IHT Quick Read: May 1

Sohel Rana, 35, is under arrest, the most reviled man in Bangladesh after the horrific collapse of Rana Plaza last week left nearly 400 people dead, with many others still missing. On Tuesday, a top Bangladeshi court seized his assets, as the public bayed for his execution, especially as it appears that the tragedy could have been averted if the frantic warnings of an engineer who examined the building the day before had been heeded. Jim Yardley reports from Savar, Bangladesh.

President Obama said on Tuesday that he would recommit himself to closing the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, a goal that he all but abandoned in the face of Congressional opposition in his first term and that faces steep challenges now, as Navy nurses, corpsmen and specialists arrived there to help deal with a hunger strike. Charlie Savage reports from Washington.

For all China’s modern trappings, many experts say that the mutual wariness between the government and its citizens means the country still prefers to pay for things the old-fashioned way: with cash. David Barboza reports from Shanghai.

Oslo, a recycling-friendly place where roughly half the city and most of its schools are heated by burning garbage â€" household trash, industrial waste, even toxic and dangerous waste from hospitals and drug arrests â€" has a problem: it has literally run out of garbage to burn. John Tagliabue reports.

Some German localities are striving to give notable women their due by allowing streets and public spaces to be named only for women. Melissa Eddy reports from Berlin.

ARTS Traditional song-and-dance shows about scrappy underdogs dominated the Tony Award nominations on Tuesday, with four â€" “Kinky Boots,” “Matilda,” “Bring It On” and “A Christmas Story” â€" taking every slot in the race for best Broadway musical. Serious fare suffered, and Hollywood stars were generally disappointed. Patrick Healy reports from New York.

The basketball player Jason Collins had been filled with fear at the prospect of openly acknowledging he is gay, but the response to his announcement has been overwhelmingly positive. Jennifer Medina reports from Los Angeles.

Extinction Nears for China’s ‘River Pig,’ the Finless Porpoise

BEIJING â€" It’s known in China as the “river pig,” the finless porpoise that has lived in the Yangtze River system for about 300,000 years but may become extinct in 10 years. Why?

The Yangtze’s ecology is struggling against an onslaught of human activity: over-fishing including electro-fishing that stuns and kills the porpoise, sand dredging, heavy pollution, dams that change the water temperature and affect breeding patterns and block migration, and injury or death from ever-increasing river traffic, according to multiple reports in the Chinese media.

“The Yangtze is home to 400 million people and is the engine that drives roughly 40 percent of the entire Chinese economy,” wrote Peter Beaudoin, the chief executive of the WWF in China, in an article on chinadialogue, an online environmental magazine.

“Economically, the Yangtze basin is thriving (at least for the time being). But at what price?” he asked. “Ecologically, the Yangtze is very unhealthy - if it was a human patient it would be placed in the intensive care unit.”

A Chinese environmentalist and scientist asked: “The changes on the Yangtze are a reflection of China’s economic development. How many species will we consume for the sake of GDP?” The question was posed by Cheng Ran, a scientist at the Tongling Freshwater Porpoise Reserve, in an article in the Southern Weekly newspaper (reproduced here in English.)

In fact, China’s environment is under so much pressure it can be hard to know where to begin, environmentalists say.

Six years ago, the Baiji dolphin, which also lived in the Yangtze, was declared functionally extinct, “and it looks very much like its close relative, the finless porpoise, is heading in the same direction,” wrote Mr. Beaudoin. The finless porpoise looks like a dolphin but has no dorsal fin.

The Ministry of Agriculture recently announced there were just 1,000 of the world’s only freshwater subspecies of the porpoise remaining in the river, its tributaries and adjoining lakes. It’s declining at an annual rate of nearly 14 percent, the ministry said. The Chinese environmentalist Web site, Save Yangtze Finless Porpoise, is struggling to raise awareness, as are a small group of dedicated scientists here.

The finless porpoise could still be saved, said Mr. Beaudoin. Here’s how:

“One solution is ex-situ conservation, where a number of animals are isolated on a portion of the river and provided with a safe habitat to thrive,” he wrote.

The Chinese government must classify the finless porpoise as a Level 1 species. “This will ensure that there is focus on ensuring the long-term viability of the species.”

There must also be a push for finless porpoise conservation along the main stem of the Yangtze. “This is extremely challenging given the pressures, but must be done,” he wrote.

Otherwise the finless porpoise will be gone for good, marking another defeat for the river’s biodiversity. Vanishing along with the porpoise will be a legendary fishermen’s protector, too.

“It was long also revered as a river god who could tell fishermen when a storm was on the way,” the Southern Weekly reported. “When a storm is brewing, these creatures are known to make repeated, small leaps out of the water.”

“Fishermen call it ‘saluting the wind’ and, warned of the coming storm, know to tie up their boats.”