The eight women sat in a semicircle facing a wooden cross, reflecting on the abortions they said they had never gotten over.      Though they now opposed abortion, they criticized the demonstrators who protest outside clinics.  

Some Abortion Foes Forgo Politics for Quiet Talk

Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Indianapolis Colts, 21-18, in playoffs; photos (M)

Opportunities Knock, but Colts Can't Answer

Carl Icahn denies he is seeking to start proxy fight to replace Time Warner Inc's board; Icahn and three other funds have built 3.1 percent stake in company; several former Time Warner executives and other media executives reportedly have been approached; Icahn has hired Lazard Freres to create plan for how his team would lift Time Warner's stagnant share price; photo (M)

For Icahn, Fielding a Team May Be as Tough as Playing the Game

Los Angeles Lakers and guard Kobe Bryant prepare to face Miami Heat and center Shaquille O'Neal, who used to play with Bryant on Lakers; photos (M)

Live From Los Angeles, It's 'The Kobe Bryant Show'

Marketers, pushing to create new generation of 'up close and personal' ads, are focusing on delivering video, audio, banner displays and text clips to cellphones equipped with global positioning systems based on consumer's location; consumer advocacy groups oppose such 'in-your-face' advertising as being intrusive; wireless carriers say risk of losing customers is strong incentive to keep marketing noise down; carriers by law are prohibited from divulging information on subcriber's location without permission; carriers and advertisers are considering offering consumer incentives, like reduced monthly phone fees, if they agree to receive ads; photos (M)

Marketers Interested in Small Screen

Report released by cultural committee of New Orleans Mayor C Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission contends that distinctive culture will be main means of city's comeback from devastation of Hurricane Katrina; proposes that city regenerate pool of creative talent by finding jobs and shelter for artists and cultural institutions, including expanded and enhanced arts district, and suggests city should seek investment from national and international sources (M)

Culture Raises Its Head and Heart

American commanders are assigning more than 2,000 Army military police advisers to work side by side with Iraq police officers in one of the most extensive efforts yet to team Americans with uniformed Iraqis.      The effort, a mission that entails significant new security risks for United States forces, is just starting in Baghdad. It will begin expanding to local stations and provincial and district headquarters in all 18 provinces by the end of the month. It greatly increases the size and scope of the current field training by 500 international civilian police advisers and some military police units, American military officials say.  

2,000 More M.P.'s Will Help Train the Iraqi Police

Newark power broker Steven N Adubato Sr is identified as primary driving force behind appointment of local business leader John J Petillo as University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey president; Adubato, who is unelected community leader of Newark's North Ward, is admired for his dedication to wide social service network and feared for his political clout; Christopher J Christie, United States Attorney for New Jersey, is currently investigating $95,000 grant given to one of Adubato's social services agency shortly after Petillo was given university post; Adubato's family history discussed; photo (M)

In Newark, a Ward Boss With Influence to Spare

Article on Li Ruigang who has grown Shanghai Media Group into budding Chinese media and entertainment conglomerate; Shanghai Media is forming partnerships with Western companies laboring to crack Chinese market; SMG, created when Chinese government consolidated state-rum media by region to prepare for entry into World Trade Organization, encompasses pay television, TV production, home-shopping venture, music labels, newspapers and magazines, sports teams and arenas, theaters, Web sites and nascent mobile content and Internet TV ventures; photos (M)

With a Mogul's Touch, a Chinese Media Man Connects to the West

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses Indianapolis Colts' loss to Pittsburgh Steelers in playoffs, which could prompt some to see Colts quarterback Peyton Manning as impressive during regular season, but perennial disappointment in postseason; photo (M)

Manning Is Left Feeling Unprotected by His Teammates

Death of seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown leaves many unanswered questions for New York City agencies that apparently were aware that there was trouble in home; Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs says that inconsistencies in agency reports are being investigated to try and understand what went wrong; both union for social services workers president and Administration for Children's Services Commissioner John B Mattingly acknowledge some responsibility and disciplinary action is expected; Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly supports his department's involvement in case and says he does not see need for further investigation within police force; Nixzmary's mother Nixzaliz Santiago is charged with manslaughter and her stepfather Cesar Rodriguez is charged with murder in case (M)

Police Role in Abused Girl's Case Still Unclear, City Officials Say

Hip-hop producer Scott Storch, who has produced hits for 50 Cent, Lil' Kim and Beyonce, takes risk by agreeing to work with 'celebutante' Paris Hilton on her debut solo album; 32-year-old Storch is rarity in business because he is white, Jewish and stays completely behind scenes; photo (M)

A Producer of Hip-Hop Gets Behind an Heiress

Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter is recipient of 2006 Gilmore Artist Award, $300,000 cash prize given every four years to pianist deemed worthy of career enhancement and broader recognition; Fliter comments; photo (M)

Stealth Benefactors Find Their Mark

You can take the boy out of Boston, Michael R. Bloomberg affirmed 40 years ago when he emigrated to New York. After only four years as mayor, Mr. Bloomberg has demonstrated that you can also take Boston out of the boy.      The mayor, it appears, has been shedding his Boston accent while running New York City. Linguists enlisted by The New York Times to compare recordings of the mayor's first and second inaugural addresses detected several telltale signs of the change, suggesting that four years spent commanding the corridors of City Hall and navigating the five boroughs had taken its toll on Mr. Bloomberg's once-pronounced New England accent.  

Mayor's Accent Deserts Boston for New York

Scientists have discovered a variant gene that leads to a sizable extra risk of Type 2 diabetes and is carried by more than a third of the American population.     The finding is being reported today in the journal Nature Genetics by researchers at Decode Genetics, a company in Reykjavik, Iceland, that specializes in finding the genetic roots of human diseases. Decode Genetics first found the variant gene -- one of many different versions that exist in the human population -- in Icelanders and has now confirmed the finding in a Danish and an American population.  

Gene Increases Diabetes Risk, Scientists Find

Policy analysts are doubtful that law passed by Maryland legislature requiring that its largest employers, including Wal-Mart, spend at least 8 percent of their payrolls on health care will be expanded across US; union leaders claim to have lined up lawmakers in 30 states to introduce similar bills this year; Maryland law has raised level of debate over how to handle nation's growing number of people with no health insurance, which now stands at 46 million (M)

Law Aimed at Wal-Mart May Be Hard to Replicate

Michelle Bachelet, who was elected Sunday as president of this male-dominated, prosperous and deeply religious nation of 16 million, is a woman and an agnostic, a guitar-strumming child of the 60's, a former exile who spent part of her childhood in the United States, and a physician who has never before held elective office.     Running as a Socialist on a platform that promised ''change with continuity'' and showcased her warmth and affinity with ordinary people, Ms. Bachelet, a fair-haired, vibrant 54-year-old, won more than 53 percent of the vote, according to the official tally. She made few promises beyond ''social inclusion'' -- vowing to better meet the needs of women and the poor -- and preserving Chile's economy, the most dynamic in Latin America, and the country's close ties with the United States.  

A Leader Making Peace With Chile's Past

 Colts Upset by Steelers and Bears Fall to Panthers  In the final twist of a game with many improbable turns, the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt missed a game-tying field-goal attempt in the Steelers' 21-18 victory. In another upset, Carolina defeated Chicago, 29-21.   PAGE D1    Pakistanis Still Protest Raid  Protests continued against the United States airstrike on a Pakistani village, as American officials said they were not ready to rule out that the raid had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of Al Qaeda.   PAGE A3    Chairman Steps Aside  Representative Bob Ney, who has been linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal, said he had done nothing wrong but would quit as head of the Administration Committee.   PAGE A12    Questions Over Abuse of Girl  City officials tried to resolve inconsistencies in accounts of how various agencies handled a child abuse investigation involving a 7-year-old girl who was beaten to death.   PAGE B1    Ads May Come to Cellphones  Marketers say they want to beam short advertisements to mobile phone screens, possibly in exchange for reduced calling rates.   PAGE C1

INSIDE

David Carr column on ups and downs of New York Observer, weekly newspaper founded by Arthur Carter that chronicles and ridicules New York City's elite; editor Peter Kaplan says Carter has been quietly approaching both trade publishers and wealthy individuals to judge their interest in buying newspaper (M) y

For Sale: Fabulous Pink Money Pit

Nicolai Ouroussoff reviews works by Arab Israeli architect Senan Abdelkader, who has worked thus far almost exclusively in Israel; photos (M)

Balancing a Love of the Land and an Escape Fantasy

With tens of thousands of people unable to get medicines promised by Medicare, the Bush administration has told insurers that they must provide a 30-day supply of any drug that a beneficiary was previously taking, and it said that poor people must not be charged more than $5 for a covered drug.     The actions came after several states declared public health emergencies, and many states announced that they would step in to pay for prescriptions that should have been covered by the federal Medicare program.  

President Tells Insurers to Aid Ailing Medicare Drug Plan

Independent filmmaker Kirby Dick, fed up with seemingly arbitrary ratings doled out by Motion Picture Assn of America, has created documentary expose This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which will premiere at Sundance Film Festival; feels that assn often gives independent films and graphic gay sex scenes sales-killing NC17 rating, while violence and heterosexual sex in mainstream films are seldom singled out; photos (M)

Rating (and Finding) the Movie Raters

New Bronx Library Center, which is triple size of old Fordham Library Center, opens to public; Susan Kent, New York Public Library's branch libraries director, says $50 million project is designed to serve mainly immigrant population of borough with new state of art media technology; patrons describe their experiences at Fordham library, which opened in 1923 and closed Nov 27, 2005; photos; graph (M)

New Bronx Library Meets Old Need

Sudden drop in temperature coupled with up to six inches of snow in some areas apparently causes deaths of three men in New York City; two men are found frozen to death in Brooklyn parking lot where they were known to have slept; body of Lennox Hunte of Brooklyn is found frozen in snow in Queens and he is thought to have died of hypothermia; fierce weather around region described (M)

Wind and Cold Are Blamed in Three Deaths

 The birthday, actually Jan. 15, is legally observed today.         NEW YORK    GOVERNMENT OFFICES -- Closed.  POST OFFICES -- Express Mail only.  BANKS -- Option to close.  PARKING -- Alternate-side regulations are suspended. Other regulations remain in effect.  SANITATION -- Regularly scheduled collection.  SCHOOLS -- Closed.  FINANCIAL MARKETS -- Closed.  TRANSPORTATION -- New York City subways and buses will operate on a regular schedule. Long Island Rail Road trains and PATH trains will operate on a regular schedule, Metro-North trains on a Saturday schedule, with additional trains.    NEW JERSEY    GOVERNMENT OFFICES -- Closed.  POST OFFICES -- Express Mail only.  BANKS -- Option to close.  SCHOOLS -- Option to close.  TRANSPORTATION -- Most New Jersey Transit trains will operate on a regular schedule. Bus riders should check local schedules at njtransit.com. PATH trains will operate on a regular schedule.    CONNECTICUT    GOVERNMENT OFFICES -- Closed.  POST OFFICES -- Closed.  BANKS  -- Option to close.  SCHOOLS -- Option to close.  TRANSPORTATION -- Metro-North trains will operate on a Saturday schedule, with additional trains.  

Martin Luther's King's Birthday

Stanley H. Biber was an American physician who was a pioneer in sex reassignment surgery, performing thousands of procedures during his long career.

Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (born 1923)

Stanley_Biber

Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

January 16, 2006

Headlines from January 16, 2006

Some Abortion Foes Forgo Politics for Quiet Talk

Opportunities Knock, but Colts Can't Answer

For Icahn, Fielding a Team May Be as Tough as Playing the Game

Live From Los Angeles, It's 'The Kobe Bryant Show'

Marketers Interested in Small Screen

Billboard 200

Unpredictable

The Breakthrough

Curtain Call: The Hits

Duets: The Final Chapter

Some Hearts

Notable Deaths

Historical Events

Historical Context for January 16, 2006