Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts

9 March 2017

'Fearless Girl' statue stares down Wall Street's iconic bull

People stop to photograph the "Fearless Girl" statue, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in New York. The statue was installed by investment firm State Street Global Advisors. An inscription at the base reads, "Know the power of women in leadership. She makes a difference."
A new statue of a resolute young girl staring down Wall Street's famous Charging Bull was erected by a major asset managing firm for International Women's Day to make a point: There's a dearth of women on the boards of the largest U.S. corporations.

State Street Global Advisors, the Boston-based investment giant, had the statue created to push companies to increase the number of women directors.

19 February 2017

Blind cleric behind 1990s terror plots dies in US prison

This April 6, 1993 file photo shows Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in New York. Kenneth McKoy of the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, N.C., said Abdel-Rahman died Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017, after a long battle with diabetes and coronary artery disease. Abdel-Rahman was sentenced to life in prison after his 1995 conviction for his advisory role in a plot to blow up landmarks, including the United Nations, and several bridges and tunnels.
Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik convicted of plotting terror attacks in New York City in the decade before 9/11 and spiritual guide to a generation of Islamic militants, has died in a federal prison. He was 78.
Abdel-Rahman, who had diabetes and coronary artery disease, died Saturday at the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina, said its acting executive assistant, Kenneth McKoy. The inmate spent seven years at the prison medical facility while serving a life sentence.
"We are saddened by your departure, father," the cleric's daughter, Asmaa, tweeted in Arabic.

8 January 2017

Columnist Nat Hentoff dies at 91

In this Friday, Jan. 13, 2006 file photo, Jazz legends pose for a group portrait of National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters of the past and present, in New York. At foreground right is writer Nat Hentoff. His son, Tom Hentoff, said his father died on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, from natural causes at his Greenwich Village apartment. He was 91. Also in the photo are, from left, front row: Clark Terry, Frank Foster, James Moody, Chico Hamilton, Roy Haynes and jazz writer Nat Hentoff; middle row: John Levy, Nancy Wilson, Chick Corea, Barry Harris, Tony Bennett, Jim Hall, Slide Hampton and David Baker; top row: Ron Carter, Bob Brookmeyer, Ray Barretto, Buddy DeFranco, Paquito D'Rivera, McCoy Tyner and Freddie Hubbard.
Nat Hentoff, an eclectic columnist, critic, novelist and agitator dedicated to music, free expression and defying the party line, died Saturday at age 91.
His son, Tom Hentoff, said his father died from natural causes at his Manhattan apartment.
Schooled in the classics and the stories he heard from Duke Ellington and other jazz greats, Nat Hentoff enjoyed a diverse and iconoclastic career, basking in "the freedom to be infuriating on a myriad of subjects."

5 January 2017

Train crashes at end of platform; 100 people injured

An injured passenger is assisted by an EMS worker as he lies on a gurney outside Atlantic Terminal after a Long Island Rail Road incident, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Officials said a commuter train either hit something or derailed as it arrived at the terminal.
A packed Long Island Rail Road rush hour train crashed at the end of a platform as it pulled into a major transportation hub on Wednesday, hurling passengers onto the floor and slamming them into each other.
The front of the slow-moving train hit a bumping block as it pulled into Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, left the tracks and smashed into a small structure, apparently a work area. A rail pierced the floor of a train car, authorities said.

28 September 2016

Baby born with DNA from 3 people, first from new technique

Scientists say the first baby has been born from a controversial new technique that combines DNA from three people — the mother, the father and an egg donor.
The goal was to prevent the child from inheriting a fatal genetic disease from his mother, who had previously lost two children to the illness.
The birth of the boy is revealed in a research summary published by the journal Fertility & Sterility. Scientists are scheduled to present details at a meeting next month in Salt Lake City.

12 September 2016

The Latest: US Open champ Wawrinka notes 9/11 in victory

Stan Wawrinka, of Switzerland, left, and Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, pose for a photo before playing in the men's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, in New York.
The Latest on the U.S. Open (all times local):

8:45 p.m.

U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka took time out at the end of his victory speech to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"It's been a big battle on the court ... four hours," Wawrinka told the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium after defeating No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. "But I just want to remember what happened 15 years ago."

The Swiss Wawrinka's statement on court followed that of American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the women's doubles title with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, and appeared to choke up during her victory speech, telling the crowd: "It's a special day today here for everybody in New York."

11 September 2016

Woman in iconic V-J Day Times Square kiss photo dies at 92

Iconic WWII Times Square kiss
The woman in an iconic photo shown kissing an ecstatic sailor in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died. Greta Zimmer Friedman was 92.
Friedman, who fled Austria during the war as a 15-year-old, died Thursday at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, from complications of old age, her son, Joshua Friedman, said.
Greta Friedman was a 21-year-old dental assistant in a nurse's uniform when she became part of one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

11 June 2016

Aerospace firm successfully tests solar-powered aircraft

Test pilot Robert Lutz flies the solar-powered Luminati Aerospace VO-Substrata prototype aircraft, in Calverton, N.Y., Friday, June 10, 2016. Lutz flew the aircraft for about 20 minutes for a New York company that envisions manufacturing a fleet of drones to provide aerial internet service for an estimated four billion people worldwide.
A test pilot successfully flew a solar-powered prototype aircraft on Friday for a company that envisions manufacturing a fleet of drones to provide aerial internet service for an estimated 4 billion people worldwide.
The test flight by Luminati Aerospace LLC took place at a former Northrop Grumman defense plant on eastern Long Island that once made military aircraft. Speakers at a ceremony before the flight recalled that Charles Lindberg took off for his historic 1927 solo flight to Paris from an air strip in nearby Nassau County, and others noted that the spacecraft that landed men on the moon was built in the Long Island suburbs east of New York City.

12 March 2016

1,000-year-old Indian statues seized from NYC auction house

In this photo provided by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an Indian statue believed to be from the 8th and 10th centuries A.D. that authorities say was stolen and smuggled out of India is shown. The statue is one of two that were seized from Christies Auction House in New York on Friday, March 11, 2016. The antiquities were to be part of an auction on the week of March 14, entitled "The Lahiri Collection: Indian and Himalayan Art, Ancient and Modern." Christie's said in a statement it was working with authorities and would never knowingly offer a stolen work of art.
Two Indian statues that are more than 1,000 years old were seized Friday from Christie's auction house after investigators discovered they had been smuggled out of the country, eventually landing in New York.

The antiquities were to be part of an auction next week called "The Lahiri Collection: Indian and Himalayan Art, Ancient and Modern."

Both are made from sandstone. One statue called "Stele of Rishabhanata" depicts a cross-legged teacher flanked by standing attendants. It is valued at about $150,000 and dates from the 10th century. The second is a rare representation of an equestrian deity, Revanta, worth $300,000 from the 8th century.

27 January 2016

Abe Vigoda, sad-eyed character actor, dead at 94

In a June 9, 2006 file photo, actor-comedian Abe Vigoda attends the Friars Club celebrity roast of legendary comedian Jerry Lewis in New York City. Vigoda, whose leathery, sunken-eyed face made him ideal for playing the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series `Barney Miller' and the doomed Mafia soldier in `The Godfather,' died in his sleep Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, at his daughter's home in Woodland Park, N.J. He was 94.
Character actor Abe Vigoda, whose leathery, sad-eyed face made him ideal for playing the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series "Barney Miller" and the doomed Mafia soldier in "The Godfather," died Tuesday at age 94.
Vigoda's daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, told The Associated Press that Vigoda died Tuesday morning in his sleep at Fuchs' home in Woodland Park, New Jersey. The cause of death was old age. "This man was never sick," Fuchs said.

11 January 2016

New Yorkers, others on public transit strip to underwear

Two men clad in colorful underwear walk up the subway steps during the 15th annual No Pants Subway Ride Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, in New York. The group event, a prank meant to amuse, has been going on since 2002.
Thousands of New Yorkers thought it was a hot thing Sunday to strip to their underwear during winter and ride on public transportation, along with pantless crowds in about 60 countries.
"I'm a no-pant virgin," declared a grinning Miguel Ramos amid New York's No Pants Subway Ride. It was the Mexican-born restaurant worker's first foray into the "international celebration of silliness," as organizers billed it.

18 September 2015

Fashion Week: Really big band, really big show for Jacobs

The Proenza Schouler collection is modeled during Fashion Week, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, in New York.
The Associated Press is all over New York Fashion Week, from the runways to celebrities as eight days of spring previews entered their final day Thursday.

19 August 2015

NY governor: Topless women in Times Square breaking the law

In this photo taken on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, a tourist poses for a photo with two women clad in thongs and body paint in Times Square, in New York. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is promising to take action against women who pose nearly naked for photos in Times Square in exchange for cash.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says women posing nearly naked for photos in Times Square are breaking the law and undermining efforts to keep the tourist area family friendly.