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Friday, February 28, 2014

Latest Updates on the Tensions in Ukraine

Live video feed from Kiev.

As fears grew over a possible showdown between Ukraine’s fledgling government and the Kremlin, armed men in military uniforms took up positions at two Crimean airports, Andrew Higgins and Patrick Reevell reported. Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, warned of “a direct provocation,” and a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council was convened to discuss the tensions in Crimea.

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Latest Updates on the Tensions in Ukraine

Live video feed from Kiev.

As fears grew over a possible showdown between Ukraine’s fledgling government and the Kremlin, armed men in military uniforms took up positions at two Crimean airports, Andrew Higgins and Patrick Reevell reported. Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, warned of “a direct provocation,” and a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council was convened to discuss the tensions in Crimea.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Egyptian Military Claims to Cure H.I.V. and Hepatitis C

Video posted to YouTube showed Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Abdul Atti announcing the Egyptian military’s alleged discovery of a cure for hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS. Scientists have reacted skeptically.

As my colleagues Kareem Fahim and Mayy El Sheikh reported, the Egyptian military made the unlikely announcement last week that after 22 years of secret research it had found a cure to not just one global public health scourge, but two: hepatitis C and H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

The claim was made by an army doctor, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Abdul Atti, at a news conference attended by the country’s military-appointed interim president, Adly Mansour, as well as the defense minister, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a popular figure who led the country’s July 2013 removal of the Islamist president. General Sisi is widely seen as a leading presidential contender.

General Abdul Atti said that he discovered the cures for HIV and hepatitis C after 22 years of research he conducted with the assistance of Egyptian military intelligence and that his methods were able to cure 100 percent of AIDS cases and more than 95 percent of hepatitis C cases.

“You will never find another patient suffering from the Hepatitis C virus after today, God willing,” said General Abdul Atti, according to subtitled video of the announcement that was uploaded on Tuesday to a YouTube account focused on Egyptian politics and current events. It has been viewed more than 30,000 times in two days.

General Abdul Atti’s claims to have found a cure coincided with a separate announcement that the military helped develop a device that can detect hepatitis C infection from across a room, without a blood test. According to video posted to YouTube of a segment about the device was shown on Egyptian state television, the machine resembled a staple gun with a radio antenna attached.

A segment on Egyptian state television about the military’s hand-held hepatitis C detector.

The announcement came in the midst of a monthslong crackdown on government critics, which began with followers of the deposed president Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement but soon spread to non-Islamists critical of the military and security forces.

Last month, prosecutors that announced they were investigating a popular television puppet for its ties to terrorism, and more than one animal in recent years has been accused of links to Israeli intelligence.

A cure for hepatitis C would be a cause for celebration in Egypt, which reportedly has the world’s highest prevalence of the virus. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 20 percent of Egyptian blood donors test positive for hepatitis C. The country’s H.I.V. infection rate is less than 1 percent, according to the Joint United Nations Program on H.I.V. and AIDS.

The global scientific community has unsuccessfully sought a cure for both diseases for decades, and independent experts were deeply skeptical that the Egyptian military â€" working in secret, and without having published any findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal â€" could have simultaneously unlocked the cure to two deadly epidemics.

That skepticism was shared by Essam Heggy, a science adviser to President Mansour, who called the military’s claims “unrealistic,” “lacking clear scientific basis” and “an insult to Egypt” in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper, al-Watan, that was translated into English by the website Mada Masr. Mr. Heggy also sought to distance President Mansour and General Sisi, the military chief, from the announcement, saying: “They were both surprised with what was said without them being consulted. Their presence at the conference doesn’t mean their approval of it.”



Live Coverage: Tensions in Ukraine

Viktor F. Yanukovych, the ousted president of Ukraine, appealed to Russia on Thursday to protect his personal safety, while news agencies reported that he may already be in Russia. Earlier on Thursday, activists believed to be pro-Russian seized government buildings in the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Auto-Refresh: ON Turn ON Refresh Now Feed Twitter 7:48 A.M. Ukraine Lawmakers Form Majority Coalition

Ahead of the vote to approve an interim government, lawmakers in the Ukrainian Parliament have formed a new majority coalition that they are calling “European Choice.” In his speech, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, who has been selected to serve as acting prime minister, said that Ukraine must immediately resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and meet any conditions needed to receive assistance dealing with a severe economic crisis. Mr. Yatsenyuk also said that he would revive the sweeping political and free trade deals with the European Union that Mr. Yanukovych scuttled in November, setting off the civil unrest.



Live Coverage: Tensions in Ukraine

Viktor F. Yanukovych, the ousted president of Ukraine, appealed to Russia on Thursday to protect his personal safety, while news agencies reported that he may already be in Russia. Earlier on Thursday, activists believed to be pro-Russian seized government buildings in the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Auto-Refresh: ON Turn ON Refresh Now Feed Twitter 7:48 A.M. Ukraine Lawmakers Form Majority Coalition

Ahead of the vote to approve an interim government, lawmakers in the Ukrainian Parliament have formed a new majority coalition that they are calling “European Choice.” In his speech, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, who has been selected to serve as acting prime minister, said that Ukraine must immediately resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and meet any conditions needed to receive assistance dealing with a severe economic crisis. Mr. Yatsenyuk also said that he would revive the sweeping political and free trade deals with the European Union that Mr. Yanukovych scuttled in November, setting off the civil unrest.



Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Governor Brewer Promises To ‘Do the Right Thing’ for Arizona

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington last week.Mike Theiler/Reuters Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington last week.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is facing mounting pressure from fellow Republicans, civic leaders and business groups to veto a bill that would grant business owners the right to invoke religion to refuse service to gays and others, as my colleague, Fernanda Santos has reported.

On Twitter, the former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney joined Arizona’s United States Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, both also Republicans, in urging Governor Brewer to veto the bill.

On Wednesday morning, Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary for the former President George W. Bush, posted on Twitter:

Using a hashtag to refer to the bill, SB 1062, which was sent to her desk on Monday by the Arizona Legislature, Ms. Brewer posted on Twitter early Thursday: “I assure you, as always, I will do the right thing for the State of Arizona.”

The governor, who returned to Phoenix from Washington on Tuesday, has until Saturday to make up her mind on vetoing or signing the bill into law.

On the other side of the debate, supporters of the legislation are asking her to sign it because they said it protects religious freedom.

It is unknown what specific economic impact enacting the bill might have on Arizona. But as Ms. Santos has reported, executives from Apple Inc. and American Airlines have urged Ms. Brewer to reject the law.

Others, including Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, have called on the National Football League to consider finding a new location for the Super Bowl, scheduled to be played in Arizona next February, if the bill is signed into law.

A spokesman for the N.F.L. told USA Today that league officials were closely watching developments.

The controversy has spurred rallies at the State Capitol and brought unwanted national attention to Arizona.

Some Arizona businesses have used the debate as an opportunity to communicate their position toward their customers, as my colleague, Ms. Santos posted on Twitter.



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Ukrainian Journalists Launch YanukovychLeaks

Security-camera footage broadcast on Ukrainian television on Saturday, said to show the entourage of the country’s deposed president fleeing his residence.

Viktor Yanukovych may have vanished early Saturday from Ukraine’s presidential palace outside Kiev, but not without a trace. His entourage left behind security-camera images of a hasty flight from the lavish compound, and something else â€" tens of thousands of apparently incriminating documents that were still floating near a dock at the waterfront residence when journalists and curious spectators arrived.

Since then, reporters from a dozen media organizations have been combing through the sodden papers at the Mezhyhirya compound along the Dnieper River, and on Tuesday they published high-quality images of hundreds of documents on a new website they call YanukovychLeaks. It quickly drew more than a million hits, according to Natalie Sedletska, a journalist for Radio Free Europe’s Ukrainian service.

In a report for Mashable, the Kiev-based journalist Christopher Miller explained that “nearly 200 folders filled with thousands of invoices, contracts, insurance policies, cash payment orders and other documents were recovered from the murky depths. The edges of some had been scorched, suggesting that before fleeing Yanukovych had first ordered them to be burned before they were tossed into the sea.”

As volunteer divers searched below the surface for more documents, and the president’s boathouse served as a drying room, one of the journalists, Katya Gorchinskaya of the English-language Kyiv Post, has been filing regular updates on the search through the contracts, receipts and invoices on her Twitter feed.

Follow Robert Mackey on Twitter @robertmackey.



Day After Uganda’s Antigay Law Is Signed, a Tabloid Publishes Names

In October 2010, a tabloid newspaper in Uganda called Rolling Stone published a front-page headline: “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak. Hang Them.”

About three months later, Uganda’s most outspoken gay rights activist, David Kato, whose name was published, was beaten to death in his neighborhood, as my colleague Jeffrey Gettlemen reported at the time.

Now, gay activists, rights groups and others are once again remembering Mr. Kato as they fear the response to a new report, this time by a Ugandan tabloid called Red Pepper, published Tuesday, just a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed a sweeping antigay bill into law.

“Exposed!” the headline said. “Uganda’s 200 Top Homos Named.”

Jacqueline Kasha, a Ugandan activist, and others shared an image of the Red Pepper front page on Twitter, with a warning.

At the time Mr. Kato was killed, Parliament was considering the death penalty as punishment for gay sex in some cases. Under the bill Mr. Museveni signed,life in prison is the maximum penalty.

Reaction to the law has included a renewed focus on the work of American evangelicals in Uganda in support of the legislation, mostly that of Scott Lively, who visited in 2009 to speak to Parliament.

Mr. Lively said in a statement published Tuesday on his website that, in terms of “simple homosexuality,” “the focus of a government seeking to protect its people from the homosexual agenda should be on rehabilitation and prevention, not punishment.”

He is being sued in federal court in Massachusetts by a Uganda gay rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda, which accuses him of violating international law by inciting the persecution of gay men and lesbians in Uganda.

On Tuesday, the rights group posted on its Twitter account news of a fatal attack on a gay couple that it placed in context of the new law.

Pepe Onziema, a prominent gay rights activist in Uganda, said efforts were being made to confirm the reports.

On its Facebook page, Red Pepper, described as a private, independent tabloid daily that started publishing in 2001, links to news articles about events in South Africa, South Sudan and Nigeria. The page’s “Topic of the Day” on Tuesday focused on a man complaining that his girlfriend wore skimpy clothes.

On Tuesday, another Facebook page popped up to urge a boycott of the newspaper after it published its list, and called on people to post examples of its journalism inciting hatred.

Mark Schenkel, a journalist who covers East Africa, said the newspaper had listed fewer than 200 people, and he provided a quotation from the article, which did not appear to have been posted immediately online.

Frank Mugisha, a gay rights activist in Uganda, said on his Twitter account:

The Associated Press reported from Kampala that the news editor of Red Pepper, Ben Byarabaha, said the paper had published the full names of only well-known activists and had tried to use nicknames for those who had not made their sexual orientation public.

The A.P. reported that the list included prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Mr. Onziema, who has repeatedly warned that the new law could set off violence against gay and lesbian Ugandans; a Ugandan hip-hop star; and a Catholic priest.

Others, including a retired Anglican cleric who supports gay rights, are listed as sympathizers, the news agency said.

RFI recorded an interview with Mr. Byarabaha, who said he did not say they were “gay,” but “I say they are sympathizers.”

Asked whether he thought something would happen to those on the list, he said, “Nothing, nothing.” Asked if readers might take the law into their own hands, he responded, “No no no no.”

The interviewer, Daniel Finnan, also asked whether Mr. Kato “was not killed” after the publishing of the list in Rolling Stone, which is no longer exists and has no relation to the American magazine.

Mr. Byarabaha replied: “No, that is not true. He had a misunderstanding with someone.”



Share Your Experience With Race on Campus

A hashtag for Joshua Lott for The New York Times A hashtag for “Being Black at the University of Michigan” was displayed as students and faculty members waited to attend a demonstration hosted by the United Coalition for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan in February.

For my article today on racism on college campuses, I spoke with students from around the country about how race is still very much an issue for young Americans despite openness to interracial dating, marriage and friendships. I also read dozens of posts on Twitter and other social media platforms and used Facebook to help find people to interview.

We would like to include your story here. Tell us about your experience with race at your college or university. You can share your comments below or on Twitter, using the hashtag #TellNYT.

In the article, some young people rejected the notion of a post-racial society, saying they had no interest in stripping away their identity. Others said they did not see a colorblind society, particularly as racial incidents on college campuses continued to mount.

Within the past few months, a noose was hung around the neck of a bronze statue of James Meredith, the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. Flyers filled with racist and sexist language against Asian-American women were posted on the campus at the University of California, Los Angeles. At Arizona State University, a fraternity held a party on Martin Luther King’s Birthday and posted photos of their members, who were mostly white, drinking out of watermelon cups and flashing gang signs.

And at the University of Michigan, a group of black students were initially offended by a party thrown by a fraternity whose members are mostly white and Asian, which invited students “back to da hood again.” The black students then began a social media campaign called “Being Black at the University if Michigan” with the hashtag #BBUM. They urged students of color to share how they experience race on campus.

In 140 characters or less, hundreds of students did, and it has become a national campaign and re-ignited student activism on campus.

In many of their posts, as we reported on The Lede, it was often what some might consider small gestures that left the biggest effect, or caused the most pain.

A few examples:

Please tell us your experience with race on your campus on Twitter, in 140 characters or less, with the hashtag #TellNYT. Or share your story in the comments below. Thank you.

Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.



Share Your Experience With Race on Campus

A hashtag for Joshua Lott for The New York Times A hashtag for “Being Black at the University of Michigan” was displayed as students and faculty members waited to attend a demonstration hosted by the United Coalition for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan in February.

For my article today on racism on college campuses, I spoke with students from around the country about how race is still very much an issue for young Americans despite openness to interracial dating, marriage and friendships. I also read dozens of posts on Twitter and other social media platforms and used Facebook to help find people to interview.

We would like to include your story here. Tell us about your experience with race at your college or university. You can share your comments below or on Twitter, using the hashtag #TellNYT.

In the article, some young people rejected the notion of a post-racial society, saying they had no interest in stripping away their identity. Others said they did not see a colorblind society, particularly as racial incidents on college campuses continued to mount.

Within the past few months, a noose was hung around the neck of a bronze statue of James Meredith, the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. Flyers filled with racist and sexist language against Asian-American women were posted on the campus at the University of California, Los Angeles. At Arizona State University, a fraternity held a party on Martin Luther King’s Birthday and posted photos of their members, who were mostly white, drinking out of watermelon cups and flashing gang signs.

And at the University of Michigan, a group of black students were initially offended by a party thrown by a fraternity whose members are mostly white and Asian, which invited students “back to da hood again.” The black students then began a social media campaign called “Being Black at the University if Michigan” with the hashtag #BBUM. They urged students of color to share how they experience race on campus.

In 140 characters or less, hundreds of students did, and it has become a national campaign and re-ignited student activism on campus.

In many of their posts, as we reported on The Lede, it was often what some might consider small gestures that left the biggest effect, or caused the most pain.

A few examples:

Please tell us your experience with race on your campus on Twitter, in 140 characters or less, with the hashtag #TellNYT. Or share your story in the comments below. Thank you.

Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.



Day After Uganda’s Antigay Law Is Signed, a Tabloid Publishes Names

In October 2010, a tabloid newspaper in Uganda called Rolling Stone published a front-page headline: “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak. Hang Them.”

About three months later, Uganda’s most outspoken gay rights activist, David Kato, whose name was published, was beaten to death in his neighborhood, as my colleague Jeffrey Gettlemen reported at the time.

Now, gay activists, rights groups and others are once again remembering Mr. Kato as they fear the response to a new report, this time by a Ugandan tabloid called Red Pepper, published Tuesday, just a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed a sweeping antigay bill into law.

“Exposed!” the headline said. “Uganda’s 200 Top Homos Named.”

Jacqueline Kasha, a Ugandan activist, and others shared an image of the Red Pepper front page on Twitter, with a warning.

At the time Mr. Kato was killed, Parliament was considering the death penalty as punishment for gay sex in some cases. Under the bill Mr. Museveni signed,life in prison is the maximum penalty.

Reaction to the law has included a renewed focus on the work of American evangelicals in Uganda in support of the legislation, mostly that of Scott Lively, who visited in 2009 to speak to Parliament.

Mr. Lively said in a statement published Tuesday on his website that, in terms of “simple homosexuality,” “the focus of a government seeking to protect its people from the homosexual agenda should be on rehabilitation and prevention, not punishment.”

He is being sued in federal court in Massachusetts by a Uganda gay rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda, which accuses him of violating international law by inciting the persecution of gay men and lesbians in Uganda.

On Tuesday, the rights group posted on its Twitter account news of a fatal attack on a gay couple that it placed in context of the new law.

Pepe Onziema, a prominent gay rights activist in Uganda, said efforts were being made to confirm the reports.

On its Facebook page, Red Pepper, described as a private, independent tabloid daily that started publishing in 2001, links to news articles about events in South Africa, South Sudan and Nigeria. The page’s “Topic of the Day” on Tuesday focused on a man complaining that his girlfriend wore skimpy clothes.

On Tuesday, another Facebook page popped up to urge a boycott of the newspaper after it published its list, and called on people to post examples of its journalism inciting hatred.

Mark Schenkel, a journalist who covers East Africa, said the newspaper had listed fewer than 200 people, and he provided a quotation from the article, which did not appear to have been posted immediately online.

Frank Mugisha, a gay rights activist in Uganda, said on his Twitter account:

The Associated Press reported from Kampala that the news editor of Red Pepper, Ben Byarabaha, said the paper had published the full names of only well-known activists and had tried to use nicknames for those who had not made their sexual orientation public.

The A.P. reported that the list included prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Mr. Onziema, who has repeatedly warned that the new law could set off violence against gay and lesbian Ugandans; a Ugandan hip-hop star; and a Catholic priest.

Others, including a retired Anglican cleric who supports gay rights, are listed as sympathizers, the news agency said.

RFI recorded an interview with Mr. Byarabaha, who said he did not say they were “gay,” but “I say they are sympathizers.”

Asked whether he thought something would happen to those on the list, he said, “Nothing, nothing.” Asked if readers might take the law into their own hands, he responded, “No no no no.”

The interviewer, Daniel Finnan, also asked whether Mr. Kato “was not killed” after the publishing of the list in Rolling Stone, which is no longer exists and has no relation to the American magazine.

Mr. Byarabaha replied: “No, that is not true. He had a misunderstanding with someone.”



Venezuela Residents Document Unrest With Dramatic Videos and Images

Video of clashes between Venezuelan protesters and the police at barricades in San Cristóbal.

The student protests that began just a few weeks ago in Venezuela have swept the country, as my colleague William Neuman reports, evolving into the biggest demonstrations seen since the death of the longtime leader Hugo Chávez last year.

While the government-controlled news media has sought to minimize the protests and portray the opposition as “fascists,” people across the country have been telling their own story, capturing images and video of the tumult. They also used Twitter and other social media platforms to urge people to build barricades across Venezuela and then share photos of them.

.

Just this month, nearly one million posts on Twitter have used the hashtag #24FGranBarricadaNacional to help organize the conversation about the unrest.

In this video, shot through a window and uploaded onto YouTube, armed members of the government can be seen assembling outside of a barricade amid gun shots fired. At one point, they encounter a female demonstrator.