Leon Panetta Says U.S. Has Pledged to Help France in Mali

LISBON — In what could draw the United States into another conflict in North Africa, the Obama administration has pledged to help the French who are fighting Islamist militants in Mali, and that assistance could include air and other logistical support, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said on Monday.

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta boards a plane bound for Portugal on Monday.

The United States was already sharing intelligence with the French when their warplanes on Sunday struck camps, depots and other militant positions deep inside extensive Islamist-held territory in northern Mali. Defense officials said no decisions had been made on whether the United States would also offer help with midflight refueling planes and air transport, but they said those options were under review.

Defense officials would not rule out the possibility that American military transport planes might land in Mali, where the United States has been conducting an ambitious counterterrorism program for years. American spy planes and surveillance drones are in the meantime trying to get a sense of the chaos on the ground. The defense officials would not discuss whether the United States has armed drone aircraft over Mali.

But Mr. Panetta, who spoke to reporters on his plane en route to Portugal for a weeklong trip Europe, said that the chaos in Mali was of deep concern to the administration and praised the French for their actions. He also said “ what we have promised them is that we would work with them, to cooperate with them, to provide whatever assistance we can to try to help them in that effort.”

Mr. Panetta said that even though Mali is far from the United States, the Obama administration was deeply worried about extremist groups there, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. “We’re concerned that any time Al Qaeda establishes a base of operations, while they might not have any immediate plans for attacks in the United States and in Europe, that ultimately that still remains their objective,” he said.

For that reason, Mr. Panetta said, “we have to take steps now to make sure that AQIM does not get that kind of traction.”

The United States has spent between $520 million and $600 million over the last four years to try to combat Islamist militancy in the region, including in Mali, which was until recently considered a prime example of what could be accomplished with American military training. American Special Forces trained Malian troops in marksmanship, border patrol and ambush drills.

But the situation collapsed when heavily armed Islamist fighters returned from combat in Libya and teamed up with jihadist groups like Ansar Dine, or Defenders of the Faith, which have carried out a harsh repression in northern Mali. Elite Malian commanders defected to the enemy and took with them troops, guns and their American-taught skills. An American-trained officer then overthrew Mali’s elected government, paving the way for half of the country to fall to Islamic extremists.

A confidential internal review completed last July by the Pentagon’s Africa Command concluded that the coup had unfolded too quickly for American commanders or intelligence analysts to detect any clear warning signs, but other military officials disagreed, saying the intelligence analysts had grown complacent..

Mr. Panetta sought to make the case that the United States was not surprised by the recent events in Mali and said that the Obama administration had been watching militants there for a long time. “When they began offensive operations to actually take on some cities, it was clear to France and to all of us that could not be allowed to continue, and that’s the reason France has engaged and it’s the reason we’re providing cooperation to them,” he said.

Mr. Panetta also said that “the fact is, we have made a commitment that Al Qaeda is not going to find any place to hide.”

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TIMESCAST: Suicide Prompts Investigation at M.I.T.

January 14, 2013By Fritzie Andrade, Zena Barakat, Axel Gerdau, David Frank and Pedro Rafael Rosado

TimesCast Media+Tech: M.I.T. examines its involvement in the suicide of Aaron Swartz. The post-Golden Globe marketing push by movie studios. Networks revisit conversations about violence.

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Well: How to Go Vegan

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.

At the grocery store, I stocked up on vegan foods, including almond milk (that was the presidential recommendation), and faux turkey and cheese to replicate my daughter’s favorite sandwich. But despite my good intentions, my cold-turkey attempt to give up, well, turkey (as well as other meats, dairy and eggs) didn’t go well. My daughter and I couldn’t stand the taste of almond milk, and the fake meat and cheese were unappealing.

Since then, I’ve spoken with numerous vegan chefs and diners who say it can be a challenge to change a lifetime of eating habits overnight. They offer the following advice for stocking your vegan pantry and finding replacements for key foods like cheese and other dairy products.

NONDAIRY MILK Taste all of them to find your favorite. Coconut and almond milks (particularly canned coconut milk) are thicker and good to use in cooking, while rice milk is thinner and is good for people who are allergic to nuts or soy. My daughter and I both prefer the taste of soy milk and use it in regular or vanilla flavor for fruit smoothies and breakfast cereal.

NONDAIRY CHEESE Cheese substitutes are available under the brand names Daiya, Tofutti and Follow Your Heart, among others, but many vegans say there’s no fake cheese that satisfies as well as the real thing. Rather than use a packaged product, vegan chefs prefer to make homemade substitutes using cashews, tofu, miso or nutritional yeast. At Candle 79, a popular New York vegan restaurant, the filling for saffron ravioli with wild mushrooms and cashew cheese is made with cashews soaked overnight and then blended with lemon juice, olive oil, water and salt.

THINK CREAMY, NOT CHEESY Creaminess and richness can often be achieved without a cheese substitute. For instance, Chloe Coscarelli, a vegan chef and the author of “Chloe’s Kitchen,” has created a pizza with caramelized onion and butternut squash that will make you forget it doesn’t have cheese; the secret is white-bean and garlic purée. She also offers a creamy, but dairy-free, avocado pesto pasta. My daughter and I have discovered we actually prefer the rich flavor of butternut squash ravioli, which can be found frozen and fresh in supermarkets, to cheese-filled ravioli.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST The name is unappetizing, but many vegan chefs swear by it: it’s a natural food with a roasted, nutty, cheeselike flavor. Ms. Coscarelli uses nutritional yeast flakes in her “best ever” baked macaroni and cheese (found in her cookbook). “I’ve served this to die-hard cheese lovers,” she told me, “and everyone agrees it is comparable, if not better.”

Susan Voisin’s Web site, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, offers a nice primer on nutritional yeast, noting that it’s a fungus (think mushrooms!) that is grown on molasses and then harvested and dried with heat. (Baking yeast is an entirely different product.) Nutritional yeasts can be an acquired taste, she said, so start with small amounts, sprinkling on popcorn, stirring into mashed potatoes, grinding with almonds for a Parmesan substitute or combining with tofu to make an eggless omelet. It can be found in Whole Foods, in the bulk aisle of natural-foods markets or online.

BUTTER This is an easy fix. Vegan margarines like Earth Balance are made from a blend of oils and are free of trans fats. Varieties include soy-free, whipped and olive oil.

EGGS Ms. Coscarelli, who won the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars with vegan cupcakes, says vinegar and baking soda can help baked goods bind together and rise, creating a moist and fluffy cake without eggs. Cornstarch can substitute for eggs to thicken puddings and sauces. Vegan pancakes are made with a tablespoon of baking powder instead of eggs. Frittatas and omelets can be replicated with tofu.

Finally, don’t try to replicate your favorite meaty foods right away. If you love a juicy hamburger, meatloaf or ham sandwich, you are not going to find a meat-free version that tastes the same. Ms. Voisin advises new vegans to start slow and eat a few vegan meals a week. Stock your pantry with lots of grains, lentils and beans and pile your plate with vegetables. To veganize a recipe, start with a dish that is mostly vegan already — like spaghetti — and use vegetables or a meat substitute for the sauce.

“Trying to recapture something and find an exact substitute is really hard,” she said. “A lot of people will try a vegetarian meatloaf right after they become vegetarian, and they hate it. But after you get away from eating meat for a while, you’ll find you start to develop other tastes, and the flavor of a lentil loaf with seasonings will taste great to you. It won’t taste like meat loaf, but you’ll appreciate it for itself.”

Ms. Voisin notes that she became a vegetarian and then vegan while living in a small town in South Carolina; she now lives in Jackson, Miss.

“If I can be a vegan in these not-quite-vegan-centric places, you can do it anywhere,” she said. “I think people who try to do it all at once overnight are more apt to fail. It’s a learning process.”

---

What are your vegantips? We’re collecting suggestions on ingredients, recipes and strategies.

Read More..

Well: How to Go Vegan

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.

At the grocery store, I stocked up on vegan foods, including almond milk (that was the presidential recommendation), and faux turkey and cheese to replicate my daughter’s favorite sandwich. But despite my good intentions, my cold-turkey attempt to give up, well, turkey (as well as other meats, dairy and eggs) didn’t go well. My daughter and I couldn’t stand the taste of almond milk, and the fake meat and cheese were unappealing.

Since then, I’ve spoken with numerous vegan chefs and diners who say it can be a challenge to change a lifetime of eating habits overnight. They offer the following advice for stocking your vegan pantry and finding replacements for key foods like cheese and other dairy products.

NONDAIRY MILK Taste all of them to find your favorite. Coconut and almond milks (particularly canned coconut milk) are thicker and good to use in cooking, while rice milk is thinner and is good for people who are allergic to nuts or soy. My daughter and I both prefer the taste of soy milk and use it in regular or vanilla flavor for fruit smoothies and breakfast cereal.

NONDAIRY CHEESE Cheese substitutes are available under the brand names Daiya, Tofutti and Follow Your Heart, among others, but many vegans say there’s no fake cheese that satisfies as well as the real thing. Rather than use a packaged product, vegan chefs prefer to make homemade substitutes using cashews, tofu, miso or nutritional yeast. At Candle 79, a popular New York vegan restaurant, the filling for saffron ravioli with wild mushrooms and cashew cheese is made with cashews soaked overnight and then blended with lemon juice, olive oil, water and salt.

THINK CREAMY, NOT CHEESY Creaminess and richness can often be achieved without a cheese substitute. For instance, Chloe Coscarelli, a vegan chef and the author of “Chloe’s Kitchen,” has created a pizza with caramelized onion and butternut squash that will make you forget it doesn’t have cheese; the secret is white-bean and garlic purée. She also offers a creamy, but dairy-free, avocado pesto pasta. My daughter and I have discovered we actually prefer the rich flavor of butternut squash ravioli, which can be found frozen and fresh in supermarkets, to cheese-filled ravioli.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST The name is unappetizing, but many vegan chefs swear by it: it’s a natural food with a roasted, nutty, cheeselike flavor. Ms. Coscarelli uses nutritional yeast flakes in her “best ever” baked macaroni and cheese (found in her cookbook). “I’ve served this to die-hard cheese lovers,” she told me, “and everyone agrees it is comparable, if not better.”

Susan Voisin’s Web site, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, offers a nice primer on nutritional yeast, noting that it’s a fungus (think mushrooms!) that is grown on molasses and then harvested and dried with heat. (Baking yeast is an entirely different product.) Nutritional yeasts can be an acquired taste, she said, so start with small amounts, sprinkling on popcorn, stirring into mashed potatoes, grinding with almonds for a Parmesan substitute or combining with tofu to make an eggless omelet. It can be found in Whole Foods, in the bulk aisle of natural-foods markets or online.

BUTTER This is an easy fix. Vegan margarines like Earth Balance are made from a blend of oils and are free of trans fats. Varieties include soy-free, whipped and olive oil.

EGGS Ms. Coscarelli, who won the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars with vegan cupcakes, says vinegar and baking soda can help baked goods bind together and rise, creating a moist and fluffy cake without eggs. Cornstarch can substitute for eggs to thicken puddings and sauces. Vegan pancakes are made with a tablespoon of baking powder instead of eggs. Frittatas and omelets can be replicated with tofu.

Finally, don’t try to replicate your favorite meaty foods right away. If you love a juicy hamburger, meatloaf or ham sandwich, you are not going to find a meat-free version that tastes the same. Ms. Voisin advises new vegans to start slow and eat a few vegan meals a week. Stock your pantry with lots of grains, lentils and beans and pile your plate with vegetables. To veganize a recipe, start with a dish that is mostly vegan already — like spaghetti — and use vegetables or a meat substitute for the sauce.

“Trying to recapture something and find an exact substitute is really hard,” she said. “A lot of people will try a vegetarian meatloaf right after they become vegetarian, and they hate it. But after you get away from eating meat for a while, you’ll find you start to develop other tastes, and the flavor of a lentil loaf with seasonings will taste great to you. It won’t taste like meat loaf, but you’ll appreciate it for itself.”

Ms. Voisin notes that she became a vegetarian and then vegan while living in a small town in South Carolina; she now lives in Jackson, Miss.

“If I can be a vegan in these not-quite-vegan-centric places, you can do it anywhere,” she said. “I think people who try to do it all at once overnight are more apt to fail. It’s a learning process.”

---

What are your vegantips? We’re collecting suggestions on ingredients, recipes and strategies.

Read More..

JPMorgan Told to Fix Controls Tied to $6 Billion Loss

WASHINGTON (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been ordered to take steps to correct poor risk management that led to a surprise trading loss last year of more than $6 billion.

Federal regulators also on Monday cited the bank for lapses in oversight that allowed the bank to be used for money laundering.

JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank by assets, will not pay a fine under the agreements with the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department agency. The bank promised to strengthen its policies and procedures to control risk and to screen customers to prevent money laundering.

The regulators each issued two cease-and-desist orders against JPMorgan, a sanction that requires a bank to change its practices. They said they had found "deficiencies" in the bank's procedures to prevent money laundering, and "unsafe or unsound practices" regarding management of risk. The order said the regulators and other government agencies could pursue further action.

The regulators said that the bank has committed to take "all necessary and appropriate steps" to correct the problems.

JPMorgan neither admitted nor denied the regulators' findings in agreeing to the accords.

"We've been working hard to fully remediate the issues" related to risk management, JPMorgan spokesman Mark Kornblau said Monday. He added that the bank has also made preventing money laundering a "top priority."

In May, JPMorgan disclosed that its London office lost billions in trades designed to hedge against risk. The bank later said that some traders had tried to hide the size of the losses.

The loss, which occurred less than four years after the 2008 financial crisis, hurt the bank's reputation. JPMorgan had survived the crisis by taking fewer risks than its competitors.

In June, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon acknowledged before congressional lawmakers that the bank made mistakes but defended its strategy for managing risk.

Still, the bank took action against several employees at the heart of the controversy. Two senior managers and the trader linked to the London trading operation were fired. The bank took back nearly two years' compensation from them.

In addition to the firings, Ina Drew, the bank's chief investment officer overseeing its trading strategy, retired after 30 years at the bank and voluntarily repaid two years of salary.

The bank also made a broad reshuffle of its top management, in an apparent bid to restore investors' trust.

The second action announced Monday against JPMorgan was related to money laundering controls. The accord did not cite any specific case, but the agreement reached was similar to one Citibank struck with regulators in April.

The bank was cited for poorly monitoring potential money laundering at a time when a number of banks have been the spotlight for such abuse.

HSBC agreed last month to pay $1.9 billion — the largest penalty ever imposed on a bank — for lapses the Justice Department said enabled Mexican drug traffickers, Iran, Libya and others under U.S. sanction to move money around the world. And Standard Chartered Bank is paying $327 million to settle U.S. and New York City charges that it laundered money on behalf of four countries subject to U.S. sanctions: Iran, Sudan, Libya and Burma.

Money laundering takes profits from the trafficking of drugs or arms or other illicit activities and passes them through bank accounts or other legitimate businesses to disguise the illegal activity.

___

AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode contributed to this report from New York.

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India Ink: Woman Raped by Seven Men in Punjab, Police Say

NEW DELHI — A 29-year-old woman was raped over the weekend by a bus driver, a conductor and five other men in the northern Indian state of Punjab, the police said Sunday, in an episode that recalls the recent attack in Delhi that has caused widespread outrage.

The woman in the Punjab attack boarded a bus on Friday bound for Gurdaspur to visit her in-laws, the Gurdaspur police chief, Raj Jit Singh, said in a telephone interview. When she got off the bus, the driver offered her a ride on his motorcycle, perhaps to her in-laws’ village, the police said. Instead, he took her to a nearby village, where he and six other men, including the bus conductor, raped her repeatedly through the night.

The next morning, the driver dropped her at her in-laws’ home, where the woman told family members of the rape and then reported it to the police, Mr. Singh said.

Six men, including the bus driver and conductor, have been arrested, he said. All of the men are in their 20s.

Gurmesh Singh, the deputy police superintendent for the region, said it was unclear how the bus driver persuaded the woman to go with him. She was in a state of distress during the bus ride, Mr. Singh said, and originally refused to get off the bus when it reached its destination.

The Press Trust of India, a news agency, reported that the bus driver did not stop when requested.

The gang rape of a woman on a bus in New Delhi on Dec. 16, and her death from injuries sustained during the attack, has led to widespread protests and calls for increased policing and tougher laws against sexual assault in India.

The evidence against five of the men arrested in the New Delhi rape is being heard this month in a special fast-track court created for sexual assault cases.

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City Room: Free Outdoor Wi-Fi Comes to West Chelsea

Residents of West Chelsea in Manhattan who were wondering what Google had done for them lately now have their answer: free Wi-Fi service for the whole neighborhood.

Google, which houses most of its 3,000 New York employees in a massive building on lower Eighth Avenue, has invested about $75,000 to install the broadest wireless network that is open to the public in any neighborhood in the city, elected officials announced Tuesday.

The service will be available for at least two years from Gansevoort Street north to 19th Street between Eighth Avenue and West Street. It was introduced at a news conference in a garden of a city housing project, the Robert S. Fulton Houses, by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Senator Charles E. Schumer and a Google official.

No city or federal funds went into building the network, which required installation of 29 antennas on lampposts and rooftops. The service was set up through a partnership of Google and the Chelsea Improvement Company, a nonprofit neighborhood organization.

Mayor Bloomberg said free Wi-Fi service was already available in 20 parks in the city and was scheduled to be added to 32 more this year, but he could not say when his vision of a citywide Wi-Fi network would be realized. He encouraged Mr. Schumer to provide federal funding to expand the service to more neighborhoods.

“Keep in mind. somebody’s got to pay for the Wi-Fi,” the mayor said. “The question is, who?”

The total cost of setting up the Chelsea network was about $115,000, the balance of which was contributed by the Chelsea Improvement Company, said Ben Fried, Google’s chief information officer. He said the partners had committed to keeping the free service running for two years.

Dan Biederman, the president of the improvement company, also runs the Bryant Park Business Improvement District, which has provided free Wi-Fi in Bryant Park on 42nd Street for several years. He said the 34th Street Partnership, another business improvement district, which he also runs, hopes to start providing free Wi-Fi service within a year.

The officials at Tuesday’s announcement emphasized that the service would be available throughout the Fulton Houses complex. But some of those inside the senior center there were in no hurry to surf the Internet.

Taking a break from shooting a game of pool, Epi Pacheco, 65, said he did not make much use of a computer. “I got a little iPod and I could use it to go to YouTube, I think,” he said.

Still, Mr. Pacheco, who lives on West 55th Street, said Google should expand the service to his neighborhood and others as well. “They make so many million dollars, they should give something to the people,” he said.

Mr. Fried said the Chelsea network was unrelated to an ultrahigh-speed Internet network called Google Fiber that the company had begun in Kansas City.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/09/2013, on page A18 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Free Wi-Fi From Google On Streets of Chelsea.

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City Room: Cuomo Declares Public Health Emergency Over Flu Outbreak

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

There have been nearly 20,000 cases of flu reported across the state so far this season, officials said. Last season, 4,400 positive laboratory tests were reported.

“We are experiencing the worst flu season since at least 2009, and influenza activity in New York State is widespread, with cases reported in all 57 counties and all five boroughs of New York City,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

Under the order, pharmacists will be allowed to administer flu vaccinations to patients between 6 months and 18 years old, temporarily suspending a state law that prohibits pharmacists from administering immunizations to children.

While children and older people tend to be the most likely to become seriously ill from the flu, Mr. Cuomo urged all New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that deaths from the flu had reached epidemic levels, with at least 20 children having died nationwide. Officials cautioned that deaths from pneumonia and the flu typically reach epidemic levels for a week or two every year. The severity of the outbreak will be determined by how long the death toll remains high or if it climbs higher.

There was some evidence that caseloads may be peaking, federal officials said on Friday.

In New York City, public health officials announced on Thursday that flu-related illnesses had reached epidemic levels, and they joined the chorus of authorities urging people to get vaccinated.

“It’s a bad year,” the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve got lots of flu, it’s mainly type AH3N2, which tends to be a little more severe. So we’re seeing plenty of cases of flu and plenty of people sick with flu. Our message for any people who are listening to this is it’s still not too late to get your flu shot.”

There has been a spike in the number of people going to emergency rooms over the past two weeks with flulike symptoms – including fever, fatigue and coughing – Dr. Farley said.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo made a public display of getting shots this past week.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, officials from the C.D.C. said that this year’s vaccine was effective in 62 percent of cases.

As officials have stepped up their efforts encouraging vaccinations, there have been scattered reports of shortages. But officials said plenty of the vaccine was available.

According to the C.D.C., makers of the flu vaccine produced about 135 million doses for this year. As of early this month, 128 million doses had been distributed. While that would not be enough for every American, only 37 percent of the population get a flu shot each year.

Federal health officials said they would be happy if that number rose to 50 percent, which would mean that there would be more than enough vaccine for anyone who wanted to be immunized.

Two other diseases – norovirus and whooping cough – are also widespread this winter and are contributing to the number of people getting sick.

The flu can resemble a cold, though the symptoms come on more rapidly and are more severe.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/13/2013, on page A21 of the NewYork edition with the headline: New York Declares Health Emergency.

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City Room: Cuomo Declares Public Health Emergency Over Flu Outbreak

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

There have been nearly 20,000 cases of flu reported across the state so far this season, officials said. Last season, 4,400 positive laboratory tests were reported.

“We are experiencing the worst flu season since at least 2009, and influenza activity in New York State is widespread, with cases reported in all 57 counties and all five boroughs of New York City,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

Under the order, pharmacists will be allowed to administer flu vaccinations to patients between 6 months and 18 years old, temporarily suspending a state law that prohibits pharmacists from administering immunizations to children.

While children and older people tend to be the most likely to become seriously ill from the flu, Mr. Cuomo urged all New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that deaths from the flu had reached epidemic levels, with at least 20 children having died nationwide. Officials cautioned that deaths from pneumonia and the flu typically reach epidemic levels for a week or two every year. The severity of the outbreak will be determined by how long the death toll remains high or if it climbs higher.

There was some evidence that caseloads may be peaking, federal officials said on Friday.

In New York City, public health officials announced on Thursday that flu-related illnesses had reached epidemic levels, and they joined the chorus of authorities urging people to get vaccinated.

“It’s a bad year,” the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve got lots of flu, it’s mainly type AH3N2, which tends to be a little more severe. So we’re seeing plenty of cases of flu and plenty of people sick with flu. Our message for any people who are listening to this is it’s still not too late to get your flu shot.”

There has been a spike in the number of people going to emergency rooms over the past two weeks with flulike symptoms – including fever, fatigue and coughing – Dr. Farley said.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo made a public display of getting shots this past week.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, officials from the C.D.C. said that this year’s vaccine was effective in 62 percent of cases.

As officials have stepped up their efforts encouraging vaccinations, there have been scattered reports of shortages. But officials said plenty of the vaccine was available.

According to the C.D.C., makers of the flu vaccine produced about 135 million doses for this year. As of early this month, 128 million doses had been distributed. While that would not be enough for every American, only 37 percent of the population get a flu shot each year.

Federal health officials said they would be happy if that number rose to 50 percent, which would mean that there would be more than enough vaccine for anyone who wanted to be immunized.

Two other diseases – norovirus and whooping cough – are also widespread this winter and are contributing to the number of people getting sick.

The flu can resemble a cold, though the symptoms come on more rapidly and are more severe.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/13/2013, on page A21 of the NewYork edition with the headline: New York Declares Health Emergency.

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Treasury Auctions Set for This Week

The Treasury’s schedule of financing this week includes Monday’s regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.

At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.07 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.10 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.05 percent.

The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week:

TUESDAY

Virginia Housing Development Authority, $90 million of revenue bonds. Competitive.

WEDNESDAY

North Carolina, $250 million of revenue bonds. Competitive.

THURSDAY

Frederick, Md., $54.4 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.

ONE DAY DURING THE WEEK

Alaska, $150 million of general obligation bond. Citigroup Global Markets.

Arizona Transportation Board, $706.3 million of highway revenue bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities.

Baltimore, $261.3 million of public improvement general obligation bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities.

Cleveland Municipal School District, $52.3 million of general obligation school improvement bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities.

Colorado Springs School District, $83.8 million of general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets.

Florida, $55 million of electric system revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets.

Lakewood, Colo., $100.9 million of revenue refinancing bonds. RBC Capital Markets.

Louisiana, $297.1 million of revenue refinancing bonds. Bank of America.

Missouri Housing Development Commission, $100.2 million of single-family mortgage revenue refinancing bonds. George K. Baum.

Mountain View, Calif., $50 million of school district debt securities. Piper Jaffray.

New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, $500 million of debt securities. Citigroup Global Markets.

North Harris County, Tex., $109.1 million of regional water authority revenue refinancing bonds. FirstSouthwest.

Ohio State University, $329.4 million of special purpose general receipts bonds. Barclays Capital Markets.

Oregon University System, $244.8 million of debt securities. Bank of America.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Finance Authority, $330 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets.

Redmond, Ore., School District, $63.1 million of general obligation bonds. Seattle-Northwest Securities.

San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, $411.2 million of debt securities. Jefferies.

San Francisco, $194 million of wastewater revenue refinancing debt securities. Citigroup Global Markets.

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