Demetrius Freeman/The New York Times A nice place to visit. And live. And work. So said the world.Updated 11:43 a.m. | Surveys are a dime a dozen - except, perhaps, for this one.
A new study of more than 18,000 people in 24 countries by the British market-research giant Ipsos MORI found New York the most popular city on the planet, ahead of London and Paris.
The Internet survey ranked New York the best city for business, second in where they’d “most like to visit†(behind Paris) and the fifth most desired place to live (Zurich was No. 1).
The survey revealed some interesting global preferences. Belgians would much rather visit New York than live here, while Poles said the opposite (they’d rather see Mumbai or Madrid).
The pollsters tried to spin the results for their hometown. “The citizens of the world have spoken and given a massive vote of confidence in London and the U.K.,†Ipsos MORI’s boss told The Telegraph.
But even Britons put London second.
Americans, on the other hand, gave New York top marks.
Here’s what you need to know for Thursday.
WEATHER
As nice as yesterday: mostly sunny with a high of 78.
TRANSIT & TRAFFIC
- Mass Transit [11:43 a.m.] Delays on the northbound F train. Click for latest M.T.A. status.
- Roads: Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.
Alternate-side parking is suspended for Rosh Hashana today and tomorrow. Meter rules remain in effect.
COMING UP TODAY
- A parade of candidates on “Good Day New Yorkâ€: Christine C. Quinn at 7:15 a.m., Joseph J. Lhota at 7:30 and William C. Thompson Jr. at 8:10.
- Later, Ms. Quinn unveils a plan to help immigrant business owners and hosts a town hall meeting with Latino voters in the Bronx. Mr. Thompson promotes a plan to support city college students and their families. Bill de Blasio goes on Al Sharpton’s radio show at 2:20 p.m.
- Fashion Week begins. Some people are getting tired of it.
- Walmart is not in New York City yet, but its striking workers will be, at 10 a.m., to deliver a petition to a member of the chain’s board of directors as part of a nationwide day of protests.
- Live like a king, or a bishop, at a human chess session in Riverside Park, where people play the pieces. 4 to 6 p.m. [Free]
- A summer jam presided over by old-school D.J. Grandmaster Caz at Concrete Plant Park in the Bronx. 4 p.m. [Free]
- Live-stream a concert of experimental-music vocalists: It’s opening night of the Resonant Bodies Festival at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn. [Live-stream free; tickets cost money]
- Time for a new moon (at 7:36 a.m., to be precise).
- Last day to enter the Empire State Building photo contest.
- Free outdoor movie: “Les Roseaux Sauvages†(“Wild Reeds†to you) on the steps of Columbia University’s Low Library. 7:30 p.m.
IN THE NEWS
- The comptroller’s race remains a dead heat, a poll found, with white voters overwhelmingly supporting Scott M. Stringer and black voters similarly inclined toward Eliot Spitzer. [New York Times]
- Anthony D. Weiner got into a shouting match with a heckler at a kosher bakery in Brooklyn. [New York Times]
- He also fulfilled a “lifelong dream†of being a TV weatherman. [Daily News]
- Despite all the new bike lanes and pedestrian plazas, the city says Manhattan car traffic is moving 7 percent faster since 2008. [New York Times]
- An assistant principal at a public high school in Williamsburg raped a female student, city investigators said. [New York Times]
- The police stepped up patrols near synagogues after a six-foot-high menorah in Brooklyn burned to the ground. [WABC Eyewitness News]
- Carmelo Anthony may have caught a fish with his bare hands. [Gothamist]
- Poultry news: nearly 1,200 retired laying hens rescued from a California farm are being flown to New York to live out their lives at East Coast sanctuaries. And a rampaging wild turkey caused $5,000 worth of damage in New Jersey. [Sacramento Bee, Star-Ledger]
- At the United States Open, Rafael Nadal crushed his countryman Tommy Robredo to advance to the semifinals.
- Yankees beat White Sox, 6-5, to sweep series. Mets beat Braves, 5-2.
AND FINALLY…
Ken Delmar, a retired real estate salesman in Connecticut who longed to be an artist, discovered something interesting about paper towels: they’re great at soaking up oil paint.
And so was started his second career, as a painter of portraits on two-ply Bounty towels.
His most ambitious work to date may be a matrix painting of the nine Supreme Court justices. [Click to see the painting.]
It’s in a show of Mr. Delmar’s work that opens tonight at the George Billis Gallery in Chelsea.
Nicole Higgins DeSmet contributed reporting.
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