Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Saturday 31 March 2012


TOP NEWS

Obama Finds Oil in Markets Is Sufficient to Sideline Iran

By ANNIE LOWREY
President Obama's determination cleared the way for severe new sanctions intended to slash Iran's oil revenue and press Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

In Afghanistan, Businesses Plan Their Own Exits

By GRAHAM BOWLEY and MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Anxiety is running high in Afghanistan's domestic and international business communities as the Afghan-United States relationship deteriorates and the Western drawdown begins.

U.S. and China Press for Influence in Myanmar

By JANE PERLEZ
As strategically placed Myanmar loosens the grip of dictatorship, each side is doing whatever it can to gain the country's favor.
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"I don't have the energy to take the gun again and start fighting. That's why I am looking for a way out."
ABDUL WASAY MANANI, a butcher who, like many Afghan businessmen, is plotting his own exit strategy for when American forces pull out.

U.S.
An inmate at Pelican Bay prison in California had his hands shackled before his cell door was opened.

Slide Show: A Legacy of Solitary

California has for decades used long-term solitary confinement as a way to combat the gang violence in its overcrowded prisons. But the state is now proposing changes in its policy that could decrease the use of isolation.
Opinion
Op-Ed Contributor

Taking Responsibility for Death

More Americans should take the initiative to spell out what treatments they do - and do not - want by writing living wills and appointing health care proxies.
WORLD

Militia Member Drugs and Kills Afghan Colleagues

By FAROOQ JAN MANGAL and MATTHEW ROSENBERG
A member of an Afghan militia promoted by the American military to protect rural villages drugged his colleagues and killed at least nine of them as they slept on Friday, the police chief of Paktika said.

Pressed on All Sides, Leader of Coup in Mali Digs In

By ADAM NOSSITER
Mali's new Constitution makes Amadou Haya Sanogo the supreme boss and wipes out Parliament, and the opposition is being harassed. Yet nothing is settled.

Disabled Britons Say Changes to Aid Endanger Them

By SARAH LYALL
Prime Minister David Cameron's new get-tough policy has left his coalition government in conflict with thousands of ill and disabled Britons.
U.S.

Fighting a Drawn-Out Battle Against Solitary Confinement

By ERICA GOODE
California is proposing changes in its efforts against gang violence that could decrease the use of long-term segregation.

Speak Up? Raise Your Hand? That May No Longer Be Necessary

By JAN HOFFMAN
The use of clickers has spread from classroom pop quizzes to corporate presentations and church sermons, as efforts increase to encourage participation and gauge opinions.

Tale of Love and Illness Ends in Deaths

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
After six decades of marriage and his wife's decline, the author of a poignant essay killed himself and her, too.
BUSINESS

Warned of an Attack on the Internet, and Getting Ready

By SOMINI SENGUPTA
The largely unseen forces that keep the Internet running have fortified crucial parts of it after learning of plans for an attack by Anonymous on the Domain Name System.

A Health Law at Risk Gives Insurers Pause

By REED ABELSON and KATIE THOMAS
Policy experts and others are weighing the repercussions of the Supreme Court possibly striking down the entire health care law passed in 2010.

Chinese Company and Employee Deny Any Involvement in Hacking Attacks

By DAVID BARBOZA
After being accused of attacks across several countries, Tencent, a Chinese Internet company, and one of its employees suggested that his identity may have been confused with someone else's.
SPORTS
Hawks 100, Knicks 90

Anthony Is Hurt Late and Knicks Fade Fast

By RAY GLIER
As Jeremy Lin continued to rest his sore left knee, Carmelo Anthony hurt his groin in the fourth quarter of the Knicks' loss to Atlanta on Friday night.

Backup to Starter to Phenomenon. Repeat.

By SAM BORDEN
The immense interest in Tim Tebow started when he was a home-schooled student who helped turned around his high school football team.

Saints Coach Files Appeal of Suspension; Decision Is Expected Soon

By JUDY BATTISTA
Sean Payton is scheduled to begin a one-year suspension Sunday for his role in the team's bounty system, but he will be allowed to keep working while the decision is being reached.
ARTS
Television Review | 'Great Expectations'

Another Feast for the Jilted Bride

By MIKE HALE
The next Masterpiece Classic entry on PBS, "Great Expectations," is a BBC production starring Gillian Anderson, as Miss Havisham, and Ray Winstone, as Magwitch.

2 Families Tangle Over Diamonds

By PATRICIA COHEN
The fate of the Aurora Pyramid of Hope, a rare collection of 295 naturally colored diamonds that has been exhibited in prestigious museums, is being decided in Surrogate's Court in the Bronx.
Video Game Review

Saving a Dynasty From Enemies Both Familiar and Not

By SETH SCHIESEL
In Crusader Kings II, players aim to build an enduring legacy through centuries of conquest and intrigue.
TRAVEL

Rockers At Sea

By JOE LEVY
Festivals on the waves give music fans a chance to lean on the rails with idols like Kid Rock and Weezer.

Studio Tour Casts Spells Just Like Harry

By SARAH LYALL
A mostly self-guided tour is now available at two vast Warner Bros. sound studios on the Leavesden Studios lot, about 20 miles northwest of London, where the Harry Potter movies were filmed.

36 Hours: Cologne, Germany

By EVAN RAIL
After crossing off bucket-list items like exploring the cathedral and crawling through legendary Kölsch pubs, focus on the city's new shops, restaurants and hotels.
EDITORIALS
Editorial

Big Oil's Bogus Campaign

As the industry spends heavily and blames President Obama for rising gas prices, Congress continues to refuse to end unnecessary tax breaks.
Editorial

Gov. Cuomo Budgets His Way

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is celebrating the on-time completion of a new state budget, but he broke a key campaign promise.
Editorial

Leading the World Bank

President Obama's nomination of Jim Yong Kim to head the World Bank is an inspired choice, but other candidates should be considered.
OP-ED
Op-Ed Columnist

Time to Elect the Worst Idea

By GAIL COLLINS
Get ready, people. A new-generation movement is ready to fill the most powerful job on the globe, "Project Runway"-style.
Op-Ed Columnist

Orwell and March Madness

By JOE NOCERA
Propaganda and hypocrisy reign this weekend at the Final Four. Who knew the whole thing was about great graduation rates?
Opinionator

Groucho Lives! (In Two Places)

By DICK CAVETT
An appreciation of the great comedian's manifest skill as a writer.
ON THIS DAY
On March 31, 1968, President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not run for another term of office.