"Mr. Strauss-Kahn enjoyed the same kind of diplomatic immunity in process and suit that other high-ranking officials and diplomats enjoy and who are resident in this country - people like the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Russian Consul," the attorney noted.
A criminal case against Strauss-Kahn was dismissed last year because of questions about the veracity of his accuser, Nafissatou Diallo. She worked as a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last May. Diallo has now filed a civil suit. Her lawyers argue that the defense motion is a desperate attempt to delay her day in court. They say diplomatic immunity is meant to protect institutions, not individuals, noting that neither the IMF nor the U.S. State Department invoked it on Strauss-Kahn's behalf.
"If he had immunity, then why didn't his lawyers say a single word about his immunity during the criminal case," attorney Kenneth Thompson argued. "It does not make sense."
The hearing in New York comes amid fresh legal troubles for Dominique Strauss-Kahn in his native France. He is facing charges there that he helped procure prostitutes for sexual orgies. His lawyers refer to them as soirees that are not illegal under French law. Attorney Richard Malka says his client strongly denies the pimping charge.
"Supposing even that he had known the status of the women in question, we have to remember that the fact of having relations with an escort would not be an infraction of French law and would be question of an entirely legitimate private matter between consenting adults," he said.
Diallo's attorneys say the proceedings in France will have no bearing on the civil case in New York. Judge McKeon says he will try to expedite his decision about Strauss-Kahn's immunity.
Thứ Hai, 30 tháng 4, 2012
Lawyers Request Diplomatic Immunity for Strauss-Kahn
Syria forces storm rebel town despite peace pledge
An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube shows smoke billowing from reported shelling by Syrian forces on a residential area of Homs on March 26. AFP cannot independently verify this image. Photo: AFP Syrian forces on Wednesday stormed a rebel bastion as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged President Bashar al-Assad to "immediately" implement a six-point UN peace plan he reportedly accepted.
China and Russia also upped the pressure urging both their allySyria and the opposition to honour commitments to halt armed conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives since it first erupted in March last year.
Moscow strongly urged the Syrian opposition to "follow the example" of the Damascus regime in supporting the mediation efforts of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to stop the bloodshed.
And in Baghdad, Arab foreign ministers thrashed out a resolution on Syria to be debated at a landmark Arab League summit on Thursday, even as Damascus warned it would not abide by any of its initiatives.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian forces backed by tanks swept into the central Hama province town of Qalaat al-Madiq and nearby villages after dawn on Wednesday after a siege lasting more than two weeks.
"Heavy clashes between regime forces and armed rebels are preventing the army from advancing," the Britain-based monitoring group said. "Intense gunfire and explosions can be heard in nearby villages."
At least four civilians caught in the crossfire were killed while four soldiers and four rebels also died in the fighting, the Observatory said.
Qalaat al-Madiq, which the army has pounded for 17 straight days to root out rebels, is home to a historic castle that was shelled during the fighting, as seen in videos posted on YouTube.
Abu Ghazi, a local activist reached by Skype, told AFP in Beirut that members of the rebel Free Syrian Army had withdrawn from the area because of the regular army's superior firepower.
The offensive is part of the regime's efforts to overrun rebel strongholds as it tries to crush an unprecedented year-long revolt, which monitors say has killed almost 10,000 people. The UN say more than 9,000 have died.
Fierce clashes were also reported on Wednesday across the country, including in northwest Idlib province, central Homs and the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the year-long revolt, the Observatory said.
Political efforts to end the violence were in full gear on Wednesday as Arab foreign ministers prepared for the landmark summit in Iraq, which the UN chief was due to attend.
"I urge President al-Assad to put commitments into immediate effect. There is no time to waste," Ban said in Kuwait before travelling to Baghdad.
He expressed concern at the continued bloodshed but welcomed Syria's acceptance of a plan to end the violence put forward by Annan as an "important initial step" towards ending the bloodshed.
Ban said he would "meet key (Arab) leaders in Baghdad to discuss how the UN and Arab League states can work together in helping the joint special envoy's diplomatic efforts to get the six-point proposal implemented."
Annan said on Tuesday that Assad's government had accepted his plan, a move cautiously welcomed by Western nations.
The plan calls for a commitment to stop all armed violence, a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire and media access to all areas affected by the fighting in Syria.
The plan also calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate, and the release of people detained arbitrarily.
A copy of the draft resolution being debated by Arab foreign ministers in Baghdad urges the Syrian regime to "immediately stop all actions of violence and killing, protect Syrian civilians and guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations for achieving demands of the Syrian people."
The text, obtained by AFP, also calls on the Syrian government and all opposition factions "to deal positively with the envoy (Annan) by starting serious national dialogue."
Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said he expected Thursday's summit to support Annan's proposals.
But Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said Damascus will reject any initiative stemming from the Arab summit. "Syria will not cooperate with any Arab League initiative at any level," he said.
"Since its suspension from the Arab League, Syria has been dealing with member states on a bilateral level," he told AFP.
The 22-member pan-Arab body in November voted at an extraordinary meeting to suspend Syria until Assad implements an Arab deal to end the crackdown on dissent.
Western powers cautiously welcomed the statement by Annan's camp that Assad had accepted his peace plan.
"Given Assad's history of over-promising and under-delivering, that commitment (to Annan) must now be matched by immediate actions," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero was likewise sceptic.
"The Istanbul meeting will be an opportunity for the international community to assess whether the regime in Damascus is applying this plan or not, respecting its commitments or not, and ending the massacres it has carried out daily for more than a year or not," he said.
On Sunday, the Friends of Syria will gather in Istanbul for their second meeting since February in a bid to end the crisis, with the United States, France and numerous Arab countries due to attend.
Russia and China, which are both boycotting the event, have triggered international fury for vetoing two UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.
Observatory
game hay | international summer school |
How Immersion Helps to Learn a LanguageBy SINDYA N. BHANOO
Published: April 2, 2012
- Sign In to E-Mail
- Reprints
Learning a foreign language is never easy, but contrary to common wisdom, it is possible for adults to process a language the same way a native speaker does. And over time, the processing improves even when the skill goes unused, researchers are reporting.
Chris Gash
Related
-
Observatory: Solar Energy Inspiration From Butterflies (April 3, 2012)
-
Observatory: Evidence Against Moon as Meteoroid's Offspring (April 3, 2012)
-
More Observatory Columns
RSS Feed
Get Science News From The New York Times » For their study , in the journal PloS One, the scientists used an artificial language of 13 words, completely different from English. "It's totally impractical to follow someone to high proficiency because it takes years and years," said the lead author, Michael Ullman , a neuroscientist at Georgetown University Medical Center.
The language dealt with pieces and moves in a computer game, and the researchers tested proficiency by asking test subjects to play the game.
The subjects were split into two groups. One group studied the language in a formal classroom setting, while the other was trained through immersion.
After five months, both groups retained the language even though they had not used it at all, and both displayed brain processing similar to that of a native speaker. But the immersion group displayed the full brain patterns of a native speaker, Dr. Ullman said.
He and his team used a technique called electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures brain processing along the scalp.
The research has several applications, Dr. Ullman said.
"This should help us understand how foreign-language learners can achieve nativelike processing with increased practice," he said. "It makes sense that you'd want to have your brain process like a foreign speaker."
And though it may take time, and more research, the work "also could or should help in rehabilitation of people with traumatic brain injury ," he added.
US Official Says Missile Defense Will Not Impact Russia
nghe thuat | international summer school |
Political controversy has erupted in the United States after an open microphone at a nuclear security conference in South Korea caught U.S. President Barack Obama telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he will have more "flexibility" after the U.S. election in November. On Friday, the top American arms control negotiator visited Moscow and gave the American outlook for arms control and missile defense.
Rose Gottemoeller, Washington's lead negotiator on arms control, told Russian students and reporters that the political controversy simply underlined President Obama's point. The American election season is a time for technical meetings, not political initiatives on arms control.
"I see the possibility for homework, as I call it, not only in missile defense cooperation, but in preparing the groundwork for new nuclear reduction negotiations as well. I am also here in Moscow to work on new conventional arms control initiatives," said Gottemoeller.
Gottemoeller recalled that Americans and Russians have 40 years of experience in negotiating arms control pacts. She said she is confident that the two countries, the world's largest nuclear powers, will find common ground on missile defense.
Russia is worried about Washington's plan to build a missile defense system to protect Europe from missiles launched from Iran. More from Gottemoeller, who is acting under secretary of state for arms control and international security:
"The technical capabilities of the system are simply not those that would undermine Russian strategic offensive forces," Gottemoeller added.
Washington's blueprint for missile defense calls for several land- and sea-based batteries that would knock down one or two missiles launched on a westward path from Iran. In contrast, Russia has about 3,000 rockets that are designed to hit the United States by flying north, over the North Pole.
"I consider it a very serious matter that my president has confirmed to your president - and will be willing to continue to do so - that this system is no threat to the Russian Federation or any of your military capabilities," Gottemoeller explained.
In the audience at Moscow State Institute of International Relations was Victor Mizin. Before joining the institute as deputy director, he worked on arms control as a Russian diplomat. He said that diplomats in both countries still have to work against the powerful legacy of the Cold War.
"There are still huge backlogs, I am afraid, of mutual suspicion, which still have not been overcome," said Mizin.
On May 7, Vladimir Putin will return to the Kremlin as president of Russia. A former KGB agent who once served in East Germany, Putin is often seen as a hardliner on relations with Washington.
But Mizin does not predict a major change in policy. He noted that Putin served for the last four years as Russia's prime minister, closely coordinating policies with President Medvedev. Under the current plan, the two men are to switch jobs, with Medvedev becoming prime minister in May.
"Probably it will be a little bit tougher, with a little bit more accent on Russian sovereignty, self-assertiveness," said Mizin on Putin's return to the Kremlin.
Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, believes that NATO will build a missile defense for Western Europe whether Moscow likes it or not.
"Any discussion about joint missile defense, which started 2010, officially still is a target. I don't believe it is any kind of real talk, it is just cover for, empty shell for, nothing," said Lukyanov.
He agrees that it will be impossible for the two countries to negotiate common ground during the heat of an American presidential campaign.
"This year, nothing will happen in missile defense area," Lukyanov added.
So everyone interviewed in Moscow said that for any movement in negotiations on missile defense and arms control, check back one year from now.
In Massachusetts, Insurance Mandate Stirs Some Dissent
Toi tai gioi | central school |
BOSTON — Wayde Lodor is part of the 2 percent: the roughly 120,000 residents of Massachusetts who lack health insurance despite the state’s landmark 2006 law requiring almost every adult in the state to have it. He is likely to face a penalty this year, having made enough money under the state’s guidelines to afford a health plan. But Mr. Lodor, an independent product development consultant from Leominster, remains defiant.
Wayde Lodor has refused to buy the health insurance required under Massachusetts law.
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: March 27, 2012
- comments
- Sign In to E-Mail
- Single Page
- Reprints
-
Graphic : Massachusetts Residents Who Don't Comply With the Health Coverage Mandate
Related
-
In Court, Sharp Questions on Health Care Law's Mandate (March 28, 2012)
-
News Analysis: In the Court, Split Seems Partisan (March 28, 2012)
-
Contingency Plans Are Few if Court Strikes Down Insurance Requirement (March 28, 2012)
-
On Street, Crowd Gives Louder Side of Health Law Argument (March 28, 2012)
-
The Caucus: Join Our Live Discussion About the Supreme Court Health Care Debate (March 27, 2012)
-
As Health Law Is Contested, Developing a Plan B (March 27, 2012)
Related in Opinion
-
Editorial: The Supreme Court's Momentous Test (March 28, 2012)
-
Room for Debate: Is the Court Being Thoughtful or Partisan? (March 25, 2012)
Ross Douthat: Could Defeat in Court Help Obama Win? (March 27, 2012)
Connect With Us on Twitter
Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines.
Twitter List: Reporters and Editors
Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
Ronn Garry Jr., a grocery store owner, faces penalties because too few of his employees have opted in.
"I’m in good shape, I don’t eat meat, I don’t drink excessively, I’ve never smoked," said Mr. Lodor, 53, who estimates he would have to spend at least $1,200 a month to cover himself and his college-age daughter. "The last thing I’m going to do is not pay my rent because I have to pay for some state-mandated health coverage that I don’t think I need."
As the Supreme Court hears arguments this week on the constitutionality of the national health care law and its requirement that most Americans be insured or pay a penalty, Massachusetts offers a real-world laboratory of how such a mandate might work.
Roughly 48,000 people in the state were subject to penalties for not having coverage in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available, down from 67,000 in 2007. The maximum penalties range from $228 to $1,212 a year, depending largely on income. (Anyone with an annual income of less than 150% of the federal poverty line pays no penalty.) The penalties are paid on state tax returns.
Massachusetts health officials say the shrinking number of violators is a sign that the law is succeeding. "I think the individual mandate in Massachusetts has been accepted by our population, understood, and broadly judged as fair," said Glen Shor, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, the state agency that helps residents find insurance coverage.
But for the relatively small universe of people who resist buying coverage, the mandate is a bitter pill. Teofilo Cuevas, 51, who earns about $40,000 a year as a meat cutter at a grocery store, said he had decided to drop his employer-provided coverage because even with insurance, he could not afford his out-of-pocket costs. He said he avoided going to the doctor.
"A lot of people cannot pay this," Mr. Cuevas, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, said through an interpreter.
For individuals facing penalties, who are often young, male and healthy, the state appears to have been generous in granting one-year waivers. From 2007 through 2010, the state approved 65 percent of the appeals filed by people who had been given penalties, or 7,163 out of 10,992, according to the Health Connector. State officials said appeals were granted based on proof of financial hardship, which might involve unemployment, a foreclosure or period of homelessness, or having to make the choice between paying for insurance or for heat and electricity.
"It’s a very humane and fair appeals process that gives people the opportunity to tell their story in full," Mr. Shor said.
But some small business owners also feel unfairly targeted by the law, which requires employers with the equivalent of 11 or more full-time employees to offer coverage or pay a penalty of $295 per employee. Mr. Cuevas’s employer, Ronn Garry Jr., owner of Tropical Foods, a grocery store in the Roxbury section of Boston, is facing nearly $30,000 in penalties because not enough of his 70 employees signed up for his employer-provided plan over an 18-month period, he said. "It’s frustrating," Mr. Garry said of the law, "because I support it but I also feel victimized by it."
He added, "Most people want to have coverage but they have to make dollars-and-cents decisions."
Over all, 4.6 percent of the employers who are required to offer coverage, or about 1,000, were penalized for noncompliance in 2010, according to the state. The state’s Division of Unemployment Assistance enforces the rule; compliance improved to about 95 percent from about 88 percent from 2007 to 2010. Money from the penalties helps offset the cost of state-subsidized health insurance.
- 1
- 2