Today's Headlines: Crime in New York City Plunges to a Level Not Seen Since the 1950s

[In a Complex Tax Bill, Let the Hunt for Loopholes Begin]( | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. | [Unsubscribe]( [The New York Times]( [Most Popular]( | [Video]( | [Today's Headlines]( Thursday, December 28, 2017 IN THIS EMAIL [NYT] [World](#worldNews) | [U.S.](#nationalNews) | [Politics](#politicsNews) | [Business](#businessNews) | [Technology](#technologyNews) | [Sports](#sportsNews) | [Arts](#artsNews) | [N.Y./Region](#nyregionNews) | [Fashion & Style](#dailyFeatureNews) | [Today's Video](#videoNews) | [Obituaries](#obituaries) | [Editorials](#editorialsNews) | [Op-Ed](#opinionNews) | [On This Day](#onthisdayNews) | [CUSTOMIZE »]( Top News [Crime in New York City has declined for 27 straight years, even as police officers use less deadly force and make fewer arrests.]( [Crime in New York City Plunges to a Level Not Seen Since the 1950s]( By ASHLEY SOUTHALL The city is on pace for its lowest homicide total in decades. If the trend holds just a few more days, it will mark the 27th straight year that crime has declined. [An assembly line at Houdini Inc. in Fullerton, Calif. Houdini, better known as Wine Country Gift Baskets, used a 2004 law to claim a tax refund of nearly $300,000. When the I.R.S. sued, the company prevailed.]( [In a Complex Tax Bill, Let the Hunt for Loopholes Begin]( By NATALIE KITROEFF A 2004 change by Congress, meant to foster domestic manufacturing, may provide a cautionary tale: You can mine a lot of tax breaks from just one word. [The sprawling Amuay refinery on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. Some 200,000 gallons of gasoline and other products spilled from a slop tank at the refinery into an adjacent bay in late October.]( [Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela's Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse]( By KIRK SEMPLE and CLIFFORD KRAUSS The deepening troubles threaten to further destabilize a nation facing a dire recession and unbridled crime, as well as food and medicine shortages. For more top news, go to [NYTimes.com »]( [Get the Morning Briefing in Your Inbox]( What you need to know to start your day, delivered Monday through Friday. [Sign up »]( ADVERTISEMENT Editors' Picks [Oskar Pals, 19, operating a loader by remote control at the New Boliden mine in Sweden. In less than 10 years, he says, ]( BUSINESS [The Robots Are Coming, and Sweden Is Fine]( By PETER S. GOODMAN In a world full of anxiety about the potential job-destroying rise of automation, Sweden is well placed to embrace technology while limiting human costs. [Rex Tillerson at the United Nations this month.]( OPINION | Op-Ed Contributor [Rex Tillerson: I Am Proud of Our Diplomacy]( By REX TILLERSON The United States has helped push Islamic State out of Syria and Iraq, and is on stronger footing in its dealings with North Korea, Russia and China. QUOTATION OF THE DAY "Actually, today we're up to positive 6. That's nice. The last two days, we didn't get above zero." [ZACK HARGROVE]( a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, N.D., where the high this weekend could be minus 12. The Midwest and Northeast are locked in a record-breaking cold snap. [] Today's Videos [Amadeo García García, the last fluent speaker of Taushiro, in Intuto, Peru.]( [[Video] Video: The Last Man to Speak His Language]( Amadeo García García is the last man to speak Taushiro, a language spoken by an Amazon tribe. When he goes, an entire culture will disappear. We went to find him. [[Video] Video: Coping With Alzheimer's, Together and Apart]( Walt and Aline Zerrenner have found a range of coping mechanisms to deal with her memory loss. Join them as they tackle a typical day. [] World [Syrian soldiers parade past a banner depicting President Bashar al-Assad during a government celebration in December 2017.]( [Assad Must Go, Says Turkey's Leader, Seeking Leverage as War Winds Down]( By ANNE BARNARD The denunciation appeared to be Recep Tayyip Erdogan's effort to remind Russia, Syria's most powerful ally, that it cannot dictate the country's postwar future alone. [South Korean scientists monitored seismic waves in September after the North conducted a nuclear test.]( [North Korean Defectors Show Signs of Possible Radiation Exposure]( By CHOE SANG-HUN South Korea examined the health of North Korean defectors amid fears that nuclear tests may have released radioactive fallout. [The chef Jérôme Brochot, center, at his restaurant in Montceau-les-Mines, France.]( [Chef Gives Up a Star, Reflecting Hardship of 'the Other France']( By ADAM NOSSITER Most chefs work a lifetime for a Michelin star. Jérôme Brochot is giving his back. Why? He can't afford it. Neither can his declining old mining town. For more world news, go to [NYTimes.com/World »]( ADVERTISEMENT [] U.S. [Silas Knight making apple sauce on the farm. A new rule will significantly expand the oversight of the Food and Drug Administration at the farm.]( Trump Rules [When Picking Apples on a Farm With 5,000 Rules, Watch Out for the Ladders]( By STEVE EDER Produce growers represent a textbook example of what businesses describe as regulatory fatigue. President Trump is tapping into the discontent. [Removing lead paint from homes in St. Louis in 2016.]( [Appeals Court Orders E.P.A. to Update Lead Paint Rules, Quickly]( By LISA FRIEDMAN A federal panel told the agency to revise its standard for dangerous levels of lead in paint within a year. For more U.S. news, go to [NYTimes.com/US »]( ADVERTISEMENT [] Politics [Prince Harry, right, interviewed former President Barack Obama in Toronto in September. Their conversation was broadcast Wednesday on BBC Radio 4's flagship program, ]( [When Harry Met Barry: The BBC Obama Interview]( By CEYLAN YEGINSU The former president said he was adjusting to life outside the White House, and expressed concern, without naming names, about the possible corrosive effects of social media. [Scott Gottlieb, head of the F.D.A., said the agency has been working to be faster and better at implementing food recalls.]( [F.D.A. Leaves Tainted Foods on Shelves Too Long, Report Finds]( By SHEILA KAPLAN The agency has the authority to force recalls of contaminated foods but is not adequately ensuring timely compliance, an inspector general's report concludes. [Mike Huckabee, right, at a Trump campaign event in Des Moines last year.]( [Mike Huckabee Says Trump Is Like Churchill. Historians Disagree.]( By MAGGIE ASTOR The former Arkansas governor's tweets after seeing "Darkest Hour," a film about Winston Churchill, stirred up Twitter. For more political news, go to [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [] Business [Carrie Tice, the founder of Octavia Wellness in San Francisco. She sells cannabis products marketed to elderly customers looking for alternatives to opioids for pain relief and better sleep.]( Entrepreneurship [California Marijuana Start-Ups, Shut Out From Banks, Turn to Private Backing]( By JULIE WEED As recreational marijuana becomes legal there on Jan 1., entrepreneurs will be rushing in to a nascent market. But finding expertise and financing will be challenging. [Workers protesting outside a Teva factory in Jerusalem this month after the company said it would lay off 14,000 employees.]( ['Nobody Thought It Would Come to This': Drug Maker Teva Faces a Crisis]( By DAVID SEGAL and ISABEL KERSHNER The move by Israel's corporate version of a celebrity to lay off 14,000 workers was greeted with outrage and a nationwide strike. [Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which bought Volvo Cars in 2010, announced a deal on Wednesday that would make it the largest shareholder in AB Volvo, which makes trucks.]( [Geely Buys Stake in Volvo Trucks, Despite China Restrictions]( By SUI-LEE WEE The government in Beijing has unveiled an array of new regulations to temper outbound investment. But Chinese companies are still going global. For more business news, go to [NYTimes.com/Business »]( [] Technology [Immigrants take the oath of allegiance to the United States during a naturalization ceremony in September in Jersey City, N.J. Visabot, a company in San Francisco, created an automated tool to guide people through the immigration process.]( The Shift [Some Things About Tech Were Good in 2017. No, Really.]( By KEVIN ROOSE Amid a series of scandals and sins, a few righteous tech innovators actually brought positive change this year. [5 New Year's Resolutions to Protect Your Technology]( By BRIAN X. CHEN The cybersecurity nightmares of 2017 highlight the need to protect yourself. Here are some resolutions for living a safer digital life this new year. [On Jan. 1, the Library of Congress will use selective discretion in archiving tweets.]( [The Library of Congress No Longer Wants All the Tweets]( By NIRAJ CHOKSHI Having archived almost 12 years' worth of public tweets, the institution says it has enough and intends to be more selective. For more technology news, go to [NYTimes.com/Technology »]( [] Sports [Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney after his team won the ACC Football Championship earlier this month. Swinney has taken what by many rights should be just another Southern school that likes football to a competitive level unmatched by almost any other.]( [Dabo Swinney Creates the Un-Alabama at Clemson]( By MARC TRACY Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney played for Alabama and now plays against them for the third straight playoff. His strategy? Be the opposite of Nick Saban. [Tyson Chandler of the Phoenix Suns putting the ball in the basket in the final moments of Tuesday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies.]( [Suns Pull Off the Hidden-Rule Trick and Emerge With a Victory]( By FILIP BONDY In the latest instance of a coach exploiting an obscure rule, the Suns avoided a goaltending call on a last-second inbounds pass that was dunked by Tyson Chandler for a win. [Everton's Jonjoe Kenny, Mason Holgate and Dominic Calvert-Lewin after a recent Premier League match. Kenny and Calvert-Lewin started for England when it won the Under-20 World Cup in June, but their quick transition into Everton's first team makes them outliers for their age.]( On Soccer [For England's Next Generation, Shine of Youth Trophies Only Carries So Far]( By RORY SMITH Halfway through the league season, a talented crop of young English players is finding that age-group success doesn't necessarily translate to Premier League minutes. For more sports news, go to [NYTimes.com/Sports »]( [] Arts [Anderson Cooper, left, and Andy Cohen at Cafe Cluny in the West Village. They will host CNN's New Year's Eve coverage this year.]( When They Met [That Time Andy Cohen Asked Anderson Cooper Out (and About His Mom)]( By ISAAC OLIVER The hosts of New Year's Eve on CNN banter about Panda Express, gay nightclubs, Mr. Cooper's angry silences and Mr. Cohen's advice about Hurricane Katrina. [Stephen Colbert, whose ratings ticked up when he started to consistently attack President Trump on ]( [Late-Night TV Highlights in 2017: Trump, Russia, Weinstein and More]( By GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO The first year of President Trump's administration provided considerable fodder for hosts. [Taylor Swift took a risk few artists could afford to take in 2017 - holding her new album, ]( [The Pop Charts Were Crazy This Year. Here's Why.]( By JOE COSCARELLI As streaming continues to remake the music industry, artists and record labels schemed and scrambled, remixed and bundled to get their songs into fans' ears. For more arts news, go to [NYTimes.com/Arts »]( [] New York [Left Behind by the Nation's Largest Subway System]( By SARAH MASLIN NIR No physical structure embodies the divisions in New York City as plainly as the subway system, which serves the five boroughs unequally. [Work Stops on St. Nicholas Shrine at World Trade Center Site]( By SHARON OTTERMAN The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America received $37 million in donations for the reconstruction but could not pay its bills, Skanska U.S.A. said. [Almost six weeks after a fire at 565 West 144th Street in Manhattan's Hamilton Heights neighborhood, few of the 36 families that lived there have found new homes.]( [Losing Homes in Manhattan Fire Was Just the Start of Their Ordeal]( By LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ Thirty-six families were left homeless after a fire in Hamilton Heights. Now, they are struggling to replace documents and find affordable apartments. For more New York news, go to [NYTimes.com/NewYork »]( [] Fashion & Style [A house owner on Cemetery Lane in Sagaponack has sheathed each individual plant against the harsh wind and salt air from the nearby ocean.]( [Make Mine the Burlap Wrap]( By GUY TREBAY Whether a horticultural necessity or an off-season display of wealth, the now-ubiquitous custom of burlapping has had the unexpected effect of transforming the Hamptons into an enormous art park. [Online shopping is easy. Online returns? Not so much.]( [Many Unhappy Returns? Online Holiday Shopping's Big Hangover]( By DOUGLAS QUENQUA Boxing Day has a new meaning in the era of e-commerce: packing and shipping or lugging back stuff bought in those gleeful clicking sprees. [Mindy Yang, the owner of Perfumarie in SoHo.]( Skin Deep [What Perfume Are You Wearing? Now You Never Have to Tell]( By RACHEL SYME At Perfumarie, you smell scents on tap. The catch? You aren't allowed to know what they are. For more fashion news, go to [NYTimes.com/Fashion »]( []Obituaries [Dr. Jerold F. Lucey in 1997. ]( [Jerold F. Lucey, Innovator in Premature Births, Dies at 91]( By PAM BELLUCK Dr. Lucey helped introduce new treatments for fragile newborns and edited the journal Pediatrics for 35 years. [Ralph Carney in 1998. Though best known as a saxophonist, he also played clarinet, trumpet, violin, harmonica, panpipes, keyboards, trombone, ukulele and banjo.]( [Ralph Carney, Saxophonist for Tom Waits and Many Others, Dies at 61]( By JON PARELES Mr. Carney, who also played dozens of other instruments, was a versatile musician with a distinct sensibility who recorded widely, and wildly. For more obituaries, go to [NYTimes.com/Obituaries »]( [] Editorial Editorial [Reforms Rein In Police Harassment; Now More Is Needed]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Stop-and-frisk has been drastically reduced, but officers still need to be more accountable. [A Houthi fighter on rubble from the Republican Palace in Yemen's capital, Sana, after Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Dec. 5.]( Editorial [The Yemen Crucible]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Yemenis are dying as Saudi Arabia, with American help, and Iran fight a proxy war. For more opinion, go to [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [] Op-Ed Op-Ed Contributor [Confessions of a Digital Nazi Hunter]( By YAIR ROSENBERG In the wake of Trump's victory, I built a bot to expose bigots. Then Twitter suspended it - and kept the bigots. [Rescue workers at the scene of a truck bomb explosion outside a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 14.]( Op-Ed Contributor [A Deadly Year in My Family's Homeland]( By SAFY-HALLAN FARAH As a child, I didn't understand the extent to which clan ideology distorted many people's thinking. [Protestors against the Republican tax bill in Westfield, New Jersey, this month.]( Op-Ed Contributor [Who's Winning the Culture War? Corporate America]( By DAVID A. HOPKINS The realignment of our parties by region has left a bigger imprint on economic policy than on cultural issues. For more opinion, go to [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [] ON THIS DAY On Dec. 28, 1981, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va. 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