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One of the people arrested at Columbia University this week was a middle-aged saxophonist who headed up to the campus from his Hell’s Kitchen apartment after learning about the protests on social media. A third had been active in other left-leaning protests across the city but also happened to work as a nanny nearby. She went to the university gates on Tuesday and linked arms with other protesters in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the advancing officers, she said. After pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied a building on Columbia’s campus this week, demanding that the university end all financial ties with Israel, the New York Police Department moved in and arrested more than 100 people there. Mayor Eric Adams and other city leaders have accused so-called outside agitators — professional organizers with no ties to the university — of hijacking a peaceful student protest and spurring its participants to adopt ever more aggressive tactics.

Persons: Eric Adams, — Organizations: Columbia University, New York Police Department Locations: Israel

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned the felony sex crimes conviction of the notorious Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, a staggering reversal of a bedrock case in the #MeToo era that prompted countless victims of sexual harassment and assault to come forward as accusers. In a bitterly contested 4-to-3 decision, the New York Court of Appeals found that the judge who had presided over Mr. Weinstein’s case deprived him of a fair trial in 2020 by allowing prosecutors to call witnesses who said Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them — but whose accusations were not the basis for any of the charges against him. Responding on Thursday, the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, announced that he would seek to prosecute Mr. Weinstein again. “We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg’s office said. The case was originally prosecuted by his predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

Persons: Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein’s, Weinstein, Alvin L, Bragg, Mr, “, ”, Cyrus R, Vance Jr Organizations: Hollywood, New, Appeals, Mr Locations: Manhattan

The Harvey Weinstein Appeal Ruling, AnnotatedThe 2020 conviction of Harvey Weinstein on felony sex crime charges in Manhattan was overturned on Thursday by New York’s top court. The ruling by the New York Court of Appeals said the trial judge in Mr. Weinstein’s case, Justice James M. Burke, erred in letting prosecutors call some women as witnesses who said Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them, but whose accusations were not included as charges. The appeals court found that Mr. Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer whose case ignited the #MeToo movement, had not received a fair trial. The New York Times is annotating the ruling. Download the original PDF.

Persons: Harvey Weinstein, James M, Burke, Weinstein, “, Mr Organizations: New, Appeals, Hollywood, New York Times Locations: Manhattan, California

The coordinated raids were the first public sign of a broad corruption investigation into the mayor’s 2021 campaign. and federal prosecutors in Manhattan are examining whether the Turkish government conspired with Mr. Adams’s campaign to funnel foreign donations into campaign coffers and whether Mr. Adams pressured Fire Department officials to sign off on a new high-rise Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. Both Ms. Abbasova and Mr. Öcal have ties to Turkey. She was Mr. Adams’s longtime liaison to the Turkish community when he served as Brooklyn borough president; he was the general manager of the New York office of Turkish Airlines until early last year. Ms. Abbasova, Mr. Öcal, Ms. Suggs and Mr. Adams have not been accused of wrongdoing.

Persons: Eric Adams’s, Brianna Suggs, Rana Abbasova, Cenk, Adams, Abbasova, Öcal, Adams’s, Suggs Organizations: Turkish Airlines, Fire Department, New Locations: Turkey, New Jersey, Manhattan, Turkish, Brooklyn, New York

☆ Inside the Courtroom at Trump’s Fraud Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Nicole Hong | Jonah E. Bromwich | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Donald J. Trump began his testimony Monday before a packed Manhattan courtroom, filled with onlookers. They had come to witness the spectacle of a former U.S. president taking the witness stand at trial to defend his family business and his reputation as a real estate mogul. Before the civil trial even began, the judge in the case, Justice Arthur Engoron, ruled that Mr. Trump had fraudulently misvalued his properties for years and revoked his licenses to operate those in New York — a ruling that has been appealed. The trial, which is in its sixth week, will determine how much more Mr. Trump should be penalized. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have argued that his annual financial statements were merely estimates, and that differing valuations were standard in the real estate business.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Arthur Engoron Organizations: New Locations: U.S, New York

☆ Gold Bullion and Halal Meat: Inside the Menendez Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Nicole Hong | More About Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was January 2018, and Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey had just won a huge legal victory. The future Ms. Menendez was eager to connect her influential new boyfriend with Mr. Hana’s high-level connections in the Egyptian government. Prosecutors accused Mr. Menendez, 69, of abusing his power to influence arms sales to Egypt and to attempt to interfere with criminal investigations into Mr. Hana’s web of business associates. search last year of the couple’s New Jersey home revealed some of the fruits of their scheme, prosecutors said. Inside the home were more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, some of which had unique serial numbers that traced back to Mr. Hana.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Weeks, Nadine Arslanian, Arslanian, Menendez, Wael Hana, Hana’s, Mr, Hana Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, U.S . Justice Department, Prosecutors, Benz Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Egyptian American, New Jersey, Egypt, Jersey

At a Coney Island park this summer, children in a basketball summer camp wore blue-and-white uniforms bearing the logo of “The Coney,” a proposed casino project in the neighborhood and the camp’s sponsor. A few months earlier on Long Island, where Las Vegas Sands is pitching a casino, children from local soccer teams were invited to a Sands-sponsored training session featuring the superstars David Beckham and Carli Lloyd. In the escalating race to be one of the first to open a casino in the New York City area, developers are rushing to win local support after state regulators said projects needed to be “embraced by the community.” A casino logo emblazoned across youth sports jerseys is just one example of the lengths to which gambling operators have gone to woo those communities and secure a coveted license. But their sponsorship of these recent children’s events has proved to be as divisive as the prospect of the casinos themselves.

Persons: ”, David Beckham, Carli Lloyd Organizations: Las Vegas Sands, New Locations: Coney, Long, Las, New York City, ”

☆ What Happens When New York’s Shelters Run Out of Room?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Nicole Hong | More About Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But for New York City, the scene — made up of migrants waiting for beds in the city’s overburdened shelter system — was unusual. And it raised a difficult question: Will this become a new normal? New York has avoided the kinds of widespread encampments that are more common in cities on the West Coast, largely because of a unique legal agreement that requires the city to provide a bed for anyone who requests one. No other major city in America has a similar mandate, known as a “right to shelter.”But what happens when a city that is obligated to provide shelter for everyone runs out of shelter? This week, Mayor Eric Adams declared, in dire terms, that there was no more room left for migrants.

Persons: —, Eric Adams, Adams Locations: Midtown Manhattan, New York City, York, West Coast, America, San Francisco, Seattle, New York

It has been a brutal three years for China’s young adults. Draconian coronavirus restrictions are over, but not the sense of uncertainty about the future they created. For many people, the recent turmoil is another reason to postpone major life decisions — contributing to a record-low marriage rate and complicating the government’s efforts to stave off a demographic crisis. Grace Zhang, a tech worker who had long been ambivalent about marriage, spent two months barricaded in the government lockdown of Shanghai last year. When China reopened in December, Ms. Zhang, 31, left Shanghai to work remotely, traveling from city to city in hopes that a change of scene would restore her positive outlook.

Persons: Grace Zhang, Zhang Locations: Shanghai, China

☆ Extreme Floods and Heat in China Ravage Farms and Kill Animals
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The downpour began in late May, drenching the wheat crops in central China. In a viral video, a 79-year-old farmer in Henan Province wiped away tears as he surveyed the damage. In recent years, tensions with the United States, the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine have all created more volatility in global food prices, heightening the urgency for China to grow more of its own crops. The country has not experienced food price inflation at the levels seen in other major economies, but officials are concerned about the vulnerability of its food supply to global shocks. Last summer, prices for pork, fruit and vegetables spiked in China, prompting the government to release pork from its strategic reserves to stabilize prices.

Persons: Xi Jinping’s, Xi’s Locations: China, Henan Province, United States, Ukraine

☆ Germany and China Try to Reset Relations for a Changed World
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Erika Solomon | Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

These consultations will be the first for Mr. Scholz, as well as the first visit to Berlin for Mr. Li as premier, who will be accompanied by a large train of ministers. There is little doubt their missions will be at odds, even as they try to shape areas of common interest. For Germany, the meeting will be an opportunity to assert a new stance, one in which China is still one of its most critical economic partners but also a “systemic rival.” That means Berlin will try to shield its critical technologies and encourage its businesses to diversify away from Beijing. For China, it will be an opportunity to convince its largest European trading partner to stick to business as usual — and drive a wedge between Berlin and Washington. How to maintain necessary economic ties with China, in the shadow of growing U.S. pressure to align with it against Beijing, is a balancing act Germany is still struggling to master.

Persons: Scholz, Li Organizations: Mr Locations: Berlin, Germany, China, Beijing, Washington

☆ With Rainbow Flags, 2 Students Test China’s Shrinking L.G.B.T.Q. Space
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nicole Hong | Zixu Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Karolyn Li still remembers reading the brochure from China’s prestigious Tsinghua University when she was in high school preparing to apply to college. rights group, a suggestion of inclusivity on campus that surprised Ms. Li, who identifies as queer. Ms. Li ended up enrolling at Tsinghua. Now a 21-year-old junior, Ms. Li sees the brochure as cruelly ironic. “All these things add up to make me wonder: How did things get so bad?” said Ms. Huang, who identifies as a lesbian.

Persons: Karolyn Li, Li, Christine Huang, ”, Huang Organizations: Tsinghua University, Tsinghua

☆ Why a ‘Thaw’ in U.S.-China Relations Seems Far From Reach
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

First the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna, in May. Then the two countries’ top commerce officials held talks, the first bilateral cabinet-level meeting in Washington in months. China’s ambassador also arrived in Washington last week, finally filling a post that had been vacant since January. But even as Beijing has returned to the table on some issues, it has also struck an even tougher posture, complicating the “thaw” in U.S.-China relations that President Biden had predicted last month. Beijing rejected an invitation for China’s defense minister, Li Shangfu, to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a security meeting this weekend in Singapore, the Pentagon said this week.

Persons: Jake Sullivan, Wang Yi, Biden, Li Shangfu, Lloyd Austin Organizations: Pentagon Locations: U.S, Vienna, Washington, Beijing, China, Singapore, American, South

☆ As the U.S. Attends the G7, China Hosts a Summit of Its Own
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The inaugural China-Central Asia summit is part of China’s broader aim to strengthen economic and political partnerships with like-minded countries, to counter what it sees as a U.S.-dominated world order that is trying to contain and suppress China. Notably, Mr. Xi’s summit was scheduled on the eve of the annual Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which begins Friday and will be attended by leaders of the world’s wealthiest large democracies, including President Biden. A major topic for the G7 leaders will be how to address what the United States describes as China’s growing assertiveness. Mr. Xi has sought to deepen China’s influence in Central Asia, part of his efforts to burnish his image as a global statesman. China greeted the leaders of five former Soviet republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — on the tarmac with a huge crowd of dancers and jumping children chanting: “Welcome, welcome!

☆ Mysterious Killing of Chinese Gold Miners Puts New Pressure on Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Nicole Hong | Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Chinese embassy in the Central African Republic had a stark warning for its compatriots in the landlocked nation: Do not leave the capital city of Bangui. Kidnappings of foreigners were on the rise, and any Chinese person outside of Bangui was to leave those areas immediately. Less than a week later, on March 19, a group of gunmen stormed a remote gold mine far away from Bangui and killed nine Chinese workers. The Central African government has said that it investigated the massacre and concluded that a leading rebel group had orchestrated it. The investigation has left a trail of unanswered questions about the motives and methods of the attackers.

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