French Airstrikes Push Back Islamist Rebels in Mali

ECPAD, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIn a video still released by the French Army, French air force officers briefed at a military base in Chad before French military operations in Mali overnight. PARIS — French airstrikes overnight in Mali pushed back Islamist rebels from a key village and destroyed a rebel command center, France said Saturday, as West African nations authorized what they...

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Apple won't blindly pursue market share, Chinese paper reports

SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING (Reuters) - In a revised version of an interview published Thursday in a Chinese newspaper, Apple Inc marketing chief Phil Schiller said the company would focus on making "the best products" for customers and "never blindly pursue market share". On Thursday, the Shanghai Evening News had originally cited Schiller as saying that Apple would not develop a cheaper smartphone...

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Obama won't support building 'Death Star'

WASHINGTON (AP) — A "Death Star" won't be a part of the U.S. military's arsenal any time soon.More than 34,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the Obama administration to build the "Star Wars" inspired super-weapon to spur job growth and bolster national defense.But in a posting Friday on the White House website, Paul Shawcross, an administration adviser on science and space, says...

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Former Lab Technician Denies Faulty DNA Work in Rape Cases

A former New York City laboratory technician whose work on rape cases is now being scrutinized for serious mistakes said on Friday that she had been unaware there were problems in her work and, disputing an earlier report, denied she had resigned under pressure. The former lab technician, Serrita Mitchell, said any problems must have been someone else’s. “My work?” Ms. Mitchell said....

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Business Briefing | Retailing: Best Buy Shares Rally on Improved Holiday Sales

The Best Buy Company had better-than-expected holiday sales, setting off a gain of $2, or 16.4 percent, in its stock price, to $14.21 a share on Friday. The holiday quarter accounted for about a third of Best Buy’s revenue last year. The chain said that revenue at stores open at least a year fell 1.4 percent for the nine weeks ended Jan. 5. The company’s performance in the United States was flat....

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Palestinians Set Up Camp in Israeli-Occupied West Bank Territory

JERUSALEM — Adopting a tactic more commonly employed by Jewish settlers who establish wildcat outposts in the West Bank, scores of Palestinian activists and international supporters erected tents on Friday in a hotly contested piece of Israeli-occupied West Bank territory known as E1, and said they intended to stay put. The Palestinians claim E1, just east of Jerusalem, as part of a future...

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U.S. warns on Java software as security concerns escalate

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable Oracle Corp's Java software, amplifying security experts' prior warnings to hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses that use it to surf the Web. Hackers have figured out how to exploit Java to install malicious software enabling them to commit crimes ranging from identity theft to making an infected...

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Seattle bankruptcy hearing to decide Tully's sale

SEATTLE (AP) — The auction for beleaguered coffee company Tully's will likely conclude Friday in federal bankruptcy court, with an ownership group led by actor Patrick Dempsey in position to take over the chain. But Starbucks isn't' out of the running.Dempsey — dubbed "McDreamy" in the "Grey's Anatomy" hospital TV drama — claimed victory last week after an auction.But a company that teamed up with...

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The New Old Age Blog: Taking a Zen Approach to Caregiving

You try to help your elderly father. Irritated and defensive, he snaps at you instead of going along with your suggestion. And you think “this is so unfair” and feel a rising tide of anger.How to handle situations like this, which arise often and create so much angst for caregivers?Jennifer Block finds the answer in what she calls “contemplative caregiving” — the application of Buddhist principles...

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DealBook: Client Redemptions Loom for SAC Capital

12:46 p.m. | Updated The hedge fund giant SAC Capital Advisors is steeling itself for a possible wave of withdrawal requests from clients amid the government’s intensifying scrutiny of its trading practices.Investors have about a month to decide whether to pull out money from SAC, the $14 billion fund owned by the billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen.While posting one of the best investment track...

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Minister Pulls Out of Inauguration After Outcry

WASHINGTON – The Christian minister selected by President Obama to deliver the benediction at his inaugural this month has withdrawn from the program amid a storm of controversy over remarks he made about homosexuality in a sermon in the mid-1990s, according to a source close to the inaugural committee. The minister, the Rev. Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion Conferences, an Atlanta...

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Lumia sales lift Nokia results, raise turnaround hopes

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia said strong sales of Lumia smartphones helped its mobile phone business achieve underlying profitability in the fourth quarter, raising hopes the struggling handset maker may be past the worst. The Finnish company, which has been losing market share to Samsung and Apple, said the better-than-expected result was also helped by cost cuts, a stronger-than-expected...

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'Lincoln' leads Oscars with 12 nominations

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Steven Spielberg has matched his personal best at the Academy Awards: 12 nominations for his Civil War saga "Lincoln," including best picture, director and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.That ties the 12 nominations for his 1993 drama "Schindler's List," which won seven Oscars, including best picture and director.Also among the nine...

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F.D.A. Requires Cuts to Dosages of Ambien and Other Sleep Drugs

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it was requiring manufacturers of popular sleeping pills like Ambien and Zolpimist to cut their recommended dosage in half for women, after laboratory studies showed that they can leave people still sleepy in the morning and at risk for accidents. The agency issued the requirement for drugs containing the active ingredient zolpidem,...

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Nokia Sees Results From New Smartphone Line

BERLIN — Nokia said Thursday that its struggling mobile phone business was showing signs of a rebound, turning a profit in the fourth quarter fueled by sales of its Lumia smartphones that use Microsoft software. Stephen Elop, the Nokia chief executive, said sales of smartphones and more basic cellphones, as well as profitability at the Nokia Siemens network-equipment venture, all came...

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Iranian Captives Freed in Major Prisoner Exchange in Syria

ISTANBUL — More than 2,000 prisoners incarcerated by the Syrian authorities were being released on Wednesday in return for 48 Iranians freed by rebels after five months in captivity in what appeared to be the biggest prisoner swap since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began almost two years ago. The exchange, brokered by Turkey and Qatar, came days after Mr. Assad warned on...

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Google drops key patent claims against Microsoft

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google unit Motorola Mobility has asked a trade panel to drop two key patents from an infringement complaint that it filed against Microsoft, according to a filing at the International Trade Commission. The ITC has been considering accusations by Motorola Mobility, which has since been purchased by Google, that Microsoft infringed on its patented technology to make...

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Oprah to interview Armstrong for Jan. 17 show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lance Armstrong has agreed to an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he is to address allegations he used performance-enhancing drugs during a career in which he won seven Tour de France titles.According to Winfrey's website on Tuesday, this will be a "no holds-barred interview." It will be the first with Armstrong since his cycling career crumbled under the weight of a massive...

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Economic Scene: Health Care and Pursuit of Profit Make a Poor Mix

Thirty years ago, Bonnie Svarstad and Chester Bond of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered an interesting pattern in the use of sedatives at nursing homes in the south of the state. Patients entering church-affiliated nonprofit homes were prescribed drugs roughly as often as those entering profit-making “proprietary” institutions. But patients in proprietary...

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Richard Ben Cramer Dies at 62; Chronicled Presidential Politics

Richard Ben Cramer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the author of “What It Takes,” a prodigious account of the 1988 presidential election that has been widely hailed as among the finest books about American politics ever written, died on Monday night in Baltimore. He was 62. His daughter, Ruby Cramer, said he died of complications of lung cancer at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center....

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Quarterback's girlfriend in spotlight after game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's routing of Notre Dame for its second straight national championship has been overshadowed in part by a new breakout star — Katherine Webb, girlfriend of quarterback AJ McCarron and Miss Alabama USA 2012.Webb gained tens of thousands of Twitter followers during and after Monday night's game, when ESPN cameras visited and revisited Webb in the stands and announcer Brent...

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Health Spending Growth Stays Low for 3rd Straight Year

WASHINGTON — National health spending climbed to $2.7 trillion in 2011, or an average of $8,700 for every person in the country, but as a share of the economy, it remained stable for the third consecutive year, the Obama administration said Monday. The rate of increase in health spending, 3.9 percent in 2011, was the same as in 2009 and 2010 — the lowest annual rates recorded in the 52 years...

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