Microsoft Battles Google by Hiring Political Brawler Mark Penn

SEATTLE — Mark Penn made a name for himself in Washington by bulldozing enemies of the Clintons. Now he spends his days trying to do the same to Google, on behalf of its archrival Microsoft. Since Mr. Penn was put in charge of “strategic and special projects” at Microsoft in August, much of his job has involved efforts to trip up Google, which Microsoft has failed to dislodge from its...

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The Neediest Cases: Disabled Young Man and His Protective Mother Deal With Life’s Challenges

Though he would prefer to put his socks on without his mother’s help, Zaquan West, 25, does not have a choice. Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesJoann West is a constant caretaker for her son, Zaquan. Though Ms. West works as a receptionist, the family fell behind on rent. For the past 100 years, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct...

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Microsoft Battles Google by Hiring Political Brawler Mark Penn

SEATTLE — Mark Penn made a name for himself in Washington by bulldozing enemies of the Clintons. Now he spends his days trying to do the same to Google, on behalf of its archrival Microsoft. Since Mr. Penn was put in charge of “strategic and special projects” at Microsoft in August, much of his job has involved efforts to trip up Google, which Microsoft has failed to dislodge from its...

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World Briefing | Europe: Greece: Oligarch Under Arrest Expected to Be Moved to Prison

A Greek magistrate on Friday ordered that the oligarch Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, who was arrested Thursday on charges of embezzlement and fraud, be remanded to custody after visiting the 40-year-old businessman in an Athens hospital. Mr. Lavrentiadis, the former majority stakeholder in Proton Bank, which is alleged to have issued $900 million in bad loans to keep other businesses afloat, is the focus...

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The New Old Age Blog: Hospital Alarms Fail to Prevent Injury, Study Finds

When it comes to protecting older people from falls, it can take a long time to figure out what helps and sometimes an even longer time to take action against things that were supposed to help but don’t.A case in point: the so-called safety rails on hospital and nursing home beds. Their hazards, as The New Old Age reported more than two years ago, are well documented. They are intended to keep sick,...

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The New Old Age Blog: Hospital Alarms Fail to Prevent Injury, Study Finds

When it comes to protecting older people from falls, it can take a long time to figure out what helps and sometimes an even longer time to take action against things that were supposed to help but don’t.A case in point: the so-called safety rails on hospital and nursing home beds. Their hazards, as The New Old Age reported more than two years ago, are well documented. They are intended to keep sick,...

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IHT Rendezvous: Damien Hirst Leaves Gagosian

Less than a year after the Gagosian Gallery gave Damien Hirst all 11 of its spaces around the world to show his spot paintings, word comes that the bad-boy British artist will no longer be represented by Gagosian, where he has shown on and off for 17 years.“We wish him continued success for the future,’’ a statement issued by the gallery, confirming his sudden departure, said.On Thursday, Science...

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Talks on Telecommunications Treaty Falter

DUBAI — Once-in-a-generation talks on a global telecommunications treaty were perched on the verge of collapse Thursday, with delegates seemingly unable to break an impasse over the most sensitive issue: whether to include the Internet in the document. The United States was poised to withdraw support for the negotiations, being carried out under the auspices of a U.N. agency called the...

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Another Look at a Drink Ingredient, Brominated Vegetable Oil

James Edward Bates for The New York TimesSarah Kavanagh, 15, of Hattiesburg, Miss., started an online petition asking PepsiCo to change Gatorade’s formula. Sarah Kavanagh and her little brother were looking forward to the bottles of Gatorade they had put in the refrigerator after playing outdoors one hot, humid afternoon last month in Hattiesburg, Miss. But before she took a sip, Sarah, a...

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Another Look at a Drink Ingredient, Brominated Vegetable Oil

James Edward Bates for The New York TimesSarah Kavanagh, 15, of Hattiesburg, Miss., started an online petition asking PepsiCo to change Gatorade’s formula. Sarah Kavanagh and her little brother were looking forward to the bottles of Gatorade they had put in the refrigerator after playing outdoors one hot, humid afternoon last month in Hattiesburg, Miss. But before she took a sip, Sarah, a...

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Gadgetwise Blog: Tip of the Week: Webmail Attachments Made Easy

The “Attach a file” button in the window of your open Web-based mail message may make it seem like you have to navigate around your hard drive to find the file you want to send, but appearances might be deceiving.In some Web browsers, both Yahoo Mail and Google’s Gmail allow you to drag files from your computer’s desktop right into the message window to upload them as file attachments. Yahoo has...

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Russian Envoy Says Syrian Leader Is Losing Control

MOSCOW — Russia’s top envoy for the Middle East said Thursday that Bashar al-Assad’s government is losing both control and territory to rebel forces, and said “unfortunately, it is impossible to exclude a victory of the Syrian opposition” — the most clear indication to date that Russia sees Mr. Assad, a longtime strategic ally, as headed for defeat. “We must look squarely at the facts, and...

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The New Old Age Blog: The Gift of Reading

This is the year of the tablet, David Pogue of The Times has told us, and that may be good news for seniors who open holiday wrappings to find one tucked inside. They see better with tablets’ adjustable type size, new research shows. Reading becomes easier again.This may seem obvious — find me someone over 40 who doesn’t see better when fonts are larger — but it’s the business of science to test...

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The New Old Age Blog: The Gift of Reading

This is the year of the tablet, David Pogue of The Times has told us, and that may be good news for seniors who open holiday wrappings to find one tucked inside. They see better with tablets’ adjustable type size, new research shows. Reading becomes easier again.This may seem obvious — find me someone over 40 who doesn’t see better when fonts are larger — but it’s the business of science to test...

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Deal Professor: In Netflix Case, a Chance to Re-examine Old Rules

Netflix is in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s sights over a post on Facebook by Reed Hastings, its chief executive, saying that the video streaming company’s monthly viewing had reached a billion hours. Yet, the case is more convincing as an illustration of how the regulator clings to outdated notions of how markets work.In July, Mr. Hastings posted three lines stating that “Netflix monthly...

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IHT Rendezvous: 50 Years of Fascination With Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar, who died on Tuesday at age 92, spent much of his adult life outside India, earning generations of fans in the United States and Europe, where he inspired musicians, sparked movements and won adulation.On India Ink, our sister blog, Heather Timmons has culled the pages of The New York Times, which followed his career for more than 50 years.“For nearly three decades, ever since his first...

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DealBook: U.S. and Britain Take Cooperative Approach on 'Too Big to Fail'

It is one of the thorniest problems hanging over the financial system: how should authorities deal with the collapse of a sprawling global bank to protect the financial system at large?In an attempt to find ways to address this problem, regulators in the United States and Britain said on Monday that they were cooperating on measures that would be used to seize an ailing financial company that does...

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Personal Health: When Daily Stress Gets in the Way of Life

I was about to give an hourlong talk to hundreds of people when one of the organizers of the event asked, “Do you get nervous when you give speeches?” My response: Who, me? No. Of course not.But this was a half-truth. I am a bit of a worrier, and one thing that makes me anxious is getting ready for these events: fretting over whether I’ve prepared the right talk, packed the right clothes or forgotten...

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Personal Health: When Daily Stress Gets in the Way of Life

I was about to give an hourlong talk to hundreds of people when one of the organizers of the event asked, “Do you get nervous when you give speeches?” My response: Who, me? No. Of course not.But this was a half-truth. I am a bit of a worrier, and one thing that makes me anxious is getting ready for these events: fretting over whether I’ve prepared the right talk, packed the right clothes or forgotten...

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Huawei to Open Research Center in Finland

PARIS — Huawei Technologies, a Chinese maker of telecommunications equipment, said on Monday that it planned to open a research and development center in Helsinki next year, accelerating its investments in Europe, where its business is expanding rapidly. The move illustrates a trans-Atlantic difference in attitudes toward Huawei. The company has been largely shut out of the United States...

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IHT Rendezvous: The Oxymorons of 'Sustainable Overfishing'

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines — Fishtocrats from three dozen nations just met in Manila to protect imperiled Pacific tuna, but they barely budged the status quo. So I flew down to Mindanao to hobnob with fishermen. It looks as if we had best develop a taste for tofu tartar and seaweed sushi.The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission banned reporters, as usual, from its five-day annual session...

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