horrific, and this is one of them," Deputy Chief Ronald Werner of the Fire Department, said at a brief news conference less than three hours after the accident.

The 45-year-old adult daughter was at the wheel of the S.U.V., a white 2004 Honda Pilot, and in the hours after the crash, it was still unclear what had led her to initially lose control of the vehicle, the police said.

Witnesses told the police that it appeared that a tire had blown, although accident investigators were not certain of that, a law enforcement official said, noting that there were no obvious signs of skid marks before the car first hit the Jersey barrier.

Accident investigators estimated that the S.U.V. was traveling at around 70 miles per hour when it lost control, the official said.

Some information about the victims emerged late Sunday.

The driver's 10-year-old daughter was among them. Another, Maria Nunez, the driver's 39-year-old sister, was the mother of the two younger girls in the S.U.V., Niely Rosario, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3.

The oldest passengers were Jacob Nunez, 85, and his wife, Ana Julia Martinez, 81. Naomi Velazquez, 28, who lived in the Nunezes' building, said that the older couple had just arrived from the Dominican Republic on Thursday, and that it was only the second time they had visited New York.

Ms. Nunez had lived in the Pelham Parkway Houses for over a decade, Ms. Velazquez said, describing the family as a "great, great family," adding that Ms. Nunez was "really quiet."

"I can't believe it," Ms. Velazquez said. "I'm in shock."

The driver was identified as Maria Gonzalez, and at her two-story, two-family home on Taylor Avenue, neighbors, friends and relatives gathered to mourn the loss of a mother and her daughter, Jocelyn Gonzalez, 10.

"They're lost right now," Jahny Jimenez, 29, said after emerging from the house. "They're asking God for strength."

Mr. Jimenez, who identified himself as a distant cousin of those killed, said that the "family is huge and we support each other."

Another cousin, Marcello Alvarez, described Ms. Gonzalez's husband, Juan, as being "broken."

"Can you imagine?" he said. "They are in a lot of pain. They lost a whole family in one hit."

In the hours after the crash, the dead were taken to Jacobi Medical Center to be identified by relatives. The S.U.V. was taken from the area on a flatbed truck, the wreckage covered by a green tarp.

A similar accident occurred nearby last June on the northbound lanes of the Bronx River Parkway, raising questions about whether the guardrails are too low to be effective.

In that accident, a car had struck the median, turned away from it and "sailed into the air," falling 30 or so feet onto East 180th Street, according to a report about the accident in The New York Post. The car's two occupants, one of whom was a local politician, survived.

"For the second time in a year, an accident on the Bronx River Parkway has led to a car falling off the highway to the streets below," the Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr., said in a statement.

John DeSio, a spokesman for Mr. Diaz, said that after the first accident, there was "some thought that it's a freak occurrence."

"But," he added, "it has happened again. So we'll be speaking to the appropriate agencies and examining whether appropriate safety measures, such as higher fences and guardrails, should be taken."

Adam Levine, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, which is responsible for the Bronx River Parkway, said, "We're going to do our investigation into this accident and see if anything needs to be done to improve the safety of the area."

Randy Leonard and Bernard Vaughan contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 30, 2012

Because of an editing error, a previous version of this article misspelled a neighbor's surname as Velasquez.

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One World Trade Center Now New York Citys Tallest Building

len may anh | education services |

One World Trade Center, the skyscraper being built in Lower Manhattan to replace the World Trade Center twin towers destroyed by terrorists in 2001, is now the tallest structure in New York City.

Photo: Reuters

A view shows One World Trade Center (L) in New York City, April 30, 2012. The One World Trade Center, built on the Ground Zero site of the fallen World Trade Center towers, officially surpassed the Empire State Building as the tallest building in New York on Monday.

On Monday workers erected a steel column on One World Trade Center that poked through the sky at 381 meters, slightly higher than the Empire State Building, which has dominated the New York skyline since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Kimberly, a lifelong New Yorker, says the new record has special significance.

"It is just a wonderful thing to see, especially after all that has happened, and the healing, and the process, and the time that it took," she said.

For several years after the rubble of the twin towers was removed, the area was an empty hole in the ground as government officials and private developers debated reconstruction plans.  But since a compromise was reached, the new building, often called Freedom Tower, has been rising an average of about one floor per week toward its goal of 104 stories.

Tomek, an attorney from Warsaw, Poland, says the initial delay was minor.

"You know, it has been only 11 years," he said. "And from all the rubble and the rubbish, you managed to rebuild it.  And it is again showing the power of America."

With the collapse of the twin towers, the Empire State Building reclaimed the title as the city's tallest building.  It was the world's tallest structure for more than 40 years after its construction in 1931.

A car dealer from Atlanta, Georgia, Brad Hanson, says he likes the rivalry between New York's two major skyscraper districts - downtown and midtown.

"It is good to see downtown get the skyscraper back," he said. "The whole landscape of the area has changed since the towers went down, but now it is back.  I think it is cool."

Tomek, the visiting Polish attorney, says he feels a bit sorry the Empire State Building has lost the record.  But he notes that the view from its observation deck will be even better with completion of One World Trade Center next year.

One World Trade Center will also be North America's tallest building at 541 meters.  That translates to 1,776 feet, a number specifically chosen to coincide with the year the United States declared its independence from Britain.

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President visits Phu Quoc Island

ke de hang | school teacher |

President Sang talks with contractors assigned to restore Phu Quoc Prison

President Sang emphasised that the restoration of the prison expresses the nation's deep gratitude to the war heroes, martyrs, and revolutionary soldiers who were imprisoned there by enemies, as well as those who sacrificed their lives for national independence and freedom. He also asked the Kien Giang provincial authorities to work closely with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to create favourable conditions so the contractors can complete the restoration according to plan.

Earlier, President Sang offered incense in tribute to war heroes and martyrs who are buried and rest in peace at the Phu Quoc Martyrs Cemetery.

On the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30), the President extended his wishes for happiness and prosperity to the Party Committee and people of Phu Quoc Island, saying he hopes that the authorities and residents will continue their efforts to make Phu Quoc a rich and beautiful island.

Theo en.baomoi.com

Sports news in brief – April 19

Kinh Doanh | school teacher |

The local sports media today all published news coverage revolving around three big names: swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc, badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh, and football coach Tran Cong Minh.

Coach Tran Cong Minh cheered with a footballer during his happy time with Dong Tam Long An Photo: Tuoi Tre

Swimming talent to train in China

Da Nang-based swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc will be brought home from his troubled US training trip and will leave for another one in China, according to Lam Quang Thanh, deputy head of the General Department of Sport and Physical Training.

Phuoc will begin a training session at the Jiangnan Sport Training Center in Guangxi, under a plan agreed upon last weekend by the general department and the Da Nang People's Committee, said Thanh.

"The plan is also made based on Phuoc's expectations," he added.

The general department is waiting for the decision from Da Nang government to determine when Phuoc will return from the US, and the exact expense of the coming China trip.

"Da Nang is booking an air ticket for Phuoc to return as soon as possible," a municipal government official told Tuoi Tre.

Swimmer Chau Ba Anh Tu will also accompany Phuoc to China to be his practice partner, according to the municipal Department of Culture, Sport, and Tourism.

Tien Minh advances to 3rd round at Asian Champs

Vietnam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh yesterday secured his second victory at the Badminton Asia Championships 2012 to advance to the third round.

The event's seventh seed, and world number 7, Minh faced no difficulties in beating Yong Zhao Ashton Chen of Singapore, the world number 62, in 53 minutes.

Minh will encounter the winner of the match between Yun Hu of Hong Kong and Sok Chanthorn of Cambodia in the next round.

Meanwhile, in the duals event, Vu Thi Trang and Nguyen Thi Sen, and Dao Manh Thang and Bui Bang Duc, all lost 0-2 to their Korean and Malaysian opponents.

The championships run between April 17 and 22, in Quingdao, China.

Dong Tam Long An fires coach

Coach Tran Cong Minh, a veteran defender of the Vietnamese national football squad, yesterday bid goodbye to First Division club Dong Tam Long An, following what he said was a conflict between him and the club.

"It's not because of the three defeats in a row we suffered at the First Division," said the former coach.

"The club wanted to have a technical director, which I said was not necessary."

Minh had been working for the club for five years under many roles, and was appointed to take charge of it before the 8th round of the 2012 First Division.

He led the club through two victories, two draws, and three losses, with the latter hurting their hope of returning to the V-League.

Dong Tam Long An is now standing in 10th place with 18 points, as many as 10 points lower than the leaders.

Theo en.baomoi.com

Over 100 companies take part in MTA Hanoi 2012

tin tuc | school teacher |

The 9th Vietnam International Precision Engineering, Machine Tools and MetalWorking Exhibition opened in Hanoi on March 28, attracting 100 companies from 17 countries and territories around the world.

Foreign companies from Singapore, Taiwan (China) and Japan introduced high technology products being presenting in Vietnam for the first time, including Accuway, Big Daishowa, Blum, Nikon, Li-Hsun, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitutoyo, and Microtest.

Besides, Vietnamese companies and joint ventures are also attending the event, such as Apogee, T.A.T, Phu An Binh Technology and Waterline.

The exhibition offers a good chance for businesses to establish relations, expand networks and advertise their products, said Bui Thi Thuc Anh, Director of the VCCI Exhibition Service Company.

The event will last until March 30.

Theo en.baomoi.com

2 Studies Point to Common Pesticide as a Culprit in Declining Bee Colonies

tin tuc | school teacher |

Scientists have been alarmed and puzzled by declines in bee populations in the United States and other parts of the world. They have suspected that pesticides are playing a part, but to date their experiments have yielded conflicting, ambiguous results.

Julian Stratenschulte/European Pressphoto Agency

By CARL ZIMMER

Published: March 29, 2012

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Protesters in Warsaw, Poland, spoke out on March 15 against the industrialization of farming and its effect on bees.

In Thursday’s issue of the journal Science, two teams of researchers published studies suggesting that low levels of a common pesticide can have significant effects on bee colonies. One experiment, conducted by French researchers , indicates that the chemicals fog honeybee brains, making it harder for them to find their way home. The other study, by scientists in Britain , suggests that they keep bumblebees from supplying their hives with enough food to produce new queens.

The authors of both studies contend that their results raise serious questions about the use of the pesticides, known as neonicotinoids.

"I personally would like to see them not being used until more research has been done," said David Goulson, an author of the bumblebee paper who teaches at the University of Stirling, in Scotland. "If it confirms what we’ve found, then they certainly shouldn’t be used when they’re going to be fed on by bees."

But pesticides are only one of several likely factors that scientists have linked to declining bee populations. There are simply fewer flowers, for example, thanks to land development. Bees are increasingly succumbing to mites, viruses, fungi and other pathogens.

Outside experts were divided about the importance of the two new studies. Some favored the honeybee study over the bumblebee study, while others felt the opposite was true. Environmentalists say that both studies support their view that the insecticides should be banned. And a scientist for Bayer CropScience , the leading maker of neonicotinoids, cast doubt on both studies, for what other scientists said were legitimate reasons.

David Fischer, an ecotoxicologist at Bayer CropScience, said the new experiments had design flaws and conflicting results. In the French study, he said, the honeybees got far too much neonicotinoid. "I think they selected an improper dose level," Dr. Fischer said.

Dr. Goulson’s study on bumblebees might warrant a "closer look," Dr. Fischer said, but he argued that the weight of evidence still points to mites and viruses as the most likely candidates for bee declines.

The research does not solve the mystery of the vanishing bees. Although bumblebees have been on the decline in the United States and elsewhere, they have not succumbed to a specific phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, which affects only honeybees.

Yet the research is coming out at a time when opposition to neonicotinoids is gaining momentum. The insecticides, introduced in the early 1990s, have exploded in popularity; virtually all corn grown in the United States is treated with them. Neonicotinoids are taken up by plants and moved to all their tissues — including the nectar on which bees feed. The concentration of neonicotinoids in nectar is not lethal, but some scientists have wondered if it might still affect bees.

In the honeybee experiment, researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Research in France fed the bees a dose of neonicotinoid-laced sugar water and then moved them more than half a mile from their hive. The bees carried miniature radio tags that allowed the scientists to keep track of how many returned to the hive.

In familiar territory, the scientists found, the bees exposed to the pesticide were 10 percent less likely than healthy bees to make it home. In unfamiliar places, that figure rose to 31 percent.

The French scientists used a computer model to estimate how the hive would be affected by the loss of these bees. Under different conditions, they concluded that the hive’s population might drop by two-thirds or more, depending on how many worker bees were exposed.

"I thought it was very well designed," said May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

But James Cresswell, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Exeter in England, was less impressed, because the scientists had to rely on a computer model to determine changes in the hive. "I don’t think the paper is a trump card," he said.

In the British study, Dr. Goulson and his colleagues fed sugar water laced with a neonicotinoid pesticide to 50 bumblebee colonies. The researchers then moved the bee colonies to a farm, alongside 25 colonies that had been fed ordinary sugar water.

At the end of each year, all the bumblebees in a hive die except for a few new queens, which will go on to found new hives. Dr. Goulson and his colleagues found that colonies exposed to neonicotinoids produced 85 percent fewer queens. This reduction would translate into 85 percent fewer hives.

Jeffery Pettis, a bee expert at the United States Department of Agriculture, called Dr. Goulson’s study "alarming." He said he suspected that other types of wild bees would be shown to suffer similar effects.

Dr. Pettis is also convinced that neonicotinoids in low doses make bees more vulnerable to disease. He and other researchers have recently published experiments showing that neonicotinoids make honeybees more vulnerable to infections from parasitic fungi.

"Three or four years ago, I was much more cautious about how much pesticides were contributing to the problem," Dr. Pettis said. "Now more and more evidence points to pesticides being a consistent part of the problem."

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Pasadena Police Arrest 911 Caller After Unarmed Suspect Is Killed

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LOS ANGELES — On a 911 call to the Pasadena police Saturday night, the caller said two young black men had put a gun in his face and had stolen his backpack.

By IAN LOVETT

Published: March 29, 2012

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Ricardo Dearatanha/Los Angeles Times, via Associated Press

Phillip L. Sanchez, the Pasadena police chief, at a news conference.

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When officers responded to the scene, they shot Kendrec McDade, a 19-year-old black man from the nearby city of Azusa, who died of his injuries at a local hospital.

But on Wednesday, the Pasadena police announced that they had arrested the man who made the 911 call, Oscar Carrillo, on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, because he lied to the police about the suspect being armed.

Lt. Phlunte Riddle said the police now believe that neither Mr. McDade nor his 17-year-old companion was armed. But when officers saw Mr. McDade reach for his waistband, she said, they believed that he was armed and that "their lives were in jeopardy."

"Mr. Carrillo is partly responsible for creating that situation," Lieutenant Riddle said.

Mr. McDade’s killing, less than a month after the fatal shooting of the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, has stoked racial tensions in Pasadena, the city east of Los Angeles known for its annual Rose Parade. Local black leaders said the event highlights the need for reforms in the Pasadena Police Department, and have called for the Department of Justice to investigate.

"With African-American teens, the perception is that they are all gangbangers, or they are all packing," said Joe Brown, president of the Pasadena chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. "It does increase the instances of shoot-to-kill with law enforcement, and Pasadena is no exception."

Lieutenant Riddle said Mr. McDade was running from the officers when they saw him reach for his waistband. Believing he was armed, both officers discharged their weapons from "very close proximity."

Another officer arrested the 17-year-old, who admitted they had stolen the backpack, Lieutenant Riddle said. The teenager, whose name has not been released by the police, has since been charged with burglary, grand theft and failure to register as a gang member, a condition of his parole, the police said.

But after days of searching without success for the guns, police reinterviewed Mr. Carrillo, who admitted that he had lied to officers about the weapons in hope that they would respond faster.

A lawyer for Mr. McDade’s parents, Caree Harper, said that the account her clients have gotten from the police since the shooting has been inconsistent. First, she said, the chief told them that the officers had fired 10 bullets. Then he revised the number to 8, Ms. Harper said.

She demanded that a full account of the shooting be made public, and said her clients had not ruled out a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

The Pasadena police have asked the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Office of Independent Review to investigate Mr. McDade’s shooting.

The shooting is not the first time in recent years that Pasadena police officers have had to answer questions about the shooting of a black man. In 2009, after the police fatally shot Leroy Barnes Jr. during a traffic stop, the department said it would carry out major changes that had been recommended by the Office of Independent Review.

Lieutenant Riddle said the department had already put those recommendations into effect.

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Floridas New Election Law Blunts Voter Drives

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Florida , which is expected to be a vital swing state once again in this year’s presidential election, is enrolling fewer new voters than it did four years ago as prominent civic organizations have suspended registration drives because of what they describe as onerous restrictions imposed last year by Republican state officials.

By MICHAEL COOPER and JO CRAVEN McGINTY

Published: March 27, 2012

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The League of Women Voters of Seminole County held a luncheon last week on Florida's new voter registration laws.

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Sabu Williams and Naomi L. Hardison of the N.A.A.C.P., have met with frustration in their efforts to register voters in Florida.

The state’s new elections law — which requires groups that register voters to turn in completed forms within 48 hours or risk fines, among other things — has led the state’s League of Women Voters to halt its efforts this year. Rock the Vote , a national organization that encourages young people to vote, began an effort last week to register high school students around the nation — but not in Florida, over fears that teachers could face fines. And on college campuses, the once-ubiquitous folding tables piled high with voter registration forms are now a rarer sight.

Florida, which reminded the nation of the importance of every vote in the disputed presidential election in 2000 when it reported that George W. Bush had won by 537 votes, is now seeing a significant drop-off in new voter registrations. In the months since its new law took effect in July, 81,471 fewer Floridians have registered to vote than during the same period before the 2008 presidential election, according to an analysis of registration data by The New York Times. All told, there are 11.3 million voters registered in the state.

It is difficult to say just how much of the decrease is due to the restrictions in the law, and how much to demographic changes, a lack of enthusiasm about politics or other circumstances, including the fact that there was no competitive Democratic presidential primary this year. But new registrations dropped sharply in some areas where the voting-age population has been growing, the analysis found, including Miami-Dade County, where they fell by 39 percent, and Orange County, where they fell by a little more than a fifth. Some local elections officials said that the lack of registration drives by outside groups has been a factor in the decline.

In Volusia County, where new registrations dropped by nearly a fifth compared with the same period four years ago, the supervisor of elections, Ann McFall, said that she attributed much of the change to the new law. "The drop-off is our League of Women Voters, our five universities in Volusia County, none of which are making a concentrated effort this year," Ms. McFall said.

Florida’s law — which is being challenged in court by civic groups and, in counties covered by the Voting Rights Act , the Justice Department — is one of more than a dozen that states have passed in recent years that have made it harder to vote by requiring voters to show photo identification at polls, reducing early voting periods or making it more difficult to register.

Republicans, who have passed nearly all of the new voting laws, say the restrictions are needed to prevent fraud. Democrats note that such fraud almost never happens, and say that the laws will make it harder for young people and members of minorities, who tend to support Democrats, to vote.

Chris Cate, the communications director for Florida’s Department of State, which oversees the state’s Division of Elections, questioned how much of the decline in registrations should be attributed to the new law, noting that four years ago Floridians were registering to vote in both Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, and gearing up for a constitutional amendment about property taxes, which generated interest and enthusiasm. "To suggest the new elections law had a greater impact on voter registration than the election ballot itself is a leap of logic," Mr. Cate said.

The law in Florida, which was passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, also reduces the number of early voting days in the state. While the effects of those changes may not be seen until the fall, the new restrictions on voter registrations are already being felt — as Sabu L. Williams, the president of the Okaloosa County Branch of the N.A.A.C.P., discovered this year when he registered some voters during the Martin Luther King’s Birthday weekend.

Mr. Williams’s group registered two voters on the Sunday of the three-day weekend, and noted the time, as required by the law: 2:15 p.m. and 2:20 p.m. When the local elections office reopened on Tuesday, Jan. 17, the group handed the forms in. They were stamped as received at 3:53 p.m.

This resulted in a warning letter from Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning, who noted that the state can levy fines of $50 for each late application, with an annual cap of $1,000 in fines per group. "In your case, although the supervisor’s office was closed on Monday, Jan. 16, the 48-hour period ended for the two applications on Jan. 17 at 2:15 p.m. and 2:20 p.m.; therefore, the applications were untimely under the law," Mr. Browning wrote. The letter said that "any future violation of the third-party voter registration law may result in my referral of the matter to the attorney general for an enforcement action."

Mr. Williams said he could not believe it. "We’re out here trying to register voters, and I’m being threatened for doing it because we missed the time limit by around an hour — and we’re doing it on the first business day they were open!" he said. But he vowed to continue registering voters.

Mr. Cate, the spokesman for the Department of State, said the letter was meant to inform Mr. Williams of the law, which he said was a typical response when the state believed that someone had been unaware of the law and violated it unintentionally. Deirdre Macnab, the president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, filed suit with other civic groups to overturn the law. "Basically our volunteers, after 72 years of registering voters problem-free, would now need an attorney on one hand and a secretary on the other to even attempt to navigate these new laws," said Ms. Macnab, whose organization has sued the state over past restrictions.

Several states place restrictions on groups that register voters. The law in Florida, which is among the strictest in the nation, is similar to one New Mexico passed in 2005, which also imposes penalties for failing to meet a 48-hour deadline for handing in forms. Civic groups challenged the New Mexico law in court and lost. Since the law passed, census data shows , the percentage of New Mexicans who are registered has fallen.

Lee Rowland, a lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice, one of the groups handling the lawsuit for the civic organizations, said they were challenging the Florida law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that speaking to voters and registering them is protected speech. The state took issue with what it called the "pervasive sky-is-falling hyperbole" of the civic groups, and said that the law was intended to make sure voters had their registrations handed in quickly and that outside groups did not overwhelm local elections officials by delivering piles of registration forms all at once.

Last Friday, on the anniversary of the passage of the 26th Amendment, which gave 18-year-olds the right to vote, Rock the Vote opened its national program to educate and register high school students, though not in Florida. "It’s a real shame," said Heather Smith, the president of Rock the Vote , which joined the lawsuit. "We just cannot put those high school teachers at risk."

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 29, 2012

A picture caption on Wednesday with the continuation of an article about voter registration groups that have curbed their efforts in Florida because of new restrictions in elections laws there misidentified one of the women shown at a luncheon, second from the right. She is Jean Walker, a board member for the League of Women Voters of Seminole County — not Deirdre Macnab, the president of the League of Women Voters of Florida.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 27, 2012

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to a constitutional amendment Florida voters were gearing up for in 2008. The amendment had to do with property taxes and not defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

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Costumes Fight for Life, Too

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Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in 'The Hunger Games.' More Photos »

By JACOB BERNSTEIN

Published: April 6, 2012

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In "The Hunger Games," Jennifer Lawrence plays a young woman named Katniss Everdeen who winds up as a contestant on a reality show where the difference between winning and losing is life and death.

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'Hunger Games' Fashion Fails to Impress Some Style Insiders

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Fashion plays a grave role, too.

Early on, a gold-eyeliner-wearing stylist played by Lenny Kravitz stresses the importance of appearance, telling Katniss that he's not there just to make her look pretty, but "unforgettable." Stanley Tucci, who portrays the blue-haired host of the televised games, looks like a cross between Karl Lagerfeld and Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy. And Elizabeth Banks plays Effie Trinket, one of Katniss's handlers, whose pink wigs, pointy shoes and outré outfits made her a style icon with readers of Suzanne Collins's novel, on which the movie is based.

But so far, fashion types have not been overly impressed with the movie, at least as far as the clothing is concerned.

The costumes "looked cheaply made," said Joshua Jordan, a fashion photographer who has done campaigns for Anna Sui and Neiman Marcus. "You wanted it to bring you to an evil Thierry Mugler place, and it didn't. It has nothing on the fashion business."

Olivier Van Doorne , the head of SelectNY, a fashion advertising firm that makes commercials for brands like Emporio Armani and Tommy Hilfiger, agreed. While he liked the film, he said he found the outfits "ridiculous." " 'Blade Runner' gave a vision of the future you'd never seen before," he said. "With this, there's nothing new. It looks like a lot of recycling stuff Jean Paul Gaultier had done before."

Comparisons to "Blade Runner" were brought up repeatedly. Released in 1982, Ridley Scott's adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" took a similarly bleak view of the future, suggesting that technology and government would metastasize into something uncontrollable. With its sheer plastic raincoats, metallic dog collars and '80s power suits with Grace Jones-like shoulder padding, the movie became a reference point for designers the world over.

Judging by reactions from the fashion set, "The Hunger Games" won't have the same stylistic influence. Sally Hershberger , the celebrity hairstylist and frequent collaborator with the photographer Annie Leibovitz, also invoked the 1982 sci-fi epic as the yardstick against which the newer sci-fi film had failed.

As she saw it, the on-screen outfits looked "clownish," like things you would see at a "costume party in Venice." "It's not a 'Blade Runner' moment," Ms. Hershberger said. "This is not a fashion film. It looks too cheap."

Lorenzo Martone , Marc Jacobs's ex-boyfriend and a marketing strategist, said he didn't find anything in "The Hunger Games" particularly groundbreaking. "I think they spent a lot of money but I don't know if it was money well spent," he said. "It just seemed like a tuneup of things we already have today." Basically, he said, "I thought, 'All this effort, and this is what the future looks like?' "

Paul Wilmot , the public relations guru who has worked for designers like Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein, simply called the film's costumes "hideola." (This did not appear to be a compliment.)

Still, some fashion designers had kinder things to say. The film's costume designer, Judianna Makovsky , after all, cited Elsa Schiaparelli and Marie Antoinette as sartorial references, and called in outrageous Gaga-esque Alexander McQueen shoes for the movie.

Lionsgate, the studio behind "The Hunger Games," started a Tumblr feed, Capitol Couture , devoted to the movie's looks, with particular attention paid to those worn by Ms. Banks's character, who bears a striking resemblance to Anna Piaggi, the eccentric Italian fashion maven, with fluorescent headpieces, turquoise eyeliner and fingerless lace gloves.

Alexis Bittar , the jewelry designer, said, "I just saw it and loved it." The costumes, particularly those worn by Ms. Banks and Mr. Tucci, he said, were "tacky" and "over the top," but that seemed intentional.

As he pointed out, in a totalitarian state where the rich commit all sorts of atrocities on the poor (including forcing them to fight for their lives on a show that resembles "American Idol") it would not exactly make sense if you walked away envying the villains for their outfits.

"It would have been too much," he said. "The total contrast worked."

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The Best Nanny Money Can Buy

Published: April 6, 2012

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How often is it the case that one parent (usually the mother, but there is a small group of fathers in this category) gives up a high-paying job to take care of children, particularly preschool-age children? In those cases, the household is "paying" for their services in the form of what economists call an opportunity cost. In this case, it is the loss of the salary of the parent staying at home. If that parent would have earned $50,000 to $100,000-plus a year, that means your internal nanny service (i.e., the parent) is as extravagant an expense as an Upper West Side counterpart.

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JOSHUA GANS,
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Clearly basic supply and demand are in effect here, and these women are earning exactly what they should be, with merit and qualifications taken into account. Working 24 hours a day, living on the premises, doing everything for the children, including teaching them, etc.? It looks as if we're finding out what the economic value of the mother of the household is — at a minimum, since this is the amount the family is willing to pay to offload that work to another person. Still surprised that it costs a lot?

DEREK SIEBERT,
Iowa City, posted on nytimes.com

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Social sciences schools struggle to attract students

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VietNamNet Bridge – The number of students registering to follow social science study branches has been decreasing dramatically. Therefore, social sciences schools have to offer a lot of preferences to rescue themselves and avoid the risk of closing schools.

Social sciences cannot attract students

There have been no official statistics about the numbers of students registering to attend university entrance exams. However, the reports by high schools all show that most students want to follow economics study branches, while the percentage of students, choosing social sciences, is very low.

According to Saigon giai phong newspaper, the majority of the students of Nguyen Truong To High School in Hanoi registered to attend A-group exams (mathematics, physics and chemistry). Only 5-10 percent of students have registered to attend A1 exams (mathematics, physics and foreign languages). Especially, only several students intend to follow social science studies and attend C-group exams (literature, history and geography).

Meanwhile, only 5 or 6 students of Nguyen Tat Thanh and Le Quy Don High Schools have registered to attend C-group exams.

Meanwhile, Giao duc Thoi dai newspaper reported that in 2011, only 6.4 percent of students attended the C-group exams. As the number of examinees has dropped dramatically, a lot of social science schools have to lower their requirements on students, or seek learners from the students, who fail the exams to other study branches. However, despite the efforts, the schools still cannot enroll enough students.

In 2011, the Quy Nhon University could find only five students who registered to study educational psychology. As a result, the school had to stop training in the major.

The psychology faculty of the Van Hien University has never enrolled enough students for the last 12 years, though the school only intends to enroll 70 students each year. Meanwhile, the sociology major got 5-7 candidates each year in the last two years.

The HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanity saw the number of students registering to attend the exams to the school dropping from 17,500 in 2008 to 13,000 in 2009 and then to 12,000 in 2010.

According to the Ba Ria – Vung Tau provincial Enrolment Committee, the number of students attending C-group exams in recent years just accounts for 5-7 percent of the total students. In 2011, only 406 registrations to attend C-group exams were submitted, while the figure has been forecast to decrease further in 2012.

Social science schools struggle to survive

Social science schools have been making every effort to attract more students by renovating the curriculums, creating career opportunities for students, and getting more dynamic in seeking students.

In principle, the students, who want to follow university education in social sciences, have to attend C-group exams. However, a lot of schools have announced that they would accept the students who attend A and A1 group exams as well.

The HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanity, for example, has decided to enroll A and A1 group examinees for Philosophy, Geography, Sociology and Library Science study branches.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanity has announced that it would accept A-group examinees for press and linguistics majors.

In thoughts of many people, students would follow social studies only if they are not good at mathematics and foreign languages to attend A or D group exams. However, the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanity has reassured students that the graduates of social science schools have not become jobless as they think.

For example, the students of the International and Oriental Studies faculty of the school spend much time on learning foreign languages, which could be a big advantage for them to look for jobs.

C. V

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Party chief praises Vietnam-Cuba solidarity

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(VOV) - The special solidarity and sincere comradeship between Vietnam and Cuba is a symbol of relations, which have been nurtured for half a century, says Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Party leader's visit lifts relations with Latin America

Mr Trong made this affirmation at a meeting with Cuban and Vietnamese media at the José Martí International Airport on April 8 upon his arrival for an official visit, saying he was pleased to witness the changes in this heroic island nation.

The Party leader said his visit aims to demonstrate Vietnam's great support for Cuba's cause of national defence and socialist development path, under the sound leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba.

He announced that during his visit, the two sides will discuss boosting bilateral cooperation in order to meet the demands of development in their respective countries.

On the same day, Mr Trong paid a floral tribute to President Ho Chi Minh and national hero José Martí at their monuments in Havana, and visited the Nĩco Lopez Higher Political School.

** On the occasion of General Secretary Trong's visit, Juventud Rebelde, a Cuban Youth newspaper, ran an article highlighting Vietnam's successful Renewal (Doi Moi) process, as well as the fruitful relations between Cuba and Vietnam.

The newspaper reviewed Vietnam's achievements during its socio-economic development as well as its dynamic multilateral foreign policy over the past 25 years.

Vietnam has succeeded in reducing the poverty rate to 10.6 percent and becoming one of the world's leading rice and coffee exporters, the article said, adding that the Southeast Asian nation has also been recognized by the international community as an attractive investment destination .

The newspaper also underlined the special friendship and loyalty between the two countries, saying that they have always stood side by side with each other throughout their past struggles for national independence and ongoing construction and development.

It said it believes that the younger generations will uphold the tradition of their predecessors and foster the ties of friendship between both countries.

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