Long Island Dining | New Hyde Park

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A Festive Setting, Indoors and Out

A Review of K. Pacho, in New Hyde Park

Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times

ATMOSPHERE The main dining room at K. Pacho features a chandelier, Persian rugs and red lighting.

By JOANNE STARKEY

Published: April 6, 2012

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AS restaurant transformations go, it was a quick one: After Two Steak and Sushi Den, an expensive, well-regarded steakhouse in New Hyde Park, closed its doors on Jan. 1, the establishment reopened on Feb. 10 as K. Pacho , a rustic, casual Mexican spot with lower prices. The owners — Jay Grossman, John Guirguis and Ray Sidhom, who also run Four Food Studio in Melville — are the same, as is the executive chef, James McDevitt.

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Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times

MEXICAN The sea bass Veracruz, served over chorizo rice.

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Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times

K. Pacho opened in February in the space once occupied by Two Steak and Sushi Den.

Josh Cook, a manager, speaking by telephone after my visits, described the restaurant as "casual, approachable and fun, with fun the primary word." It certainly describes the place, especially on Sundays, when there is live mariachi music.

K. Pacho has lots of atmosphere, starting with a gargoyle statue bathed in red light at the entrance. It features a huge bar with plenty of lounge areas, four high tables with booth seating and three long, communal tables. The main dining room has wooden rafters strung with red lights, distressed-wood tables and wooden chairs. A crystal chandelier and a few Persian rugs are elegant touches. The unisex bathroom has a circular banquette in the center.

In a second dining room called the Back Room, open on Friday and Saturday nights, family-style meals are served for groups of six or more at $49 a person, including sangria.

The service has its rough spots. On my first visit, one of my tablemates, getting into the spirit of the place, offered to buy a round of margaritas. When our waiter heard that three people would indulge, he suggested a pitcher. It was a bum steer: we didn't make a dent in it and nearly fainted when we got a bill for $58. (Neither the pitcher nor its price was listed on the beverage menu.) The same night, a diner drinking cola received a refill without asking for it and later found it listed on the bill. The waiter apologized, said it was a mistake and removed it.

We started the meal with guacamole, which was not made at tableside and was not customized for us. It was way too spicy for three of the four people in our group. The accompanying house-made chips were great, however: thin, crisp and warm.

The salads were huge, made for sharing. We liked the spinach salad, with its red onion, orange segments, cubes of crunchy jicama and warm chorizo vinaigrette. Strangely, there was more romaine in the salad than spinach, even though the lettuce was not mentioned on the menu. The avocado Caesar salad was a disappointment. I had hoped for chunks of avocado; instead it contained avocado purée, which diluted an already bland dressing.

We gave high marks to an appetizer of crispy calamari garnished with coriander and mango, resting on swirls of chili aioli. Another opener, retro-style tacos (the kind you grew up with), featuring ground beef, shredded cheese and lettuce, arrived without the advertised sour cream. We had to request it and were glad we did: it improved the dish, as did the salsa the waitress brought along with it. The quesadillas were standard fare.

The entree-size tacos featured slow-roasted pork, crispy bass or braised short ribs. We tried the fish tacos topped with spicy cabbage slaw and liked them: they were crunchy and tasty. We had a choice of soft tortillas or hard corn shells, and we ordered the hard shells; the current menu offers only the soft tortillas.

Some other good entrees were creamy white sea bass Veracruz with roasted tomatoes, olives and capers set on a bed of tasty chorizo rice, and red chili pollo with tender chicken under a mantle of red chili sauce.

The menu highlighted a barbecue platter called Mexi-Q, served to two or more people at $24.95 a person. It had its ups (succulent, crisp-skinned roasted chicken, delicious grilled jumbo shrimp and tender baby back ribs) and downs (dry, tough sliced sirloin steak and grilled, out-of-season corn).

I would not suggest going to the Back Room for the family-style meal. Though we didn't try it, it contains most of the dishes that disappointed: the guacamole, the bland avocado Caesar salad and the mixed-bag Mexi-Q.

The desserts were wonderful. The best was a chocolate tortilla pudding served warm, starring milk chocolate, brown sugar and caramelized bananas with vanilla ice cream on the side. The flan was silky smooth and the coconut tres leches cake buttery and moist.

There were a few duds on the menu and an equal number of service flaws, but there was still enough good food and drink at K. Pacho to set a festive mood. One night, some patrons kept their party going even after they left, singing and dancing in the parking lot.

K. Pacho Cocina and Tequila

1270 Union Turnpike
New Hyde Park
(516) 358-2222
kpacho.com

WORTH IT

THE SPACE Large, spirited, atmospheric Mexican restaurant seating around 230 people in two rooms and the bar. Complete wheelchair access.

THE CROWD Young and animated, with lots of big groups. Some children, especially on Sunday. Service was uneven.

THE BAR Long bar with 15 stools, two lounge areas with banquette seating and low tables, and a third seating area surrounding a fireplace. Full bar. About 90 tequilas, ranging from $5 to $75; 18 beers, including a dozen from Mexico ($5 to $25); no wines by the bottle, but nine by the glass ($7 to $9), and sangria ($8 a glass, $28 a pitcher).

THE BILL Dinner entrees, $17 to $29, with a family-style meal served in the Back Room for $49 a person, including sangria. Most appetizers are priced in the teens. Prices are a bit high for this type of restaurant. American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover are accepted.

WHAT WE LIKED Crispy calamari, spinach salad, sea bass Veracruz, red chili pollo, fish tacos, chocolate tortilla pudding, flan, coconut tres leches cake.

IF YOU GO Lunch: Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner: Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. to midnight. Closed Monday. Reservations are taken only for parties of 8 or more.

RATINGS Don't Miss, Worth It, O.K., Don't Bother.

Theo www.nytimes.com

Letters

Kinh Doanh, Be Trap | google education |

Growing the Numbers (2 Letters)

Published: April 9, 2012

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Re " Giving Women the Access Code " (April 3): The American Association of University Women's 2010 research report "Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics" details strategies to help attract and retain more women in these disciplines. They include actively recruiting students, broadening the scope of early coursework to include the wider applications of computer science and exposing students to successful female role models. Strategies like these worked at Harvey Mudd College and can work at other institutions that want to replicate its success. Dr. Maria Klawe should be applauded.

Linda D. Hallman

Washington

The writer is executive director, American Association of University Women.

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To the Editor:

Harvey Mudd has seen a commendable increase in the number of female computer scie

nce majors. Yet students there already intend to major in science or engineering. Having more CS majors is important, but increasingly every field is using computing. We must continue to improve outreach to students across disciplines, exposing them to computing at a level appropriate for work they will do in jobs and graduate studies. Valerie Barr

Schenectady, N.Y.

The writer is chairwoman of computer science, Union College.

Science Times welcomes letters from readers. Those submitted for publication must include the writer's name, address and telephone number. E-mail should be sent to scitimes@nytimes.com . Send letters to Science Editor, The New York Times, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018.

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Italys New Bullet Train Aims to Shake Up Euro Travel

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Italy will launch Europe"s first private high-speed train service Saturday, as the country moves towards a more liberal economy.  The move could lead other European countries to follow Italy"s example of privatizing rail transport and creating new jobs and competition in the marketplace.

The new bullet-shaped "Italo" trains can travel at a top speed of 360 kilometers per hour.  They are run by NTV, a company headed by Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, which invested $1.3 billion.

He says the real achievement was having brought about liberalization in Italian rail transportation.

"At last, Italian citizens and foreign travelers will be able to choose, and one of the longest monopolies in our country has come to an end," said Montezemolo.

Montezemolo says passengers would benefit from the competition.  He adds that the aim is to take a quarter of the market from the state rail network Trenitalia, the biggest employer in the country, by 2014.

Transport experts say despite the difficult economic times, the new train could be a positive development.

"We are still the second manufacturing system in Europe after Germany and I think what is happening in the railway system is an example of the strength of the industrial system," noted Professor Matteo Caroli at LUISS university in Rome.  "We have basically financial problems, like other European countries, but the competitiveness of our companies is strong."

The project is one example of the new ambitions for Italy's economy, the eurozone's third largest, under Prime Minister Mario Monti.  Monti has been working to shake up a sluggish economy heavily influenced by protectionist traditions.

NTV's fleet will consist of 25 trains that are being supplied by French multinational Alstom.

"This train is the fourth generation of train for Alstom.  So, it's really at the top, and there is no other technology in the world like this one," said Alstom Managing Director Pierre-Louis Bertina.

The trains boast sleek interiors with leather seats, large panoramic windows and a cinema car.  There will be three different classes of travel allowing passengers to choose what best suits their needs and how much they want to spend.  NTV's Giuseppe Bonollo says the quality of the service is the real distinguishing point.

"High technology inside, Wi-Fi connectivity to Internet, free for all travelers and on top of that - this really is a world premiere - the possibility through the laptop to access to satellite direct TV connection," Bonollo explained.

At Rome's Termini station, many travelers were looking forward to the launch of the new high-speed train.

Italo is adopting an aggressive pricing policy, with discounted fares for advance reservations. In the meantime, the state-owned rail network has already lowered its ticket prices and improved its service.

Other European nations will be watching carefully to see whether it is in their interest to follow the Italian example.

Theo www.voanews.com

Defiant Pakistans PM Refuses to Resign

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Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is refusing to step down, a day after the Supreme Court found him guilty of contempt for not reopening corruption cases against the country"s president.

Photo: Reuters

A supporter of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) holds an image of the Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani as he shouts slogans during a protest against a Supreme Court verdict in Karachi, April 26, 2012.

During a speech in parliament Friday, Gilani said his only crime was "protecting the constitution." He said only parliament has the authority to remove him from office, telling lawmakers he is an elected prime minister, representing Pakistan's 180 million people. Gilani challenged opposition lawmakers to bring a no-confidence vote against him.

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the prime minister only a symbolic sentence of less than a minute's detention, sparing him a possible jail term of up to six months. His lawyer says the conviction will be appealed.

The court ruling triggered an immediate debate about Gilani's status as prime minister. Legal experts say the fact that he was sentenced to a prison term, even for less than a minute, makes him ineligible to sit in parliament for the next five years.

The parliamentary speaker and election commission must now decide whether Gilani can be dismissed as a lawmaker, and thus as prime minister. On Friday, he urged the speaker, who is a fellow member of the Pakistan People's Party, to "apply your own mind" in the case.

Opposition leaders, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, called on Gilani to step down, saying they will no longer accept him as the country's prime minister.

Thursday's guilty verdict is the latest development in what has been an ongoing battle between the court and the prime minister over the status of corruption cases dating back to the 1990s.

Prosecutors accuse President Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and others of laundering millions of dollars through Swiss bank accounts. Bhutto, President Zardari's wife, was assassinated in 2007.

Charges against Zardari and the others were dropped after a 2007 amnesty agreement, but the court struck down the deal in 2009 and has been battling to reopen the cases ever since.

Prime Minister Gilani had refused to cooperate, arguing instead that the president has legal immunity while in office and that reopening the cases would be unconstitutional.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Theo www.voanews.com

New UN observers chief arrives in Syria

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Major General Robert Mood of Norway (R) arrives in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 29, 2012 ( Image: Xinhua )

Upon arrival at Damascus international airport, Mood expressed his most sincere condolences to all Syrian families who have lost loved ones during violence.

Mood said the team has now 30 observers and the number will double within the coming days, and will reach 300 later. However, observers' spokesman Neeraj Singh stressed that the number on ground is now still 15 not 30.

Meanwhile, Mood said the focus of his mission is to engage all parties to achieve successful Kofi Annan's plan.

Mood said the observers will come from many nations, but added that they alone cannot solve all the problems, calling for help and co-operation from all parties in such a challenging task.

On Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Mood as the Chief Military Observer and Head of Mission of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), according to Ban's spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey.

UNSMIS is a mission consisting of up to 300 military observers, assigned by the UN Security Council with the task of monitoring a cease-fire between the Syrian government and the opposition forces.

( Xinhua )

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DRC Prime Minister Unveils Smaller Government

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The new prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Matata Ponyo Mapon, has named the ministers who make up his new government. Political observers say the new team contains more technocrats and fewer politicians, but also does not include any members of the opposition.

Photo: AFP

Democratic Republic of Congo's newly-appointed Prime Minister Matata Ponyo Mapon (R) talks surrounded by his cabinet ministers during a press point at the Finance ministry in Kinshasa, DRC, April 19, 2012.

When he was appointed by President Joseph Kabila last week, Ponyo promised not to have a jumbo-sized government. He followed through on his pledge, naming a government with 36 ministers compared to more than 60 in the previous administration.

Only seven members of the previous government retained their posts. And, in a notable change, this Cabinet includes fewer heads of political parties and others who have made a name for themselves in politics. Many of the new ministers are unknown to the public, and  likely have been chosen for their technical and managerial experience.

A political analyst at the University of Kinshasa, professor Philippe Buyoya said that having fewer heads of political parties means ministers can concentrate more on running the country, rather than internal politics.

He said the choice of ministers shows that the president wants to have an administration that will govern, rather than just distribute the fruits of victory in the elections.

However, Buyoya notes that the new government is less politically diverse than the old one.

He said that compared with the previous government of Antoine Gizenga and Adolphe Muzito, this one is essentially a government of the ruling party, with other parties as allies but dominated by the ruling party, the PPRD.

Jean Claude Katende heads of one of Congo's leading human rights organizations, ASADHO [African Association for the Defense of Human Rights]. He said he is disappointed that the new government is not more inclusive.

He said his organization is concerned that there are no members of the opposition in the new government, as the president appeared to have promised when he was sworn into office. Katende said that after the controversy surrounding the last elections, he thought it was necessary to include some opposition members in government.

Kabila won re-election in November but his challengers rejected the results, and observers noted significant disarray during the vote-counting process. The U.S.-based Carter Center suggested the true results of the parliamentary elections may never be known.

Over the weekend, Congo's Supreme Court announced the final results of its investigations following legal challenges to the election results.  After ruling on Wednesday that 32 members of parliament were not rightfully elected, the court confirmed the elections of the other MPs.

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Kenya Cattle Benefit from Mobile Service iCow

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Cattle rearing is a tricky business.  Miss a day when a cow is in heat, and your herd doesn"t expand.  Have the wrong (or no) market information and you may lose money when selling off your cattle or its products.  To make cattle rearing predictable and profitable, farmer and entrepreneur Su Kahumbu created iCow, a mobile phone service that gives a myriad of information and advice to cattle farmers.

Mutige is three months' pregnant.  Her owner, Michael Ruchu, is delighted, predicting that his cow's offspring will produce up to 25 liters of milk each day.

"Its father was a very good bull, and I am expecting Mutige to give me a very good heifer," says Ruchu.

Mutige was inseminated artificially, using key information from a mobile phone service called iCow.  Ruchu's three goats are also registered with iCow.

Ruchu, whose one-hectare farm is about an hour outside Nairobi, gets regular advice from the mobile phone service.  The iCow team has a file on Mutige.  They keep track of all stages of the pregnancy, texting instructions on what to do at what time.

"OK, we'll take the cow calendar, which is conventionally two discs that sit in a card. When your cow is impregnated, you line up certain things on the disc and it will tell you when you need to do your pregnancy diagnostic test, when to need to start milking her if she is a lactating animal, when you look and see if she is coming on heat, etc. I said, 'we can digitize that into a telephone system so that farmers that do not have access to this, we can actually send them information," iCow creator and farmer Su Kahumbu explains.

Kahumbu launched iCow last year aiming to help small-scale farmers via texts, or SMSs, delivered via mobile telephone.

"Farmers sign up to a three, SMS-a-week system with their authority once they have registered," Kahumbu adds.  "We then send them information on good practices around feed, nutrition, animal health care, calf care, etc."

It is also an effective networking tool, as farmer Michael Ruchu discovered.

"Some people who are staying at Nairobi, through iCow, they just called me in my telephone number asking me whether I can supply them - they have seen me somewhere, and they took that number from iCow informing me, 'You are selling goat milk?' I told them, 'Yes, I do sell.' [And they said] 'Oh, we want some liters of goat milk," Ruchu notes.

Kahumbu says a survey conducted seven months after iCow's launch showed that 42 percent of farmers on the system reported earning higher incomes as a result of more information.

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Best works from Rong Tre Cup showcased in Hanoi

Kinh Doanh, Be Trap | columbia university summer school |

PANO - More than 400 best drawings of the third Vietnam Press Cartoon Contest–Rong Tre Cup (Bamboo Dragon Cup), "Environment and ecological change", were put on display at a week-long exhibition at 61 Ly Thai To, Hanoi, on March 28th.

PANO - More than 400 best drawings of the third Vietnam Press Cartoon Contest–Rong Tre Cup (Bamboo Dragon Cup), "Environment and ecological change", were put on display at a week-long exhibition at 61 Ly Thai To, Hanoi, on March 28 th .

Launched in November 2011 by the Sports and Culture Newspaper, under Vietnam News Agency, to mark the 85 th anniversary of Vietnam Press Cartoon, the 3 rd contest attracted the participation of 100 amateur and professional cartoonists with many unique drawings reflecting recent urgent problems, such as climate change and rising sea level that are affecting the life of 22 million Vietnamese.

The first prize went to the painting, "Upside Down Jigsaw", by artist Tran Hai Nam, who drew a picture of a one-horned rhino jigsaw with a piece placed upside down. Through the painting, Nam wants to send a message, "After rhino, which animal will be at risk of extinction", to visitors to remind them of the extinction of rhino. The second prizes were presented to Ha Xuan Nong with the painting, "Black River", and Nguyen Huu Loc with "Fossil Fish".

The contest is regarded as an interesting playground for Vietnamese cartoonists to show their talent, and its success once again affirms the indispensable role of cartoon to Vietnamese fine arts in general, and in press in particular.

Translated by Tran Hoai

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Ukraine, EU Initiate Association Agreement

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Ukraine and the European Union have initiated an association agreement, putting Kyiv one step closer to membership in the bloc.

European officials have referred to Friday's proceeding as a technical measure similar to proofreading the lengthy document, which is the product of five years of negotiations.

The accord must now be translated into more than 20 EU languages and approved by all members before it can move forward, a process that is expected to take months.

The association agreement is not expected to be signed until after Ukraine holds parliamentary elections in October 2012.

EU officials have said they will not sign the document until they see improvements in Ukraine's adherence to the EU's "core values," which include an independent judicial system, free and fair elections and constitutional reform.

The two sides are also at odds over Ukraine's jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for abuse of power. The EU has called for her release, saying the charges against her are politically motivated.

Ms. Tymoshenko is a political rival of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The former prime minister and opposition leader was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail in October for abusing her authority in a 2009 gas deal with Russia that her opponents say was too beneficial to Russia. She denies any wrongdoing, and has described her trial as "a political lynching" aimed at allowing President Yanukovych to rid himself of a political rival.  He denies the accusation.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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The Texas Tribune

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Rural District Is Struggling to Make Improvements

Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune

Superintendent Ernest Singleton, left, and Enrique Ruiz, the principal, at Premont High School, where athletics were suspended.

By MORGAN SMITH

Published: April 7, 2012

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PREMONT — The hallways at this rural town's only high school were deserted on a Tuesday afternoon in January, much to Enrique Ruiz's delight. It meant everyone who had shown up for school that day was in class — a sight that Mr. Ruiz, the school's principal, has learned not to take for granted.

Expanded coverage of Texas is produced by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization. To join the conversation about this article, go to texastribune.org.

Failing Grades

This article is one of a five-part series on failing Texas school districts and their fight to survive.

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Ricky Sanchez, 17, played on the basketball team, a victim of suffering finances.

Getting students to school and keeping them there has become a matter of survival for the 570-student Premont Independent School District, where lagging attendance rates are hurting the district financially and academically. The district received notice in July that it would face closing because of its years of poor academic performance and shoddy finances.

The South Texas district has made drastic moves to improve its finances — including cutting high school sports — and in December the Texas Education Agency granted it another year to reach certain benchmarks and avoid closing. But as Premont I.S.D. struggles to make improvements, critics blame the state's academic accountability and school finance systems, saying they unjustly punish districts that serve largely low-income populations and get meager per-student financing.

"This is a fight that's going to replay itself until school finance is done," said State Representative J. M. Lozano, Republican of Kingsville, who graduated from Premont High in 1998. "More rural communities are going to go through the same thing because they just can't pass those exams."

Premont I.S.D. is one of just two Texas districts facing possible closing this year — the other is North Forest I.S.D in northeast Houston. Located in Jim Wells County, which has struggled with high teen birth and poverty rates, Premont is a primarily Hispanic town of 2,600 sandwiched between the relative hubs of Alice and Falfurrias on Highway 281. Only 32 percent of its ninth-graders passed state standardized tests in math in 2010. Since a mold infestation about two years ago, it has operated without high school science labs.

Premont's troubles are typical of many rural school districts, where enrollment is dwindling and academic performance and finances are suffering.

By failing to trim costs and staff in the wake of declining enrollment — the district has lost about 25 percent of its student population since 2006 — it accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

After the town passed a tax increase in November to help fill the district's coffers, the T.E.A. granted the district another year to meet a set of 11 conditions to avoid closing, including retiring a $400,000 line of credit, restoring the science labs and improving performance on state standardized tests and attendance rates, which had been below 90 percent.

New hope for survival prompted Superintendent Ernest Singleton in January to do something drastic to trim costs: suspend athletics.

The move captured national media attention. In January, in front of 4,000 other school leaders at an educators' conference in Austin, Robert Scott, the state's education commissioner, commended Mr. Singleton's efforts to turn around the district.

But the local response was even more valuable. In March, neighboring school districts announced they would help raise the $100,000 that Premont I.S.D. needs for the labs. At least two corporations that do business in the area — Exxon Mobil and Jetta Operating Company — have contributed $20,000 each to the district, and Mr. Singleton said discussions with other potential donors are in the works. The bank that holds the $400,000 line of credit has agreed to give the district more time to repay the loan.

Premont I.S.D.'s future looks brighter now than it did in December. But Mr. Singleton said there is still much work to do to change the culture of poor academics and truancy. Through his home visits to students on days they missed school, he said, the district has been able to increase its average attendance rate to 92 percent. That is still below its goal of 96 percent, but it is a marked improvement over last year.

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Food Stamps Helped Reduce Poverty Rate, Study Finds

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Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times

People applying for food stamps in Lawrenceville, Ga., in 2009, at the height of the recession.

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Published: April 9, 2012

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WASHINGTON — A new study by the Agriculture Department has found that food stamps, one of the country's largest social safety net programs, reduced the poverty rate substantially during the recent recession . The food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , or SNAP, reduced the poverty rate by nearly 8 percent in 2009, the most recent year included in the study, a significant impact for a social program whose effects often go unnoticed by policy makers.

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The food stamp program is one of the largest antipoverty efforts in the country, serving more than 46 million people. But the extra income it provides is not counted in the government's formal poverty measure, an omission that makes it difficult for officials to see the effects of the policy and get an accurate figure for the number of people beneath the poverty threshold, which was about $22,000 for a family of four in 2009.

"SNAP plays a crucial, but often underappreciated, role in alleviating poverty," said Stacy Dean, an expert on the program with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based research group that focuses on social programs and budget policy.

Enrollment in the food stamp program grew substantially during the recession and immediately after, rising by 45 percent from January of 2009 to January of this year, according to monthly figures on the U.S.D.A. Web site. The stimulus package pushed by President Obama and enacted by Congress significantly boosted funding for the program as a temporary relief for families who had fallen on hard times in the recession.

But the steady rise tapered off in January, when enrollment was down slightly from December, a change in direction that Ms. Dean said could signal that the recovery was having an effect even among poor families.

The program's effects have long been known among poverty researchers, and for Ms. Dean, the most interesting aspect of the report was the political context into which it was released. In a year of elections and rising budget pressures, social programs like food stamps are coming under increased scrutiny from Republican legislators, who argue that they create a kind of entitlement society.

In an e-mail to supporters on Monday, Representative Allen B. West, a Florida Republican, called the increase in food stamp use a "highly disturbing trend." He said that he had noticed a sign outside a gas station in his district over the weekend alerting customers that food stamps were accepted.

"This is not something we should be proud to promote," he said.

Kevin W. Concannon, the under secretary of agriculture for food, nutrition and consumer services, argued that since the changes to the welfare system in the 1990s, the food stamp program was one of the few remaining antipoverty programs that provided benefits with few conditions beyond income level and legal residence.

"The numbers of people on SNAP reflect the economic challenges people are facing across the country," Mr. Concannon said. "Folks who have lost their jobs or are getting fewer hours. These people haven't been invented."

The study, which examined nine years of data , tried to measure the program's effects on people whose incomes remained below the poverty threshold. The program lifted the average poor person's income up about six percent closer to the line over the length of the study, making poverty less severe. When the benefits were included in the income of families with children, the result was that children below the threshold moved about 11 percent closer to the line.

The program had a stronger effect on children because they are more likely to be poor and they make up about half of the program's participants.

"Even if SNAP doesn't have the effect of lifting someone out of poverty, it moves them further up," Mr. Concannon said.

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It Riles a Village

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I WENT to find my aunt Ruth in Judson Church among the disgruntled at a public hearing last month about New York University ’s latest proposal to expand its Greenwich Village campus. It was a couple of weeks before the local community board denounced the proposal outright. A light mist was falling. I climbed the church steps. Beyond the long tables, where children drew with crayons, a bobbing sea of homemade placards demanded, "Flowers Not Towers."

Paul Hoppe

By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN

Published: March 22, 2012

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I had been one of those children at the long tables years ago. This sort of meeting felt like home, in the neighborhood where I had grown up in a cheerful culture of endless protest at a time when N.Y.U. was not yet one of the biggest and most ambitious private universities in the country but still a modest school proudly catering to working New Yorkers like my mother and Ruth.

The storm over NYU 2031 , as this latest expansion proposal is called, has escalated into one of the city’s most acrimonious land-use battles. No wonder. The plan is so clearly oversize that it’s hard not to see it as a stalking horse for what school officials figure they can get permission from the city to build. The proposal envisions constructing some 2.5 million square feet (the rough equivalent of the Empire State Building) over the next 20 years on a pair of superblocks owned by the university below Washington Square Park. The blocks are now dominated by midcentury tower-in-the-park faculty residences called Washington Square Village and University Village.

Common sense and the billions of dollars that the project would cost suggest the university would be hard pressed to build half of what it’s outlining during the next decade or two. The question is which half of NYU 2031 ought to get a go-ahead, if either. The school, meanwhile, is expanding its satellite campus in Brooklyn and its medical center in Midtown. Universities in the city move their campuses from time to time. Columbia did it in the 1890s, quitting Midtown for Morningside Heights. N.Y.U.’s ultimate development may lie beyond the Village. In any case, this latest proposed expansion should not be the start of some new open-ended phase of growth in the neighborhood but the end of it.

What does N.Y.U. want? Urban universities, like hospitals, are engines of civic economies, and the best ones have to keep up with new technologies and expanding programs in a competitive marketplace: they need state-of-the-art facilities to attract top talent. The city has been banking a good part of its future on intellectual capital: Cornell’s prospective campus on Roosevelt Island, Columbia’s in Manhattanville. N.Y.U. contributes to the cultural lifeblood of the Village, adding, among other things, ethnic diversity to an area that celebrates its historic reputation as America’s bohemian capital but is increasingly home for the super rich. The school needs to upgrade and consolidate its core.

And what does the neighborhood need? Among other things, open space, green space. The debate over the development of the two superblocks has turned a fresh spotlight on the underrated urban virtues of Washington Square Village and University Village — examples of how tower-in-the-park architecture, descended from Le Corbusier and widely discredited, can benefit an old neighborhood of brownstones and low-rise loft buildings if the city is dense, healthy and vibrant enough. The task is balancing necessary development with a local ecosystem.

The most radical part of what N.Y.U. wants is to construct two tall, crescent-shaped towers, 400,000 square between them (the architecture is still notional) on the 1.5 acres of open space between the two apartment slabs of Washington Square Village. Beneath that open space, in lieu of the current parking garage, the university wants to dig several floors down to create 770,000 square feet of underground classrooms.

This would entail, among other things, demolishing the raised concrete garden by Hideo Sasaki from 1959 that is one of the country’s earliest parking garage roof structures, beloved by landscape historians, with its boxed crabapples, cherry and willow trees. I used to play in it as a boy. It’s a severe park but peaceful. The Village has notoriously few public refuges, aside from Washington Square Park. This is one of them, though most people don’t even realize it exists.

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Mark Lenzi, Olympic Gold Medalist in Diving, Dies at 43

tructuyen.edu.vn | harvard university |

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Mark Lenzi, who won a gold medal in diving at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, died on Monday in Greenville, N.C. He was 43.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: April 9, 2012

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Tom Strattman/Associated Press

Mark Lenzi, who won in 1992, making the 1996 U.S. team.

His death was announced by his alma mater, Indiana University .

Lenzi's hometown newspaper, The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., said he had been hospitalized for two weeks after having fainting spells. His mother, Ellie, told the newspaper her son's blood pressure was too low.

Lenzi won the three-meter springboard in Barcelona. Four years later, he came out of a brief retirement and won the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Lenzi won 2 N.C.A.A. diving championships and 18 international competitions and was twice named the United States diver of the year. He was the diving coach at East Carolina University from 2009 to '11.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his mother; two brothers; a sister; and his grandmother,

Lenzi started his athletic career as a wrestler. He enjoyed the competition but did not enjoy starving himself to reach the needed weight.

When he decided to give up wrestling in favor of diving after watching it on television, he said, people were upset.

"I don't think anybody believed in me," he said. "My dad wanted me to wrestle because he thought I could get a college scholarship. We argued so bad that I left home for two weeks and stayed with a friend. Then my dad compromised and said I could do both."

Lenzi, though, never wrestled again. When he entered his first diving competition and won, he received five scholarship offers.

"My dad said, 'O.K., you're diving, not wrestling,' " he recalled.

Theo www.nytimes.com

CSR should be part of development strategies

Gamehay | harvard university |

HCMC – Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly caught attention of local enterprises who agree that this voluntary activity should be also treated as part of corporate development strategies, according to a seminar last Friday.

By Dinh Dung - The Saigon Times Daily

Speakers and guests discuss 'corporate social responsibility' held at the White Palace Convention Center in HCMC last Friday - Photo: Kinh Luan

HCMC – Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly caught attention of local enterprises who agree that this voluntary activity should be also treated as part of corporate development strategies, according to a seminar last Friday.

CSR activities have become popular among the local business community and have been continuously growing, said Pham Phu Ngoc Trai, chairman of Global Integration Business Consultants (GIBC), at the seminar co-organized by the Saigon Times Foundation (STF) under the Saigon Times Group and GIBC to mark STF's tenth anniversary.

In many nations, the public has increasingly showed keen interest in responsibilities, duties and transparency of big brands. Recent studies indicated the reputation, business activities and social commitments of producers are decisive factors affecting consumer behaviors.

"CSR is not only a voluntary activity but also an indispensable part to business strategies for the sustainability of a company," said Trai, who also serves as chair of STF Sponsorship Council.

Such thinking has been seen in local firms, with 'Den Dom Dom' by Dutch Lady, 'Six Million Milk Glasses for Vietnamese Children' by Vinamilk and VinaCapital's sponsorship for poor children's heart surgeries.

According to chief executive officer and co-founder Don Lam of VinaCapital, his company annually sets aside VND20-22 billion for health care and education support for poor children. The fund encourages its corporate investors to join social activities as well, he reckoned.

For the community's benefits, STF has actively supported local firms in realizing their social responsibilities via scholarship programs for needy students besides other programs. As of late last year, the non-profit organization financed students nationwide with about VND2.5 billion contributed from enterprises.

Most participants in the seminar shared the view that CSR considerably supported companies in establishing deep-rooted relationships with the society, thus promoting their brands and helping them attract human resources easily.

Ngo Thi Hong Thu, deputy general director of wood processor Truong Thanh Furniture Corporation supposed that enterprises consider CSR their long-term investment. This means they need to pursue CSR activities as part of their own strategies and management rules, she added.

Theo en.baomoi.com

US Urges China to Convince N. Korea to Scrap Missile Launch

NguyenQuangTruong.Name.vn | harvard university |

The Obama administration is urging China to help convince North Korea to abandon its planned ballistic missile launch. There are new concerns that North Korea may also be planning another nuclear test.

Photo: AP

South Korean Army soldiers watch a TV news program which shows North Korea's Unha-3 rocket at Seoul train station in Seoul, South Korea, April 9, 2012

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States continues to urge all countries that may have influence on North Korea - most notably China - to use that influence to make clear that they also disapprove of the planned missile launch and believe it will further isolate Pyongyang.

As for Washington's message about the launch, Nuland said it is simple: Don't do it.

"North Korea's launch of a missile would be highly provocative. It would pose a threat to regional security," said Nuland. "And it will be inconsistent with its recent undertakings to refrain from any kind of long-range missile launches."

The most recent of those undertakings was a February agreement with the United States to resume nuclear inspections in exchange for food aid. That deal was broken by Pyongyang's announcement that it will launch a weather satellite in the next few days aboard an Unha-3 rocket.

South Korean intelligence photos, obtained by VOA, also show what appear to be preparations for a third North Korean nuclear test.

While she would not confirm that intelligence information, Nuland said another nuclear test "would be equally bad if not worse" than the missile launch.

North Korea says launching a weather satellite is a purely civilian operation. But Nuland says U.S. negotiators made clear that any ballistic missile use would be a deal breaker.

"They can't launch the thing without using ballistic missile technology, which is precluded by U.N. Security Council resolution 1874. So regardless of what they say about it, it's still a violation," Nuland said.

U.S. officials hoped for more from this first deal negotiated with North Korea's new president, Kim Jong Un, who took power following his father's death in December.

Victor Cha is the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. While North Korea's new president is thought to be assisted by top generals and an uncle, Cha says it would be a mistake to conclude that this decision came from anyone but the president himself.

"The political culture of this place is such that any decision of national significance has always been taken by one person, and that is the direct descendant of the Kim Il Sung line," said Cha. "And so I think while he [may] have people around him who are helping him, in the end decisions are being made by this 28-year-old."

Cha says the decision to break the February deal must be seen in light of North Korea's long pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"Even though this may look like puzzling behavior, we have to think of it as part of a systematic program really that is decades-old to try to get to the point where they can deliver nuclear-tipped missiles anywhere in the world and basically try to achieve, in their own minds, the ultimate security umbrella," Cha added.

With North Korea's determination to press ahead with its nuclear program, Cha says the resumption of six-party talks to resolve the dispute appears a long way off. "I don't think we are going to see any sort of return to the negotiations any time soon," Cha said. "If anything, I think the situation could get worse from here."

Talks between North Korea, the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan broke down in 2009, when Pyongyang expelled international inspectors before conducting its second nuclear test.

Stemming North Korea's nuclear ambitions will be part of talks in Washington Wednesday and Thursday, when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosts foreign ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations.

Theo www.voanews.com

National Briefing | New England

o cung di dong | harvard university |

Massachusetts: Qaeda Conspirator Is Sentenced

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: April 13, 2012

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An American citizen convicted of conspiring to help Al Qaeda was sentenced Thursday in Boston to 17 and a half years in prison. Tarek Mehanna, 29, of Sudbury, was found guilty in December of traveling to Yemen in 2004 to seek terrorism training with the aim of going to Iraq to fight Americans. When that failed, Mr. Mehanna returned to the United States and promoted violent jihad online. He was sentenced on four terror-related charges and three counts of lying to the authorities.

Theo www.nytimes.com

Vietnam to increase minimum wage

may quay phim | harvard university |

Minimum wages of State employees are expected to rise from VND830,000 (US$40) to VND1,050,000 ($50) per month, effective from May 2012, in a move to help them cope with rising inflation.

Accordingly the new wage level will be applied to salaries in State agencies and enterprises, people's armed forces and socio-political organisations.

After inflation hit 18 per cent in 2011, the country's major cities have become far too expensive to live and work in.

Employees of other state-owned firms pay less heed to the current minimum wage, as their main income comes from allowances, bonuses and incentives that are based on company profits.

The new minimum wage level will support rising costs of living standards, particularly for workers, poor people and low income groups. The same rise will apply to income of pensioners and patriots who have rendered great service to the nation.

Theo en.baomoi.com

Obama Enormous Progress in US-Brazil Relationship

bep tu | harvard university |

President Barack Obama says there has been "enormous progress" in the U.S. relationship with Brazil, though more work needs to be done. The president spoke after Oval Office talks with Brazil"s president, Dilma Rousseff, covering bilateral economic and trade relations, and global issues including the world economy.

Photo: AP

President Barack Obama meets Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, April 9, 2012.

President Rousseff's visit came a little more than a year after President Obama traveled to Brazil as part of his first extensive trip through Latin America.

The world's sixth largest economy, Brazil has extensive exploitable oil reserves and an expanding middle class. It also has an increasingly assertive leadership role in global affairs, including such organizations as the Group of 20 leading industrialized and developing economies.

Among the issues discussed were trade, investment in technology and innovation, alternative energy and joint education initiatives, including scholarships for Brazilians to attend U.S. universities.

President Obama pointed to Brazil's social progress and stronger voice in world affairs.

"Moving from dictatorship to democracy, embarking on an extraordinary growth path, lifting millions of people out of poverty, and becoming not only a leading voice in the region but also a leading voice in the world," said President Obama.

Mr. Obama called Brazil a leader in bio-fuels, and said the U.S. is a potential "large customer" for Brazil's extensive oil and gas deposits. President Rousseff called the oil and gas sector a tremendous opportunity for cooperation.

President Rousseff said the two leaders also discussed the global financial situation, including steps in Europe to stabilize the debt crisis there.

"During this meeting we also covered and mentioned our concern regarding the international crisis, which has led to instability, low growth and unemployment in several regions of the world," said President Rousseff.

Ms. Rousseff said she voiced concern to Mr. Obama about expansionary monetary policies that she said can lead to depreciation of currency values in developed countries and impaired growth in emerging nations.

White House spokesman Jay Carney could not immediately tell reporters how President Obama responded to the Brazilian leader's remarks.

A joint U.S.-Brazil statement put U.S. exports to Brazil at $63 billion in 2011. Meredith Broadbent, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says increasing U.S.-Brazil trade is part of a trend in the hemisphere.

"Trade, of course, by the private sector, and just the demographics of the region, between the big countries and the United States, is growing very fast. You see exports to Brazil growing at 25 percent a year," said Broadbent.

Brazil and the United States have had disagreements in global trade talks and over market access and tariffs. A potential free trade agreement remains stalled.

Neither leader specifically mentioned any discussion of the Iran nuclear issue or global sanctions. A joint statement said only that they reiterated "strong resolve to support international efforts towards nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear security and disarmament."
President Rousseff's U.S. visit came just days before she and President Obama meet again at the sixth Summit of the Americas, which will bring 33 hemisphere leaders together in Cartagena, Colombia. Cuba will not attend.

The Brazilian leader called the problem of drug trafficking and violence a very important part of what will be discussed at the summit.

Theo www.voanews.com

National Briefing | Science

may in ma vach | harvard university |

Bat Deaths Are Traced to Fungus From Europe

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: April 9, 2012

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The mysterious deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada over the past several years were caused by a fungus from Europe, scientists reported Monday. Experts had suspected that an invasive species was to blame for the deaths, which were caused by white nose syndrome. Now there is direct evidence that the culprit was not native to North America. More than 5.7 million bats have died since 2006 when white nose syndrome was first detected in a cave in upstate New York. The disease does not pose a threat to humans, but people can carry fungal spores. The fungus may have accidentally been introduced by tourists from Europe. The findings were reported online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

Theo www.nytimes.com

South Sudan HIV Treatment Hurt by Lack of Money

may giat | harvard university |

In South Sudan, tens of thousands of HIV/AIDS patients are eligible to start anti-retroviral therapy to treat the disease. But the country's main source of funding for the drugs - the Global Fund - suspended its latest round of grants at the end of last year. As a result, South Sudan has had to stop enrolling new patients in anti-retroviral programs.

After Patrick Mawa Moigo learned he was HIV-positive in 2008, his medical counselor advised him to start anti-retroviral therapy (ART), right away. The drugs saved his life.

He has started volunteering at Nimule Hospital, where he gets his treatment. The hospital is in the middle of this booming town, just across South Sudan's border from Uganda. Every week, Moigo travels out to the surrounding community, encouraging people to get tested.

"I will be telling them, 'Whenever even you are not enrolled, come for test. Test your blood. When you are found positive, come to ART, whereby you will be counseled. After counseling, then, you will be given medicine.'"

Challenges ahead

Except no new patients can currently be enrolled in ART in South Sudan. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was the primary provider of funding for the drugs in the country. But the Global Fund, which draws its financial support largely from donor governments, ran out of money last year. That forced the fund to suspend its latest grant-making round.

South Sudan was hoping the new round would fund its continued rollout of ART. UNAIDS country coordinator Dr. Medhin Tsehaiu says at least 49,000 people qualify for the drugs. But less than 4,000 are currently enrolled. The Global Fund did provide money to keep patients currently on ART, like Moigo, supplied with the drugs. But Tsehaiu said it does not have money to allow the country to enroll new patients.

"That has affected very, very seriously South Sudan," said Tsehaiu. "Because the hope was that we'll have access to that funding. And, of course, the government was not really prepared to fill this gap, because this decision came suddenly. This means we cannot scale up these services, so this is really a big challenge."

South Sudan was already facing difficulties in addressing its AIDS epidemic. There is little knowledge about HIV in the country. The south's decades of war with Sudan and the constant movement of populations made it difficult to raise awareness about how to prevent or control the disease.

Prevalence rate

Despite that, the country's HIV prevalence rate of around three percent is lower than most of its neighbors in sub-Saharan Africa. But that still translates into thousands of people who need treatment now.

There is also concern that the country is about to see a sharp rise in new infections, now that its borders are open and more people are streaming into the country.

Taamba Danmbi-Saa is the project coordinator for Merlin's health interventions in Nimule. Merlin, a British NGO, helps run the Nimule Hospital, along with two other health centers in the area.  He says this is especially true in Nimule, which sits on the highway that connects the markets of Uganda to much of South Sudan.

"We are at one of the hotspots in South Sudan. This is the entry point from Uganda, Kenya, by road," said Danmbi-saa. "We have hundreds of trucks that come and station here for a couple of days before they proceed to Juba. These people that are coming - the passengers, the drivers - they are all people that might be potentially infected. And when they come, because of the usual activities, if they get involved in one or two sexual activities, for instance, then they spread on the infection course, because of the low level of people's awareness about infection."

Nimule's prevalence rate is already higher than the national average, at more than five percent. Four years ago, Merlin rolled out a comprehensive HIV service at the hospital, working to get as many people tested and treated as possible. The program runs radio spots and distributes leaflets. And they recruit HIV-positive patients, like Moigo, to go out into the community and talk to people about their services.

Kennedy Ndonja, who runs the ART clinic, says the outreach has worked. In March, 48 new patients were enrolled in the HIV program - more than any previous month. The program includes counseling, food supplements and treatment for the opportunistic infections that can plague HIV patients.

What it does not include, for now, is ART for those new patients. Ndonja's program has not been able to enroll anyone on treatment since November of last year. He is worried about the impact this could have.

"We fear that as this continues, more patients will be able to be turning up with their conditions," said Ndonja. "Now, if we will not be able to initiate them on ARVs, it will be too unfortunate for the patients."

The government and donors are scrambling to find other resources to increase the country's ART availability. For the time being, though, HIV patients who are not already enrolled in the drug treatment program will just have to wait.

Theo www.voanews.com