In Behind-Scene Blows and Triumphs, Sense of Clinton Future

Patrik Stollarz/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton behind President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan during a meeting in Germany in 2011. WASHINGTON — Last summer, as the fighting in Syria raged and questions about the United States’ inaction grew, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conferred privately with David H. Petraeus, the director of the C.I.A. The...

Read More..

Apple TV Is Running Late

So, Apple‘s big plan to talk cable companies into making the iPod of the television industry thus far involves getting Time Warner to let it put HBO Go on its box (if you buy a cable subscription!), something other similar boxes already do. How very unexciting. It’s surprising that Apple TV doesn’t already offer HBO Go, since its biggest competitors Roku and Xbox 360...

Read More..

Why is Beckham sitting on the bench for nothing?

PARIS (AP) — David Beckham has won league championships in three countries on two continents, earns millions of dollars in endorsements and his name is practically synonymous with celebrity itself. He has his own cologne, for goodness sake. So why is he even bothering to sit on the bench for the Paris Saint-Germain football club?His royal highness of football doesn't need the money — and he's said...

Read More..

Ferrol Sams, Doctor Turned Novelist, Dies at 90

Ferrol Sams, a country doctor who started writing fiction in his late 50s and went on to win critical praise and a devoted readership for his humorous and perceptive novels and stories that drew on his medical practice and his rural Southern roots, died on Tuesday at his home in Lafayette, Ga. He was 90. The cause, said his son Ferrol Sams III, also a doctor, was that he was “slap wore...

Read More..

Letters: Seeing Lincoln as a C.E.O.

To the Editor: Re “Lincoln’s School of Management” (Jan. 27), which described the decision-making strategy for the Emancipation Proclamation as a model for today’s executives:  The article’s description of how “Americans reacted strongly to the proclamation” said nothing of how enslaved African-Americans reacted. Instead, it focused only on big political players,...

Read More..

The Caucus: Brown Decides Against Massachusetts Senate Bid

Scott P. Brown said on Friday that he had opted out of the Senate race in Massachusetts to fill the seat being vacated by John Kerry.The decision leaves the Republicans without a candidate yet for the special election set for June 25, and it could leave the seat in Democratic hands.Other potential Republican candidates had been waiting for a signal from Mr. Brown, who was seen as the strongest Republican,...

Read More..

Google moves closer to resolving EU investigation

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google has offered to take specific steps to allay competition regulators’ concerns about its business practices, in a major move towards ending a two-year investigation and avoiding billions of dollars in fines.The European Commission said on Friday it had received detailed proposals from the world’s most popular search engine, which has been under investigation following complaints...

Read More..

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis score unlikely hit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The rapper Macklemore thinks there's a simple reason the hit "Thrift Shop" appears to be going viral: It dares to be different."There's a certain sound that has kind of flooded the mainstream airwaves as far as hip-hop music," he said a few hours after taping a performance on "Late Show with David Letterman" on Thursday night with producing partner Ryan Lewis. "The beat doesn't...

Read More..

SciTimes Update: Recent Developments in Science and Health News

Michael Probst/Associated PressBaby hedgehogs in Germany. Friday in science, clues to owls’ backwardness, fresh dangers to the seas and the launch of a giant kite. Check out these and other headlines from around the Web. Phil Marino for The New York TimesPhysicists monitored data from heavy ion collisions in the control room at Brookhaven National Laboratory particle collider in 2007....

Read More..

Off the Charts: For Markets, a Strong January Is a Good Sign

AS January goes, so goes the year. That maxim of the American stock market would seem to bode well for the market this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index’s gain of 5 percent made the month the 12th best January since 1950, and the 19th opening month in that period when the index rose more than 4 percent. “If history repeats, we would expect a double-digit percentage increase...

Read More..

Snowmobile Rider Dies From X Games Injuries

Eric Lars Bakke/ESPN Images, via Associated PressCaleb Moore in a photograph taken last January. Caleb Moore, a 25-year-old snowmobiler injured last week during the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., died Thursday. Christian Murdock/The Gazette, via Associated PressMoore crashing during the snowmobile freestyle finals during the first day of the Winter X Games last Thursday. ...

Read More..

The 7 most dedicated employees

You probably don’t want to forward this roster of tireless go-getters to your bossSome people probably feel they deserve a medal for merely getting up and going to work every day, but only a few actually merit one. Take Deborah Ford, for example. This 64-year-old Detroit postal worker, who recently retired, didn’t use a single sick day in all of her 44 years on the job. Not a single one!...

Read More..

Beyonce to finally face media in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Beyonce is expected to face the media Thursday as she previews her halftime performance at the Super Bowl. But the focus will likely be on her performance at that other big event earlier this month.The superstar hasn't spoken publicly since it was alleged that she lip-synched her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at President Barack Obama's inauguration last week. Her critically...

Read More..

During Trial, New Details Emerge on DuPuy Hip

When Johnson & Johnson announced the appointment in 2011 of an executive to head the troubled orthopedics division whose badly flawed artificial hip had been recalled, the company billed the move as a fresh start. But that same executive, it turns out, had supervised the implant’s introduction in the United States and had been told by a top company consultant three years before the device...

Read More..

Media Decoder Blog: Ratings Shortfall at Nickelodeon Hurts Viacom Revenue

1:34 p.m. | Updated Hampered by ratings shortfalls at Nickelodeon and an unfavorable film release schedule, Viacom on Thursday reported a 16 percent decrease in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012, a somewhat steeper drop than analysts anticipated.But the company’s profits came in slightly ahead of expectations, and the chief executive, Philippe Dauman, pleased Wall Street with positive news about...

Read More..

The Lede Blog: Updates From the Senate Hearing on Gun Violence

The Lede followed the testimony on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing titled “What Should America Do About Gun Violence?” Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, her husband, Mark E. Kelly, and Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association, are among the witnesses expected to testify. As our colleague Jennifer Steinhauer reports, this is the...

Read More..

California police probe stunts that shut down freeways

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The California Highway Patrol is investigating two apparently unrelated stunts that jammed freeways over the weekend, including one involving hundreds of motorcyclists celebrating a marriage proposal that inconvenienced motorists east of Los Angeles.Both events created a flurry of viral Internet videos, fueling concerns about a repeat performance by copycats.On Interstate 10...

Read More..

'Entourage' crew to make leap to big-screen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vincent Chase and his entourage are jumping from the small screen to the big-screen.Warner Bros. confirmed Wednesday that a film version of HBO's hit series "Entourage" is in the works.Series creator Doug Ellin is writing and directing the film, which does not yet have a production start date or release date. The studio also has not finalized the cast."Entourage" ran for eight seasons...

Read More..

The Consumer: The Drug-Dose Gender Gap

Most sleeping pills are designed to knock you out for eight hours. When the Food and Drug Administration was evaluating a new short-acting pill for people to take when they wake up in the middle of the night, agency scientists wanted to know how much of the drug would still be in users’ systems come morning.Blood tests uncovered a gender gap: Men metabolized the drug, Intermezzo, faster than women....

Read More..

DealBook: Top Federal Prosecutor of Corporate Crime Will Resign

1:42 p.m. | Updated with formal announcementLanny A. Breuer, the federal prosecutor who led the Justice Department’s response to corporate crime in the wake of the financial crisis, announced on Wednesday that he is stepping down after nearly four years in the post.As head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, one of the most senior roles at the agency, Mr. Breuer tackled corporate bribery...

Read More..

Report Links Rodriguez and Others to Clinic and P.E.D.’s

An anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., that had been under the scrutiny of Major League Baseball for several months has now been cited in a published report as a supplier of performance-enhancing drugs to a half-dozen players, including the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez. Miami New Times, in a report released Tuesday, said that an unidentified former employee of the clinic, Biogenesis of America,...

Read More..

China may consider ending its decade-long ban on video game consoles

Shares of Sony (SNE) and Nintendo (NTDOY) surged on Monday following a report from China’s official newspaper that claimed the country is considering the lift of a decade-long ban on video game consoles. An unnamed source told the China Daily newspaper that the Ministry of Culture is “reviewing the policy,” and has conducted surveys and held discussions with other ministries on the possibility of...

Read More..

Dior: Jennifer Lawrence dress had no malfunction

LOS ANGELES (AP) — That was no wardrobe malfunction — that was couture.When Jennifer Lawrence ascended the stairs to accept her SAG Award Sunday night, a bit of skin showed through the skirt of her gown, leading to some speculation that it had ripped.Dior Couture told The Associated Press that wasn't so.The design house said Lawrence's gown was designed by Raf Simons "with different levels of tulle...

Read More..

Streaming Shakes Up Music Industry’s Model for Royalties

Jim Wilson/The New York TimesZoe Keating published on her blog the details of what she made in royalties from the Web streaming of her music. It wasn’t a lot. Like plenty of music fans, Sam Broe jumped at the chance to join Spotify two summers ago, and he hasn’t looked back. Spotify, which began streaming music in Sweden in 2008, lets users choose from millions of songs over the Internet...

Read More..