Stephanie Majors's List: 2.5 - Researching Credible Connections -Stephanie Majors

• Can China really stop 350 million people from smoking?
• By Ed Flanagan, Producer, NBC News

  • Author is stated, job title
• BEIJING – There are some 350 million smokers across China,

  • Included key info by way of numbers/statistics as to the basis of why this ban will take place at the end of the year.
• National Health and Family Planning Commission announced last week that China – the world’s largest producer and consumer of tobacco and home to nearly a third of the world’s smokers – was planning to ban smoking in public places nationwide by year’s end.

  • included other key factor as to the magnitude of how many there really are in China 
• W

  orld Health Organization estimate that one million deaths can be attributed to smoking each year in China, with that number expected to rise to three million per year by 2050 if current smoking rates aren’t curbed.
• government declined to provide NBC News with any additional details about the plan, and anti-smoking advocates had no answers about enforcement either.
• In 2008 and again in 2011, Beijing instituted bans on smoking in public spaces that took many residents by surprise
• 63 percent smoking rate among adult Chinese men compared to 4 percent for women.
• “Awareness about the health hazards of smoking is low [in China],” Schwartländer wrote in an email to NBC News. “Only 25 percent of Chinese adults have a comprehensive understanding of the specific health hazards of smoking [and] less than one-third of adults are aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke.”

  • Proper citation
• Smoking is deeply embedded in Chinese culture. China's leader Deng Xiaoping smokes one of his favorite Panda brand cigarettes in this 1986 file photo taken in Beijing.
• “China is a big country and its population is enormous, so it’s a really hard task for the government to push and enforce this smoking ban,” said Dr. Liu Mingqiao of Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing. “The severity of the punishment will also be important because many people will think it’s a little bit ridiculous if someone is slapped with a heavy fine for their smoking.”
• China National Tobacco Corporation, reportedly earned revenue upwards of $19 billion, according to its last release of financial data for 2010.

  • Comparability
• That makes its earnings larger than Philip Morris International Inc., British American Tobacco and Altria Group, Inc. – the world’s three biggest listed tobacco companies – combined.
• 700 million Chinese routinely exposed to second-hand smoke
• The government also mandated earlier this month that party officials set an example by not smoking in public places, including government offices, schools, hospitals and public transportation -- a move derided by many as just a lot of hot smoke.
• “Government officials are some of the biggest smokers I know,” said Martin, an American in Beijing who co-owns a popular bar called The Local in the capital’s Sanlitun district. “Smoking is ingrained in their culture of eating and drinking, so I think this smoking ban will be virtually impossible to enforce.”

  • Good use of citation and context
• NBC News’ Zoe Zhang contributed to this report.

  • Contributor to article stated
• This story was originally published on Sat Jan 18, 2014 4:02 AM EST

  • Date and timestamp included

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• William M. Welch, USA TODAY  5:30 p.m. EST January 18, 2014

  • Author and time stamp
• The wife of an Indian minister was found dead in a New Delhi hotel room, days after she engaged in a Twitter dispute with a Pakistani journalist she accused of stalking her husband.
• A police spokesman, Rajan Bhagat
• he Press Trust of India news agency reported the cause was believed to be suicide. Police declined comment, the Associated Press reported.

  • Citing of origin of information and of original source
• Pushkar. 52, and her husband, junior Human Resources Development Minister Shashi Tharoor, had found themselves on the front pages of Indian newspapers and in social media after she allegedly tweeted Thursday that her husband was having an affair with the Pakistani woman, Mehr Tarar. The tweets also accused the journalist of being a spy.

  • Social Media aspect to the story - tweeting
• Abhinav Kumar, a minister's aide, said that Tharoor and his wife had moved into the five-star hotel Thursday while their home was being painted.

  • Not a direct quote; possible summation of a direct quote?
• haroor was U.N. undersecretary-general for communications and public information under former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His name was among those considered for the top U.N. post in 2006, when Ban Ki Moon was selected.

• "The postmortem has been completed, we have sent samples for toxicology analysis to rule out poisoning," Sudhir Gupta, head of the autopsy board at the hospital, told CNN.

• "This is a preliminary report but we can say that it is a case of unnatural sudden death. There were certain injuries on her body but we can't reveal details at the moment."

  A final report will be concluded in a few days, Gupta said.
• Contributing: The Associated Press

  • Contributing author/information
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• Posted: 01/18/2014 9:40 am EST  |  Updated: 01/18/2014 3:05 pm EST

  • Currency

  • Time stamp, posted date & time/updated date & time
• Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer charged on MSNBC's "Up With Steve Kornacki" show Saturday morning that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie held Hurricane Sandy relief funds hostage to force her to approve a development plan that overly favored one specific property holder.
• Christie's office denied the allegations as "outlandishly false" in a statement to the show.
• Zimmer alleged that Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno told the mayor relief would be contingent on supporting the development project. "The word is that you are against it and you need to move forward or we are not going to be able to help you," Zimmer says Guadagno told her.

  • Citation; Copyright
• Up With Steve"
• "If it turns out to be true, it would be deplorable," the company said in a statement to the show
• In an interview with WNYC last week
• Several stories of Christie allegedly using his political muscle to bully people have surfaced since the governor's office was engulfed in scandal for ordering the unannounced closure of two lanes on the George Washington Bridge.
• In December, The New York Times catalogued the stories of
• "In almost every case," the Times wrote, "Mr. Christie waved off any suggestion that he had meted out retribution. But to many, the incidents have left that impression, and it has been just as powerful in scaring off others who might dare to cross him."

• UPDATE (2:45 p.m. ET): New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D) issued a statement Saturday in response to Zimmer's claims. Wisniewski is the lawmaker heading a probe of last September's lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, and he said the allegations have "certainly attracted" his unit's attention. Via TPM:

    

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• By AZAM AHMED and MATTHEW ROSENBERGJAN. 18, 2014
• s country director for the International Monetary Fund, Wabel Abdallah spent years navigating the shoals of scandal in Afghanistan’s financial sector. Vadim Nazarov, a top political officer at the United Nations, dedicated himself over the past nine years to looking for a peaceful solution to the Afghan war. Dhamender Singh Phangurha, a British candidate in the coming elections for the European Parliament, was here on a consulting contract.
• All three happened to be dining Friday at a popular Lebanese restaurant in downtown Kabul, where they were among 21 people killed in an attack for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility.
• or years, foreigners have enjoyed relatively unrestricted activity in the capital,
• they rarely targeted Western civilians,

•  

   
• While the insurgents have largely focused their anger on military installations and government institutions, t
• The attack, which the Taliban said was in retaliation for a coalition airstrike on Wednesday
• ook the lives of 13 foreigners from at least a half-dozen countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Russia and Lebanon.
• Apparently, the only people who escaped were local employees of the restaurant, some of whom jumped to safety from the building’s roof.
• President Hamid Karzai, whose relationship with the Americans has been strained recently by negotiations over a long-term security contract,
• “The war on terror will bear fruit when victims and terrorists are distinguished from each other and the elements of terror are fought against,” said Mr. Karzai,
• An American military official said that the airstrike had been called in by Afghan and American forces who were under fire from Taliban fighters. “The operation was requested by the Afghans and approved by the Afghans,”
• ut by Saturday morning, practically every international organization in Afghanistan, including the United Nations, was re-examining its safety policies
• Still, senior officials vowed not to adopt a bunker mentality in response to the attack, which claimed the lives of four of its personnel, including two women from the United Nations Children’s Fund.
• News organizations, too, are likely to endure temporary restrictions on social events
• he more such attacks occur, the less free they are to interact with the population they work with.
• Restrictive measures have already been in place at a number of embassies in Kabul, including those of the United States and Britain.
• he attack in some respects vindicates a policy that has been criticized for being too cautious.
• he American surge in 2009, which injected billions of dollars into the local economy, drew thousands of new foreign civilians to Kabul. Local attitudes began to change. For Afghans, the Westerners in Kabul went from being an occasional nuisance — some drove too aggressively, others drank too publicly — to being a daily reminder of a war and an occupation that they resented
• The uncertainty now clouding their efforts to remain safe but engaged is perhaps most clearly illustrated by the deaths of Mr. Abdallah and Mr. Nazarov, both of whom had dedicated years to the country.
• adim Nazarov came to Afghanistan in the 1980s as a diplomat for the Soviet Union, then returned in 2005 to join the political team at the United Nations. A fluent speaker of Dari, one of Afghanistan’s main languages, he became a crucial player in helping to coordinate a peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Having been a diplomat in Iran and Turkey, he also played a crucial role in negotiations with regional powers.
• Correction: January 18, 2014
   

  An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect first name for an official at the American University in Afghanistan. He is Timor, not Timothy, Saffary.

• Habib Zahori contributed reporting. 

   

  A version of this article appears in print on January 19, 2014, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Deadly Attack at Kabul Restaurant Hints at Changing Climate for Foreigners.

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• Published January 17, 2014

  Associated Press
• California is nearly as dry as it's ever been
• Cities are rationing water.
• Gov. Jerry Brown formally proclaimed a drought Friday, saying California is in the midst of perhaps its worst dry spell in a century.
• nnouncement in San Francisco
• Reservoir levels in the north and central parts of the state were more depleted than in Southern California,
• "The drought accentuates and further displays the conflicts between north and south and between urban and rural parts of the state. So, as governor, I'll be doing my part to bring people together and working through this."
• Some cities are in danger of running out of water. And the first snow survey of the winter found more bare ground than fluffy white stuff -- a key barometer of future supply.

• He said his family's records show the area's worst drought previously was in the 1890s.

    
• Previous super-dry years led to catastrophic wildfire seasons in California in 2003 and 2007, said Tom Scott, a natural resources specialist with the University of California system.
• Droughts also are persisting or intensifying elsewhere in the U.S.
• On Wednesday, federal officials said they were designating portions of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Oklahoma and California as primary natural disaster areas, highlighting the financial strain facing farmers in those regions.
• n Seattle, rainfall dropped by nearly 70 percent in December, with just 1.66 inches falling.
• The lack of rain also could have long-standing implications for the demand for crops that are almost entirely exclusive to California.

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