Toyota to pay big to settle suits

Toyota Motor Corp., moving to put years of legal problems behind it, has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle dozens of lawsuits relating to sudden acceleration.

The proposed deal, filed Wednesday in federal court, would be among the largest ever paid out by an automaker. It applies to numerous suits claiming economic damages caused by safety defects in the automaker's vehicles, but does not cover dozens of personal injury and wrongful-death suits that are still pending around the nation.

The suits were filed over the last three years by Toyota and Lexus owners who claimed that the value of their vehicles had been hurt by the potential for defects, including floor mats that could cause the vehicles to surge out of control.

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In addition, Toyota said it is close to settling suits filed by the Orange County district attorney and a coalition of state attorneys general who had accused the automaker of deceptive business practices. The costs of those agreements would be included in a $1.1-billion charge the Japanese automaker said it will take against earnings to cover the actions.

"We concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interests of the company, our employees, our dealers and, most of all, our customers," Christopher Reynolds, Toyota's chief counsel in the U.S., said in a statement.

Toyota's lengthy history of sudden acceleration was the subject of a series of Los Angeles Times articles in 2009, after a horrific crash outside San Diego that took the life of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and his family.

Under terms of the agreement, which has not yet been approved in court, Toyota would install brake override systems in numerous models and provide cash payments from a $250-million fund to owners whose vehicles cannot be modified to incorporate that safety measure.

In addition, the automaker plans to offer extended repair coverage on throttle systems in 16 million vehicles and offer cash payments from a separate $250-million fund to Toyota and Lexus owners who sold their vehicles or turned them in at the end of a lease in 2009 or 2010. The total value of the settlement could reach $1.4 billion, according to Steve Berman, the lead plaintiff attorney in the case.

The lawsuits, filed over the last several years, had been seeking class certification.

News of the agreement comes scarcely a week after Toyota agreed to pay a record $17.35-million fine to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to report a potential floor mat defect in a Lexus SUV. Those come on top of almost $50 million in fines paid by Toyota for other violations related to sudden acceleration since 2010.

The massive settlement does not, however, put Toyota's legal woes to rest. The automaker still faces numerous injury and wrongful death claims around the country, including a group of cases that have been consolidated in federal court in Santa Ana, and other cases awaiting trial in Los Angeles County.

The first of the federal cases, involving a Utah man who was killed in a Camry that slammed into a wall in 2010, is slated for trial in mid-February.

The California cases are set to begin in April, among them a suit involving a 66-year-old Upland woman who was killed after her vehicle allegedly reached 100 miles per hour and slammed into a tree.

Edgar Heiskell III, a West Virginia attorney who has a dozen pending suits against Toyota, said he is preparing to go to trial this summer in a case that involved a Flint, Mich., woman who was killed when her 2005 Camry suddenly accelerated near her home.

"We are proceeding with absolute confidence that we can get our cases heard on the merits and that we expect to prove defects in Toyota's electronic control system," he said.

Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said the settlement would have no bearing on the personal injury cases.

"All carmakers face these kinds of suits," he said. "We'll defend those as we normally would."

The giant automaker's sudden acceleration problems first gained widespread attention after the August 2009 crash of a Lexus ES outside San Diego.

That accident set off a string of recalls, an unprecedented decision to temporarily stop sales of all Toyota vehicles and a string of investigations, including a highly unusual apology by Toyota President Akio Toyoda before a congressional committee. Eventually Toyota recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide and has since spent huge sums — estimated at more than $2 billion, not including Wednesday's proposed settlement — to repair both its automobiles and public image.

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Shootings across city wound at least 3 on Christmas

Police outside the crime scene on 69th Street, where an 18-year-old man was shot before midnight on Christmas. (Peter Nickeas / Chicago Tribune / December 26, 2012)

By Peter Nickeas




Tribune reporter

1:02 a.m. CST, December 26, 2012

An 18-year-old man was shot and killed and three others wounded, two of them seriously, across the city Tuesday afternoon.

The man died after someone shot him in the 2000 block of West 69th Street, just west of Damen Avenue, in the West Englewood neighborhood. He was shot after 11:30 p.m. but additional details about that shooting weren't immediately available.  

A woman is in critical condition after getting shot in the neck Tuesday night, according to police, one of at least three people shot since 2 p.m. Christmas day.

The 22-year-old was shot inside an apartment on the 1900 block of South Harding Street in the Lawndale neighborhood about 9:40 p.m., police said. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.

The woman was shot by her boyfriend during a fight inside the apartment, police said.

About 7 p.m., an 11-year-old boy was grazed in the arm in the 6200 block of South Michigan Avenue and taken to Comer Children's Hospital, according to police. He was walking in a group when he heard shots and felt pain.

Another man was left in serious condition after someone shot him in the back in the Hermosa neighborhood about 2 p.m. That happened in the 4300 block of West Armitage Avenue on the Northwest Side.

No one is in custody for the shootings and Area North and Area Central detectives are investigating.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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How ‘Doctor Who’ Kept Its Big Christmas Secret Off Twitter

Tonight Doctor Who fans get to gorge on their annual Christmas fix — a full-length special episode the series has produced every year for the holiday since 2005. This time, however, there’s some extra spice in the form of a new regular cast member: Jenna-Louise Coleman debuts in “The Snowmen” as the Doctor’s next companion.

Except it’s not her debut. Coleman actually made her first appearance in the series premiere back in September. Actually, make that surprise appearance. In preseason interviews, Doctor Who‘s producers had explicitly told fans they’d have to wait until Christmas before they’d see Coleman in the show.

[More from Mashable: Top 10 Twitter Pics of the Week]

But there she was, fighting Daleks and making soufflés, way ahead of schedule. This was unheard of for the series, which has seen major plotlines leak online — usually months before broadcast — several times over the past few years. The show had gotten to the point where it would simply announce any major developments far in advance in order to get ahead of the spoiler hunters.

Yet somehow the show’s producers kept Coleman’s early debut a secret — a feat made even more challenging since there were several preview screenings of the episode, each attended by hundreds of rabid fans, all carrying smartphones. How did Doctor Who keep every single one of them from tweeting about it?

[More from Mashable: How Music Ruled Twitter in 2012]

“I asked. That’s it,” says Steven Moffat, Doctor Who‘s current showrunner. “I don’t think anyone thought it would work. I certainly didn’t. At the London premiere, I just stood up and said, ‘Please, nobody, no fan, no newspaper — nobody at all — mention that she’s in it. And to my surprise it worked.”

Moffat says the idea of misleading the audience about when Coleman would debut “grew” as he was writing the current series. But it almost didn’t happen since others at the BBC wanted to get ahead of the news and announce her presence at the first preview screening. Moffat, however, was convinced (rightly, it turns out) that he could persuade the fans and journalists in attendance to guard the secret.

“They tried to talk me out of it at the last minute,” he says. “And it did involve a lot of charming journalists and saying ‘Please don’t…’ It was the polite embargo, really. We couldn’t really embargo it. And I was always clear, ‘There is no punishment here. You don’t get blacklisted — I’m just asking, and the show will be better if you keep this secret.’ And they did.”

But did really not a single person on fire off a quick tweet about Coleman being on the show? It appears so. Although Twitter doesn’t offer a way to search tweets within a specific date range, searching the Twitter domain on Google during the month of August (the series premiered on Sept. 1) for her name reveals just regular promotion for the show.

“You can get a long way just by asking politely,” says Moffat. “Who knew that’s all you had to do? What’s remarkable about it is not one single person broke. And I really didn’t think that was going to work, because if any website had broken it — if any forum had broken it — the press would have just leapt in. They would have felt no further need for restraint. But they didn’t.”

Now Coleman makes her “proper” debut in the Christmas special, but is she playing the same character as before (who was — spoiler alert — abruptly killed off), or someone different? Moffat’s already told fans not to expect any great explanations under the tree. What’s going on with Coleman’s character (characters?) won’t be fully revealed until the series returns in the New Year.

But who knows? Maybe that’s another mislead.

Will you be watching Doctor Who tonight? Does the show still surprise you? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Doctor Who Returns

Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) attended a special screening of the premiere of Doctor Who Series 7 at New York City’s Ziegfeld Theater. The episode, “Asylum of the Daleks,” debuts on BBC America on Sept. 1.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Britain’s royal family attends Christmas services

LONDON (AP) — Britain‘s royal family is attending Christmas Day church services — with a few notable absences.

Wearing a turquoise coat and matching hat, Queen Elizabeth II arrived at St. Mary Magdelene Church on her sprawling Sandringham estate in Norfolk. She was accompanied in a Bentley by granddaughters Beatrice and Eugenie.

Her husband, Prince Philip, walked from the house to the church with other members of the royal family.

Three familiar faces were missing from the family outing. Prince William is spending the holiday with his pregnant wife Kate and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury. Prince Harry is serving with British troops in Afghanistan.

Later Tuesday, the queen will deliver her traditional, pre-recorded Christmas message, which for the first time will be broadcast in 3D.

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Recipes for Health: Penne With Mushroom Ragout and Spinach

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Penne with mushroom ragout and spinach.

​​Mushrooms and spinach together is always a match made in heaven. I use a mix of wild and regular white or cremini mushrooms for this, but don’t hesitate to make it if regular mushrooms are all that is available.

 

1/2 ounce (about 1/2 cup) dried porcini mushrooms

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion or 2 shallots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound mixed regular and wild mushrooms or 1 pound regular white or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and cut in thick slices (or torn into smaller pieces, depending on the type of mushroom)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup fruity red wine, such as a Côtes du Rhone or Côtes du Luberon

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or a combination of thyme and rosemary

6 ounces baby spinach or 12 ounces bunch spinach (1 bunch), stemmed and thoroughly cleaned

3/4 pound penne

Freshly grated Parmesan to taste

 

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a Pyrex measuring cup and pour on 2 cups boiling water. Let soak 30 minutes, while you prepare the other ingredients. Place a strainer over a bowl, line it with cheesecloth or paper towels, and drain the mushrooms. Squeeze the mushrooms over the strainer to extract all the flavorful juices. Then rinse the mushrooms, away from the bowl with the soaking liquid, until they are free of sand. Squeeze dry and set aside. If very large, chop coarsely. Measure out 1 cup of the soaking liquid and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy, nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the onion or shallots. Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the fresh mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, until they begin to soften and sweat, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and salt to taste, stir together for about 30 seconds, then add the reconstituted dried mushrooms and the wine and turn the heat to high. Cook, stirring, until the liquid boils down and glazes the mushrooms. Add the herbs and the mushroom soaking liquid. Bring to a simmer, add salt to taste, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the mushrooms are thoroughly tender and fragrant. Turn off the heat, stir in some freshly ground pepper, taste and adjust salt.

3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Fill a bowl with ice water. Add the spinach to the boiling water and blanch for 20 seconds only. Remove with a skimmer and transfer to the ice water, then drain and squeeze out water. Chop coarsely and add to the mushrooms. Reheat gently over low heat.

4. Bring the water back to a boil and cook the pasta al dente following the timing suggestions on the package. If there is not much broth in the pan with the mushrooms and spinach, add a ladleful of pasta water. Drain the pasta, toss with the mushrooms and spinach, add Parmesan to taste, and serve at once.

Yield: Serves 4

Advance preparation: The mushroom ragout will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator and tastes even better the day after you make it.

Nutritional information per serving: 437 calories; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 73 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 48 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste or Parmesan); 17 grams protein

​

Up Next: Spinach Gnocchi

 

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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Corporate tax rate overhaul may be part of a 'fiscal cliff' deal

WASHINGTON — Amid the wrangling over the so-called fiscal cliff, President Obama and congressional Republicans can agree on something: They want to lower the corporate tax rate.

The U.S. has the highest overall rate of any of the world's developed economies. It took the top spot in March after Japan reduced its rate, mimicking other countries that have lowered taxes to lure new businesses and keep existing companies from leaving.

Negotiations to avert automatic income tax increases and federal spending cuts scheduled to kick in Jan. 1 could provide the impetus for U.S. policymakers to tackle an overhaul of the corporate tax code next year.

The White House wants to put a corporate tax overhaul, along with changes to the individual income tax system, on a fast track as part of any deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff."

The centerpiece of an overhaul would be slashing the 35% corporate tax rate, a goal long sought by corporate executives and lobbyists.

Quiz: How much do you know about the 'fiscal cliff'?

"In the name of global competitiveness, I think that has largely been agreed to," Jim McNerney, chief executive of Boeing Co., said about how both parties view the need for major corporate tax changes.

In February, Obama proposed lowering the federal rate to 25% for manufacturing companies and to 28% for other firms. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has been pushing a plan to lower the rate to 25% for all corporations.

In both cases, the rate cuts would be accompanied by the elimination of some of the numerous tax breaks that allow many companies to pay a much lower effective tax rate — and sometimes to avoid paying any corporate taxes at all.

"The administration's position on this is very much in sync with what Republicans say they want, which is a lower rate and a broader base," said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the former chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden.

But there still are some obstacles to a deal.

Some Democrats want to use an overhaul to increase the amount of tax revenue coming from corporations, while Republicans want to keep the amount the same. The White House and congressional Republicans also differ on how the U.S. should treat money earned abroad.

And the business community itself is divided. Many small companies file taxes as individuals. They're opposed to any "fiscal cliff" deal that would raise their rates while giving corporations a rate reduction.

Analysts said the obstacles could be overcome because there is consensus around the broader point that the U.S. needs to bring its corporate tax rate in line with other developed nations.

"Regardless of your political persuasion, it is unquestionably the case that the nominal U.S. corporate tax rate is much higher than that of peer countries," said Edward Kleinbard, a USC law professor and former chief of staff of Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation.

The case for corporate tax reform got a boost when the overall U.S. rate of 39.1%, which includes federal, state and local corporate taxes, became the highest this year among the 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Two decades ago, the U.S. was 13th.

"At one time in the '80s, we had a competitive corporate tax rate," said Dorothy Coleman, vice president of tax and domestic economic policy for the National Assn. of Manufacturers. "We've fallen behind by standing still."

Quiz: The year in business

But the rate in the tax code isn't what many companies pay because of a host of deductions and tax credits. In 2011, the effective corporate tax rate in the U.S. was 29.2%, roughly in line with the 31.9% average of the six other largest developed economies, the Obama administration said.

The White House said that parity does not mean the statutory rate shouldn't be reduced. It simply means that many tax breaks should be eliminated, allowing the rate to be lowered without adding to the deficit.

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6 shot within hours; 5 seriously hurt

Six people were hurt, five seriously, in shootings on the South and West sides late Monday.

Four of the injured were hurt in a single shooting on the Far South Side, and all four were taken to local hospitals in serious-to-critical condition, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

The shooting happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. in the 9400 block of South Justine Street, officials said.

A male shooter opened fire, striking four males as they walked down the sidewalk, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said, citing preliminary information.

A 15-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man were taken to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, a 17-year old man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and a 19-year-old man was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.

The 15-year-old was shot in the abdomen, and the 17-year-old was shot in the chest, police said.

The other two men were shot multiple times.

Police said the condition of each was stabilized at the hospital.

The shooting happened in the Brainerd neighborhood.

About 9:05 p.m., a 19-year-old man was shot in the head in the West Side's University Village neighborhood, police said. 

The man was taken to Stroger in serious condition from the 1200 block of West Washburne Avenue , Zala said.

Earlier Monday evening, a 37-year-old man was shot in the leg and back in the South Side's Gresham neighborhood, police said.

The shooting happened in the 700 block of West 81st Street about 5:50 p.m., Zala said. The man was taken to an area hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

Check back for more information.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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El MIDI, la tecnología que le abrió la puerta a la música digital, cumple 30 años

Un pequeño teclado y un ordenador portátil: hasta que apareció la tecnología MIDI, hace 30 años, nadie imaginaba que sólo con ese equipo se podría dar un concierto. Dicen los entendidos que para apreciar realmente el tema Shine on you crazy diamond , de Pink Floyd, es mejor escucharlo en vinilo.

Las emisiones de los sintetizadores estallan a través del crepitar de la púa sobre el disco, mientras la guitarra y la batería marcan un ritmo ondulante. Es un sonido enorme que define toda una época, y uno puede sumergirse por completo en el espíritu de esos años con esa versión en vinilo.

Pero más allá de la impresionante creatividad de la música, el sonido evidencia una importante limitación en la forma en la que los instrumentos musicales electrónicos se controlaban en aquel momento.

“Una banda como Kraftwerk, por ejemplo, utilizaba 200 teclados analógicos distintos”, explica el músico argentino Cineplexx.

Pero la tecnología de la Interfaz Digital de Instrumentos Musicales (MIDI, según sus siglas en inglés) permitió conectar los instrumentos a una computadora y entre sí, lo que supuso un cambio enorme.

“Yo cuando doy un concierto utilizo un teclado con 20 teclas y un ordenador portátil”, cuenta Cineplexx .

Con estos elementos es posible componer, secuenciar, programar, modificar y reproducir el sonido de cualquier instrumento, como “un vibráfono o un sintetizador”.

Un lenguaje común

El protocolo MIDI nació en California, de la mano de Dave Smith, un fabricante de sintetizadores, que convenció a sus competidores para que adoptaran un formato en común que permitiera controlar de forma externa a los sintetizadores, con otro teclado o incluso a través de una computadora.

MIDI pronto se convertiría en el estándar industrial para conectar diferentes instrumentos electrónicos, cajas de ritmo, samplers y ordenadores. Esta tecnología abrió una “nueva era de procesamiento musical”.

“Lo que hizo MIDI es permitir el nacimiento de los primeros estudios de grabación caseros”, cuenta Smith en conversación con Tom Bateman, de BBC Radio 4.

El Prophet-600 de Sequential Circuits en acción

“Las computadoras eran lo suficientemente rápidas como para secuenciar notas y controlar el número de teclados y cajas de ritmos al mismo tiempo, y eso abrió paso a una industria nueva”.

Fue un avance que tendría el mismo impacto en la música popular que la electrificación de guitarras, desarrollada décadas antes.

El nacimiento de la música dance

Alex Paterson , fundador de la banda de ambient dance llamada The Orb, tiene un estudio de grabación en su casa de Buckinghamshire, Reino Unido.

“Que Dios bendiga a MIDI”, exclama al ser consultado.

“Fue como entrar en un sueño”, cuenta, refiriéndose al sistema utilizado en 1990 para grabar el tema emblemático de la banda, Little Fluffy Clouds.

“Estaba todo allí guardado, listo para que tú lo lances, fue realmente increíble”, recuerda.

Este control orquestado y secuenciado de los sonidos de sintetizadores, cajas de ritmo y samplers dio lugar a nuevas formas de producción: así nació la música dance.

Lo que hizo MIDI fue “separar la tecla del sonido”, dice Cineplexx. Ahora se pueden crear órdenes digitales y asignarle a cada tecla los sonidos que se quieran.

El músico argentino ofrece una comparación interesante con las cámaras digitales y analógicas en el mundo de la fotografía.

“Hay quienes cuestionan la calidad”, dice, pero destaca que en la práctica el MIDI proporcionó la posibilidad de escribir partituras digitales interpretarlas como se quiera con un pequeño teclado.

Libre acceso

El primer instrumento con capacidad MIDI fue un sintetizador llamado Prophet-600 – diseñado por Dave Smith – que comenzó a producirse en 1982.

Las computadoras Atari y Commodore 64, muy populares entre los aficionados a los videojuegos en aquella época, también podían utilizarse para controlar instrumentos MIDI a través de un cable con conectores DIN (de cinco puntas) en cada extremo.

La amplia disponibilidad del formato y la facilidad de su uso permitieron redefinir la música pop de los 80, le aportaron un fuerte sonido electrónico y engendraron muchos de los géneros musicales contemporáneos.

Dom Beken, coproductor de Alex Paterson, recuerda cómo la tecnología MIDI permitió que cualquiera pudiera crear “masivos paisajes sonoros”. “Pioneros de la electrónica y antiguos punks ahora podían hacer cosas que enloquecían al público en las pistas de baile”, dice.

Para Dave Smith, MIDI sólo podía triunfar si todos los fabricantes la adoptaban. “Tuvimos que regalarla”, dice. La universalidad del formato fue quizás un ejemplo precursor de lo que ahora se denomina tecnología de código abierto (open source), para que cualquiera tuviera acceso.

“Por supuesto que hubiera sido divertido ganar dinero con ella”, dice su creador californiano.

“Pero ese no era el plan”.

Treinta años después, la tecnología MIDI se mantiene como uno de los componentes centrales de la grabación y producción profesional de música.

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Holiday music stops at Irving Berlin’s NY door

NEW YORK (AP) — A caroling group that for 35 years has performed the Irving Berlin classic “White Christmas” on Christmas Eve outside the New York City home where he lived has cancelled the tradition.

A group spokesman says the plans were abruptly cancelled last week for lack of space at the Manhattan home, which now serves as the Luxembourg consulate.

The tradition started in the late 1970s with one cabaret singer outside the home. In 1983, Berlin invited the singers inside for cocoa and cookies.

Berlin died in 1989 at age 99.

Luxembourg Consul-General Jean-Claude Knebeler tells the New York Post the ballroom where the group performed is filled with office equipment because the consulate expanded. He says he hopes the tradition resumes in another year in the consulate’s library.

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News Analysis: Getting Polio Campaigns Back on Track

How in the world did something as innocuous as the sugary pink polio vaccine turn into a flash point between Islamic militants and Western “crusaders,” flaring into a confrontation so ugly that teenage girls — whose only “offense” is that they are protecting children — are gunned down in the streets?

Nine vaccine workers were killed in Pakistan last week in a terrorist campaign that brought the work of 225,000 vaccinators to a standstill. Suspicion fell immediately on factions of the Pakistani Taliban that have threatened vaccinators in the past, accusing them of being American spies.

Polio eradication officials have promised to regroup and try again. But first they must persuade the killers to stop shooting workers and even guarantee safe passage.

That has been done before, notably in Afghanistan in 2007, when Mullah Muhammad Omar, spiritual head of the Afghan Taliban, signed a letter of protection for vaccination teams. But in Pakistan, the killers may be breakaway groups following no one’s rules.

Vaccination efforts are also under threat in other Muslim regions, although not this violently yet.

In Nigeria, another polio-endemic country, the new Islamic militant group Boko Haram has publicly opposed it, although the only killings that the news media have linked to polio were those of two police officers escorting vaccine workers. Boko Haram has killed police officers on other missions, unrelated to polio vaccinations.

In Mali, extremists took over half of the country in May, declaring an Islamic state. Vaccination is not an issue yet, but Mali had polio cases as recently as mid-2011, and the virus sometimes circulates undetected.

Resistance to polio vaccine springs from a combination of fear, often in marginalized ethnic groups, and brutal historical facts that make that fear seem justified. Unless it is countered, and quickly, the backlash threatens the effort to eradicate polio in the three countries where it remains endemic: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

In 1988, long before donors began delivering mosquito nets, measles shots, AIDS pills, condoms, deworming drugs and other Western medical goods to the world’s most remote villages, Rotary International dedicated itself to wiping out polio, and trained teams to deliver the vaccine.

But remote villages are often ruled by chiefs or warlords who are suspicious not only of Western modernity, but of their own governments.

The Nigerian government is currently dominated by Christian Yorubas. More than a decade ago, when word came from the capital that all children must swallow pink drops to protect them against paralysis, Muslim Hausas in the far-off north could be forgiven for reacting the way the fundamentalist Americans of the John Birch Society did in the 1960s when the government in far-off Washington decreed that, for the sake of children’s teeth, all drinking water should have fluoride.

The northerners already had grievances. In 1996, the drug company Pfizer tested its new antibiotic, Trovan, during a meningitis outbreak there. Eleven children died. Although Pfizer still says it was not to blame, the trial had irregularities, and last year the company began making payments to victims.

Other rumors also spring from real events.

In Pakistan, resistance to vaccination, low over all, is concentrated in Pashtun territory along the Afghan border and in Pashtun slums in large cities. Pashtuns are the dominant tribe in Afghanistan but a minority in Pakistan among Punjabis, Sindhis, Baluchis and other ethnic groups. Many are Afghan refugees and are often poor and dismissed as medieval and lawless.

Pakistan’s government is friendly with the United States while the Pashtuns’ territory in border areas has been heavily hit by American Taliban-hunting drones, which sometimes kill whole families.

So, when the Central Intelligence Agency admitted sponsoring a hepatitis vaccination campaign as a ruse to get into a compound in Pakistan to confirm that Osama bin Laden was there, and the White House said it had contemplated wiping out the residence with a drone missile, it was not far-fetched for Taliban leaders to assume that other vaccinators worked for the drone pilots.

Even in friendly areas, the vaccine teams have protocols that look plenty suspicious. If a stranger knocked on a door in Brooklyn, asked how many children under age 5 were at home, offered to medicate them, and then scribbled in chalk on the door how many had accepted and how many refused — well, a parent might worry.

In modern medical surveys — though not necessarily on polio campaigns — teams carry GPS devices so they can find houses again. Drones use GPS coordinates.

The warlords of Waziristan made the connection specific, barring all vaccination there until Predator drones disappeared from the skies.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a Canadian who is chief of polio eradication for the World Health Organization, expressed his frustration at the time, saying, “They know we don’t have any control over drone strikes.”

The campaign went on elsewhere in Pakistan — until last week.

The fight against polio has been hampered by rumors that the vaccine contains pork or the virus that causes AIDS, or is a plot to sterilize Muslim girls. Even the craziest-sounding rumors have roots in reality.

The AIDS rumor is a direct descendant of Edward Hooper’s 1999 book, “The River,” which posited the theory — since discredited — that H.I.V. emerged when an early polio vaccine supposedly grown in chimpanzee kidney cells contaminated with the simian immunodeficiency virus was tested in the Belgian Congo.

The sterilization claim was allegedly first made on a Nigerian radio station by a Muslim doctor upset that he had been passed over for a government job. The “proof” was supposed to be lab tests showing it contained estrogen, a birth control hormone.

The vaccine virus is grown in a broth of live cells; fetal calf cells are typical. They may be treated with a minute amount of a digestive enzyme, trypsin — one source of which is pig pancreas, which could account for the pork rumor.

In theory, a polio eradicator explained, if a good enough lab tested the vaccine used at the time the rumor started, it might have detected estrogen from the calf’s mother, but it would have been far less estrogen than is in mother’s milk, which is not accused of sterilizing anyone. The trypsin is supposed to be washed out.

In any case, polio vaccine is now bought only from Muslim countries like Indonesia, and Muslim scholars have ruled it halal — the Islamic equivalent of kosher.

Reviving the campaign will mean quelling many rumors. It may also require adding other medical “inducements,” like deworming medicine, mosquito nets or vitamin A, whose immediate benefits are usually more obvious.

But changing mind-sets will be a crucial step, said Dr. Aylward, who likened the shootings of the girls to those of the schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn.

More police involvement — what he called a “bunkerized approach” — would not solve either America’s problem or Pakistan’s, he argued. Instead, average citizens in both countries needed to rise up, reject the twisted thinking of the killers and “generate an understanding in the community that this kind of behavior is not acceptable.”

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