China's smog taints economy, health

BEIJING — When a thick quilt of smog enveloped swaths of China earlier this month, it set in motion a costly chain reaction...

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New purported Galaxy Note 8.0 images confirm S-Pen support

Earlier this week, images that were purportedly of Samsung’s (005930) upcoming Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet leaked onto the Web. The slate looked like an oversized Galaxy S III smartphone and included the company’s physical home button, which had perviously been omitted from earlier Galaxy tablets. French blog Frandroid posted additional images of the tablet on Friday that confirmed it will include...

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Kutcher takes on tech idol Steve Jobs in 'jOBS'

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Ashton Kutcher says playing Steve Jobs on screen "was honestly one of the most terrifying things I've ever tried to do in my life."The 34-year-old actor helped premiere the biopic "jOBS" Friday, which was the closing-night film at the Sundance Film Festival.Kutcher plays the Apple Inc. founder from the company's humble origins in the 1970s until the launch of the first iPod...

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Religious Groups and Employers Battle Contraception Mandate

Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto AgencyPresident Obama, with his health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, offering a compromise on the contraception mandate last year. In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom...

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Hackers take over sentencing commission website

The hacker-activist group Anonymous says it hijacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission to avenge the death of Aaron...

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Court rules Obama recess appointments unconstitutional

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court, dealing a defeat to President Obama, has sharply limited the chief executive’s power to...

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DUST 514, Online Shooter Set in EVE Online Universe, Enters Open Beta

First announced in 2009, CCP Games’ online first-person shooter tie-in to its popular sci-fi MMO, EVE Online, was finally released as an open beta on Tuesday. Called DUST 514, it allows PlayStation 3 owners to play in the same world as EVE Online, fighting ground battles while EVE Online pilots contest star systems. The results of DUST 514 matches affect worlds and in-game corporations in EVE Online,...

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Shakespeare, his work, come to life in PBS series

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jeremy Irons has a suggestion for "Downton Abbey" fans: Give William Shakespeare a try, too.Irons is among the prominent hosts of "Shakespeare Uncovered," an inventive series tracing the origins of eight of the writer's plays through a combination of history, new analysis, selected scenes — and, for Irons, a gallop on horseback across a fabled battlefield.The series begins 9 p.m.-11...

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Living With Cancer: The Good Patient Syndrome

I remember when being good seemed strategic.After the technician took out a pad to draw an inscrutable diagram, I nodded and pretended to recognize a squiggle at the center of what looked like a snail. I discussed my oncologist’s research projects, instead of complaining about pain. Generally I answered a nurse’s opening query — “So how are you?”– with a cheery “Good! How are you?” Grumbles about...

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Stocks gain, boosted by P&G, Starbucks earnings

Stocks rose on Wall Street in midday trading Friday after Procter...

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Principal ignored earlier report of abuse by teacher, Deasy says

The principal of a Wilmington elementary school received an allegation about four years ago that a teacher behaved inappropriately...

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TSX near 18-month high, buoyed by Agrium, RIM

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index hit a near 18-month high on Thursday, as shares of Agrium Inc rose after the fertilizer maker raised its profit forecast and as U.S. manufacturing and labor data drove optimism on the economic outlook of Canada’s largest trade partner.Shares of Research In Motion Ltd also boosted the market, rising more than 3 percent after a report that China’s Lenovo...

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White, Underwood, Lumineers to perform at Grammys

NEW YORK (AP) — Grammy nominees Jack White, Carrie Underwood and the Lumineers will hit the Grammys stage next month.The Recording Academy announced Thursday that those acts will join previously announced performers including fun., The Black Keys and Taylor Swift at the Feb. 10 awards show in Los Angeles.White is nominated for album of the year and the Lumineers are up for best new artist.U.K. newcomer...

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Well: The Drawn Out Process of the Medical Lawsuit

She was one of the most highly sought radiologists in her hospital, a doctor with the uncanny ability to divine the source of maladies from the shadows of black and white X-ray films.But one afternoon my colleague revealed that she had been named in a lawsuit, accused of overlooking an irregularity on a scan several years earlier. The patient suing believed she had missed the first sign of a now rampant...

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Apple shares tumble after relatively unimpressive earnings report

Apple Inc. may still make products customers love, but its latest earnings report appears to have broken investors' hearts.For...

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Clinton takes responsibility for Benghazi failures

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, facing tough questions from Senate Republicans on the deadly Sept....

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Three reasons to root for RIM

I have expressed skepticism that RIM (RIMM) will really be able to pull off an epic comeback and reestablish BlackBerry as a legitimate contender with the iPhone and the barrage of Android smartphones that get released every year. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen. Quite the contrary, I’m hoping that RIM proves all us nasty skeptics wrong, defies the odds and produces a big hit with...

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Sundance stars sound off on gun violence in film

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The Sundance Film Festival isn't home to many shoot-'em-up movies, but action-oriented actors at the festival are being questioned about Hollywood's role in American gun violence.Guy Pearce, Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard all say Hollywood shares in the blame.Pearce is in Park City, Utah, to support the family drama "Breathe In," but he's pulled plenty of imaginary triggers...

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Well: Have a Health Question? Ask Well

The Well section of The New York Times is starting a new online featured called Ask Well. If you have a question about fitness, nutrition, illness or family health, the staff of The New York Times Health section is ready to help you find the answer.How do you solve the problem of back pain caused by sitting in an office chair all day? Do you still need the flu shot even if you’ve had the flu? What’s...

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Cyber-crime ring targeted U.S. bank accounts, feds say

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara at a 2010 news conference. (Ramin Talaie / Bloomberg)...

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County official calls car leasing contract procedure 'embarrassing'

Auditors reviewing a $1.75-million car leasing contract given to a company with a politically connected lobbying firm found...

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Is Facebook envy making you miserable?

LONDON (Reuters) – Witnessing friends’ vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness, according to German researchers.A study conducted jointly by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world’s largest social network that now has over one billion users and has produced an unprecedented platform for social comparison.The...

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Mariel Hemingway runs from crazy at Sundance

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Mariel Hemingway says she has left the bad kind of crazy behind, and all that's left is good crazy.Hemingway came to the Sundance Film Festival for the documentary "Running from Crazy," which chronicles the family history of mental illness that led to the suicides of seven relatives, including sister Margaux and grandfather Ernest Hemingway.Directed by Barbara Kopple, with Oprah...

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Well Pets: Holly the Cat's Incredible Journey

Nobody knows how it happened: an indoor house cat who got lost on a family excursion managing, after two months and about 200 miles, to return to her hometown.Even scientists are baffled by how Holly, a 4-year-old tortoiseshell who in early November became separated from Jacob and Bonnie Richter at an R.V. rally in Daytona Beach, Fla., appeared on New Year’s Eve — staggering, weak and emaciated —...

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