The problem goes well beyond simply picking Aceh’s pocket. The Indonesian military, or TNI, recently requested an additional 8,000 troops to boost its current 22,000 forces in the devoutly Muslim province, ostensibly to crush a 26-year-old armed separatist movement once and for all. But many Acehnese wonder how eagerly the soldiers want to end the conflict. Already unwelcome because of past brutalities, troops in Aceh have also built up a vast, often illegal, business empire–encompassing everything from logging to coffee growing to everyday extortion–that would make any Mafia don jealous....

Emotions from that day feel so much closer than two decades ago. My stomach turned in revulsion. My body tightened with fear for my relatives who worked there. Dread settled like a heavy rock on my chest. Like other Americans, I wondered, who was attacking us. But as a Muslim, I had other questions, too: Did the attackers claim to be Muslims? And, if so, what would happen to the rest of us?...

The latest twist in the ever-complicated world of reproductive medicine, embryo donation is attracting increasing attention as an option for couples who have had no luck with IVF or who are looking for a less-costly alternative. At the same time, the legally murky practice of formally adopting embryos, as the Vests did, has opened a new front in the abortion battle. Snowflakes, the first embryo-adoption program in the country, began matching donor embryos to infertile women in 1997 with the help of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family....

Laws protecting marine mammals have produced a sixfold increase in the sea lion population, with devastating consequences for their favorite delicacy, steelheads. The proficiency of smoke jumpers at extinguishing small forest fires has produced a ““fire deficit’’ by building up flammable materials that feed intense fires dangerous to the many people who, encouraged by firefighting proficiency, build homes at the edges of forests. Federal water projects made America’s arid Southwest able to sustain millions of new residents and air conditioning made the region attractive to millions, including many seeking relief from allergies....

That’s changing fast. Encouraged by the preponderance of mandarin collars on Italian dresses and Chinese antiques in fashionable New York interiors, more and more urban Chinese are embracing locally inspired styles once shunned as tacky and old-fashioned. Their newfound popularity is a sign of how rapid China’s modernization has been: the young, in particular–who are accustomed to Western goods and who never had to live through the years of choosing between different shades of drab green Mao suits–are the most avid consumers of homegrown products....

title: “A New Woody Lost In The Fog” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Sarah Patrick”

Though the building will be ready for students in just two weeks, the construction is expected to be completed in 2021. The building won’t be perfect on opening day, however. The school district expects that parking will be difficult this year with all the construction. Students also won’t have lockers at the beginning of the year. But as the building is completed, students will have access to more and more new spaces throughout the school year....

Two years ago Watson agreed to become the first person to have his genome sequenced and made public. A biotech company, 454 Life Sciences, has now determined, from a blood sample, every one of the 6 billion chemical “letters” (designated A, T, C and G) that make up the DNA in Watson’s cells. He will see his genetic blueprint on May 30. The next day it will be posted in a National Institutes of Health database for all the world to look at and, in the case of experts, deduce whether his genes have spellings (ATTCGT … ) associated with diseases, intelligence, neuroticism, risk-taking, belief in God, shyness and all the other traits that biologists have linked to genes....

But the emporium’s visitors are shopping–a lot. While most of the luxury industry is in the economic doldrums, Dolce & Gabbana is thriving. Last year, as its competitors scaled back forecasts, the company posted a 41 percent increase in revenues, to 445 million euros. In addition to the men’s store, the company recently opened a dozen new boutiques in Japan and is renovating two shops in Milan–for its accessories and its vintage collections....

Some would define that statement as a reachable dream and it certainly dovetailed with Wenger’s own footballing philosophy, as he admitted in an interview with French TV three years ago. “That negates the pressure of immediacy in a fabulous way,” said Wenger. “What becomes of a loss if you project your destiny on a century? I also found that idea extremely generous. Only being a conveyor belt in history, as a part of a movement that is much larger than you are....

The number of unvaccinated Americans is shrinking. On July 17, there were 100 million people eligible for vaccination who still hadn’t received a shot. As of August 30, that number has dropped to 81.6 million. This is good news. Every person who is fully vaccinated is one less person who remains at the highest risk of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. This week, America achieved a vaccination rate of 875,000 doses per day....

The One Israel Party was fined $3.2 million, and some of the prime minister’s top aides may face criminal charges of fraud and breach of public trust. Barak says he knew nothing of the network of offshore funds and bogus grass-roots organizations that authorities say One Israel used to circumvent caps on campaign spending; he claims he was too busy stumping for votes to notice abuses. State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg, whose office led the investigation, slammed Barak for not responding to what he said should have been “red lights....

But appearances, as usual, are deceiving. Appleton in fact has been profoundly changed by the women’s movement-and over the past 20 years the city has made remarkable progress toward what used to be known, derisively, as “women’s lib.” It is now perfectly OK for women to take leadership roles in local politics—and it is OK for women to be recognized as business leaders, too. There are women cops and women firefighters, and there are women in managerial jobs in local business and government....

“I would love there to be a reboot, but I don’t think there will be,” Kemper told host Andy Cohen on Thursday. “So, that’s a sad answer. But maybe like a reunion episode? That would be fun.” “Absolutely! Everyone adores him. I mean, he was, like, the hunk of The Office, right? I watched the show before being on it, and that’s, like, how he was known, right? He’s like the heartthrob of The Office....

We’ve washed out the prewar spike in oil prices, which drove 1990’s inflation rate to a worrisome 6.1 percent. We’re finished, one hopes, with the stunning collapse in consumer confidence that choked off business at year-end. If the war is short–say, a few weeks–the economy should nurture a comforting run of lower inflation, lower interest rates, rising confidence and somewhat stronger business. Optimists think the rebound might be felt as early as spring and no later than summer....

Before we get our fruit baskets out, an aside to those who insist the trust fund is just plummy: if that’s the case, why not solve Social Security’s problems by printing up a $12 trillion Treasury bond and putting it into the fund? Do you see why that won’t work? Then why would a $1.2 trillion fund work? Now to the baskets. The fund owns Treasury securities because it’s required by law to own only securities guaranteed by the federal government....

We head south instead, to Cajun country, where the New York actress grew up. Her career cut short, she withdraws to the funky, abandoned family manse in Louisiana to drink, curse and abuse a series of nurses, none of whom can cope with May-Alice’s belligerence. But Chantelle (Alfre Woodard) sticks around. She knows how to hold her own, though her eyes, which can look as startled as a deer’s caught in headlights, suggest she’s not a pillar of strength herself....

The plains where Bob Dole was born are so big that you can see things happen there, beautiful things – storms, clouds battling across a continent, vast changes in the light – while you are entirely alone. From this you learn to trust not confirmation and consensus but the simple truth. And when you have learned to do that, courage begins to come naturally, and soon it rolls in like the tide, and then it becomes the only way to live....