Indigenous People

JUAN ALDAMA, Mexico "Marcos never existed. " The driver leans from his perch inside the luggage compartment of the broken-down bus. "It is a myth. He was just somebody who put up a show. " An Indian man steps forward: "Marcos does exist as a person. We believe him. . . . We are Zapatistas. " What to think? The driver and a group of short, brown men are stuck at a desolate crossroads in the middle of Mexico. The idling Indians traveled more than 3,000 miles for a chance to pick tomatoes.

As Rio prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, all eyes are turning to the gray and blue walls of the storied Maracana stadium. Yet even with all the attention, few people notice about 30 indigenous people who have been squatting in the shadow of the cathedral of Brazilian soccer and will have to move as part of the neighborhood's $63.2 million makeover. Maracana, built for the 1950 World Cup, will be the keystone of the city's upcoming sporting events, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and the final match of World Cup. The...

Set in Africa, Audrey Schulman's gripping new novel, "Three Weeks in December," tells the alternating stories of two people, a century apart, locked in a struggle not just with the wildness that surrounds them, but that lies within them. It is the last month of 1899, and Jeremy, a young engineer, takes a job in British East Africa overseeing the construction of a railroad, the purpose of which is not so much to transport Africans as to claim the land and attract colonists to settle there.

Set in Africa, Audrey Schulman's gripping new novel, "Three Weeks in December," tells the alternating stories of two people, a century apart, locked in a struggle not just with the wildness that surrounds them, but that lies within them. It is the last month of 1899, and Jeremy, a young engineer, takes a job in British East Africa overseeing the construction of a railroad, the purpose of which is not so much to transport Africans as to claim the land and attract colonists to settle there.

As Rio prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, all eyes are turning to the gray and blue walls of the storied Maracana stadium. Yet even with all the attention, few people notice about 30 indigenous people who have been squatting in the shadow of the cathedral of Brazilian soccer and will have to move as part of the neighborhood's $63.2 million makeover. Maracana, built for the 1950 World Cup, will be the keystone of the city's upcoming sporting events, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and the final match of World Cup. The...

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay -- What do you see when you visit your country for the first time? So that our 12-year-old daughter could have that chance, our family returned for a week to Paraguay, where she was born. She had not been back since we brought her home to Arlington in 1993, when she was 4 months old. Emily's homecoming left her with memories to last a lifetime. We didn't bargain on how Sofia, our 9-year-old, would see the country. It was only 2 1/2 years ago that she came from Guatemala to become part of our family.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the queen of New Zealand's indigenous Maori population, died Tuesday her family announced. She was 75. Queen Te Ata was the sixth Maori sovereign, a direct descendant of a royal line that began in 1858 when the Maori responded to Britain's colonization of New Zealand by choosing a monarch of their own. The role carries only ceremonial powers but is hugely respected by most Maori. The queen was the longest-serving head of the Kingitanga (King)

PORT BLAIR, India -- Fighting to survive without water or food since the tsunami, villagers on a remote southern Indian archipelago forbidden to outsiders are starving and desperate for humanitarian aid, survivors and officials said yesterday. India has denied international aid groups access to enter most of the island territory of Andaman and Nicobar, the last tsunami blind spot where casualties are not known but feared to be in the thousands. "There is nothing to eat there.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate yesterday dashed efforts to give indigenous Hawaiians some of the same powers of self-governance granted to American Indians, with critics warning that it could lead to race-based privileges in a state known for its diversity. A procedural vote fell four short of the 60 votes needed to keep the bill on the Senate floor. The legislation, promoted by Senator Daniel Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, over the past seven years, is now effectively dead for this session of Congress.

LEQUEITIO, Mexico -- Saul climbs out of a pile of cotton. He wants to be a doctor. His teachers at the local elementary school skipped out after lunch. "I won't learn my medicine very well," Saul says. The "lagoon rain" starts to fall. In the desert of northern Mexico, the rain is dust, thrown by wind. It sets upon the loading yard behind a factory with a clattering contraption marked "Lummus Cotton Gin Company," "Columbus, GA USA," and "Patented July 23, 1935. " Battened tarps squirm and cough.

CUMBERLAND ISLAND, Georgia — On a sunny January morning we find biologist Carol Ruckdeschel outside her cabin, on the lonely north end of the island, in what is known as the Settlement. Freed slaves built houses here after the Civil War, but no African-American lives here now. In 1996 John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married in the tiny First African Baptist Church, steps away from Ruckdeschel’s back door. She wears shrimping boots and a fleece vest that looks like it may have washed up on the beach.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the queen of New Zealand's indigenous Maori population, died Tuesday her family announced. She was 75. Queen Te Ata was the sixth Maori sovereign, a direct descendant of a royal line that began in 1858 when the Maori responded to Britain's colonization of New Zealand by choosing a monarch of their own. The role carries only ceremonial powers but is hugely respected by most Maori. The queen was the longest-serving head of the Kingitanga (King)

WASHINGTON -- The Senate yesterday dashed efforts to give indigenous Hawaiians some of the same powers of self-governance granted to American Indians, with critics warning that it could lead to race-based privileges in a state known for its diversity. A procedural vote fell four short of the 60 votes needed to keep the bill on the Senate floor. The legislation, promoted by Senator Daniel Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, over the past seven years, is now effectively dead for this session of Congress.

JUAN ALDAMA, Mexico "Marcos never existed. " The driver leans from his perch inside the luggage compartment of the broken-down bus. "It is a myth. He was just somebody who put up a show. " An Indian man steps forward: "Marcos does exist as a person. We believe him. . . . We are Zapatistas. " What to think? The driver and a group of short, brown men are stuck at a desolate crossroads in the middle of Mexico. The idling Indians traveled more than 3,000 miles for a chance to pick tomatoes.

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay -- What do you see when you visit your country for the first time? So that our 12-year-old daughter could have that chance, our family returned for a week to Paraguay, where she was born. She had not been back since we brought her home to Arlington in 1993, when she was 4 months old. Emily's homecoming left her with memories to last a lifetime. We didn't bargain on how Sofia, our 9-year-old, would see the country. It was only 2 1/2 years ago that she came from Guatemala to become part of our family.

LEQUEITIO, Mexico -- Saul climbs out of a pile of cotton. He wants to be a doctor. His teachers at the local elementary school skipped out after lunch. "I won't learn my medicine very well," Saul says. The "lagoon rain" starts to fall. In the desert of northern Mexico, the rain is dust, thrown by wind. It sets upon the loading yard behind a factory with a clattering contraption marked "Lummus Cotton Gin Company," "Columbus, GA USA," and "Patented July 23, 1935. " Battened tarps squirm and cough.

M ost of us don't go around obsessing about the Seven Deadly Sins — most of us probably couldn't name them — but the transgressions defined during early Christian times still cross our consciousness on a regular basis. Who hasn't worried about eating too much, or been distressed by someone else's anger. Turns out, these "sins" are often the subjects of scientific study, albeit indirectly. Researchers gathered at the MIT Museum last month to describe work they've conducted relevant to the deadly seven, as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.

CUMBERLAND ISLAND, Georgia — On a sunny January morning we find biologist Carol Ruckdeschel outside her cabin, on the lonely north end of the island, in what is known as the Settlement. Freed slaves built houses here after the Civil War, but no African-American lives here now. In 1996 John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married in the tiny First African Baptist Church, steps away from Ruckdeschel’s back door. She wears shrimping boots and a fleece vest that looks like it may have washed up on the beach.

PORT BLAIR, India -- Fighting to survive without water or food since the tsunami, villagers on a remote southern Indian archipelago forbidden to outsiders are starving and desperate for humanitarian aid, survivors and officials said yesterday. India has denied international aid groups access to enter most of the island territory of Andaman and Nicobar, the last tsunami blind spot where casualties are not known but feared to be in the thousands. "There is nothing to eat there.