Lincoln Center to honor Tom Hanks in annual gala

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Film Society of Lincoln
Center will honor Tom Hanks in its annual gala tribute, citing the
actor's talent of making "a good man compelling."

The
two-time Academy Award winner will be feted April 27 at Alice Tully
Hall, which is being renovated but scheduled to reopen Feb. 22. It will
be the society's 36th annual gala, following last year's celebration of
Meryl Streep.

"There are so few actors who
have been able to make the struggle and drama of being a good man
compelling," Kent Jones, the society's associate director of
programming, said Monday. "With his talent, his presence, his
versatility, his sense of humor, he has set a very high standard for
his fellow actors."

The 52-year-old Hanks won best-actor Oscars for 1993's "Philadelphia" and 1994's "Forrest Gump."

Meltdown in US finance system pummels stock market

Meltdown on Wall Street
The
upheaval in the American financial system sent shock waves through the
stock market Monday, producing the worst day on Wall Street in seven
years as investors digested the failure of one of its most venerable
banks and wondered which domino would

Ex-N.Y. Mayor Koch: Palin 'Scares the Hell Out of Me'

She 'Scares the Hell Out of Me'
Saying
that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "scares the
hell out of me,'' former New York Mayor Ed Koch endorsed fellow
Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday.

iPod nano 4G hands-on

Yep, it's pretty much what you expected. Still, this thing is like a
sliver in your hands. Check the gallery below and see for yourself!

Federer Overwhelms Murray to Win Fifth U.S. Open

Roger Federer after defeating Andy Murray to capture the U.S. Open title. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

Roger Federer showed Andy Murray and the world that he’s far
from done. On Monday night, in front of a capacity crowd in Arthur Ashe
Stadium, Federer dominated the 21-year-old Scot, dictating play from
start to finish to win his fifth straight United States Open.

Federer won in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, breaking Murray’s service games an incredible seven times.

The Swiss former No. 1 was the aggressor throughout, placing his
backhands in just the right spots and then opening up with his powerful
and more reliable forehand.

iPod nano 4G leaked in actual, factual, really-real spy photo

Look, you know the drill here. This may be the painstaking result of
some CAD-school-dropout's nights home alone, or the latest in cheapo
knock-offs from the Far East. You may be looking at a Photoshop
spackled together from newspaper clippings, puppy dog tears, and Steve
Jobs' fever-dreams. Or, this could be a really crappy, actual photo of the iPod nano 4G in its packaging. It sure looks enough like what we've been seeing lately to be any / all of the above. Regardless, we'll know the truth real, real soon.

The story behind Google Chrome

Maybe A-Rod's problem is this: He simply chose the wrong sport

Rationally, we assume that it is much more agonizing to play an
individual sport, where you can expect no help from any teammates,
where you must depend completely upon yourself. But I believe that
there are certain team players with the personality that turns that
logic upside down, who suffer more pressure precisely because they are
not alone, who are intimidated more by having to produce for their
teammates.

Resting

Resting, originally uploaded by double DOT (azzu).

Hurricane Gustav slams La.; 1M without power

Gustav Rips Through Louisiana
Hurricane
Gustav slammed into the heart of Louisiana's fishing and oil industry
with 110 mph winds Monday, delivering only a glancing blow to New
Orleans that raised hopes the city would escape the kind of
catastrophic flooding brought by Katrina three years ago.

Palin says daughter, 17, is 5 months pregnant

Sep-01-2008 9:53:02 PM [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

AP
- John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, said Monday her 17-year-old
unmarried daughter was five months pregnant, the latest in a string of
disclosures that left the McCain campaign defending the thoroughness of
its background check of the little-known Alaska governor.

Wedding Carriage Horses Take Wild Ride in Brooklyn

NEW YORK (AP) -- This is one wedding the guests won't soon forget.

A pair of horses pulling a buggy got spooked, broke free and took
off down a Brooklyn street on Sunday, as the bride and groom were
walking toward the carriage.

Witnesses said something startled the animals, and the driver got
thrown from the buggy. The horses were stopped further down the street.

Help-wanted ad for nanny: `My kids are a pain'

NEW YORK (AP) -- It was an unusually honest ad
for a live-in nanny, a 1,000-word tome beginning, "My kids are a pain."
But it worked, attracting a brave soul who's never been a nanny before.

"If
you cannot multitask, or communicate without being passive aggressive,
don't even bother replying," Rebecca Land Soodak, a mother of four on
Manhattan's Upper East Side, wrote Aug. 19 in her advertisement on
Craigslist.

"I can be a tad difficult to work for. I'm loud, pushy and while I used to think we paid well, I am no longer sure."

This
being the age of instant communications, the ad took on a life of its
own, making the rounds of parenting blogs and e-mail inboxes and
inspiring an article in Thursday's New York Times.

Soodak,
a 40-year-old painter whose husband owns a wine store, eventually hired
Christina Wynn, a 25-year-old University of Virginia graduate, to take
care of Rubin, 12; Ellis, 9; and Shay and Cassie, both 6.

"I
made a commitment to stay in the job for at least a year," Wynn told
the Times. "I met the oldest child, but not the others, which my mother
said was crazy - to accept the job without meeting all the kids. So
we'll see." She noted that one of the pluses is that the children are
all in school for several hours each day.

Cops Search for Brooklyn Man Accused of Stealing Parking Meters

Police are looking for a Brooklyn man suspected of stealing 87 parking meters in Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay and Bensonhurst.

Maurice Mizrahi, 34, of Gravesend has been arrested 7 times in
the last year for stealing the coin-operated meters, police said.

No one has ever actually seen him stealing the meters, which are
quite heavy and extremely difficult to remove, according to police. And
yet several of them were actually extracted from the sidewalk
-- poles and all -- which in some cases went two feet deep
into the ground.

A woman, who police believe to be Mizrahi's mother, called 911 on
Wednesday after discovering 19 of them in her house at 2032 East 1st
street in Brooklyn's Gravesend section.

She then called again Thursday to tell police she had found many
more meters in a crawlspace in her home, and police removed the
additional 68 meters from the home Friday morning.

McCain picks Alaska gov as running mate.

McCain Surprises With VP Pick
John
McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a maverick conservative with
less than two years in office, as his vice presidential running mate
Friday in a startling choice announced before the start of the
Republican National Convention.

Tony Russo-8/15/08-Final MMD show

Sneak Peek: Inside the New Yankee Stadium

Advertise on NYTimes.com Home Sales Increased 3.1% in July

Home Sales Increased 3.1% in July

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM 24 minutes ago

The respite for the housing slump came as falling
prices appeared to lure more buyers into the market, but the number of
homes for sale increased significantly.

Web Audience for Games Soars for NBC and Yahoo

Web Audience for Games Soars for NBC and Yahoo

By BRIAN STELTER

The extent to which the Internet served as a
supplement to television was unprecedented, and there were two clear
winners: NBC’s Web site and Yahoo’s Olympics section.

Kennedy, Michelle Obama rally Dems at convention

'Barack Will Be Extraordinary'
Michelle
Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National
Convention Monday night, stressing her husband's values and belief in
the American dream, and the fact that she believes he'll be an
extraordinary president.