Israel Steps Up Aerial Strikes in Gaza

JERSUSALEM — Israel retaliated after Palestinian rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with airstrikes before dawn Saturday on the Gaza City offices of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas — the militant Islamist group that governs Gaza. The Israeli military said Saturday that it had struck more than 200 targets overnight, including underground rocket launchers and smuggling tunnels in...

Read More..

RIM to spice BlackBerry 10 AppWorld with local flavors

WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters) – Research In Motion is pushing for app quality, not quantity, with its make-or-break BlackBerry 10 devices set for launch on January 30, and targeting applications to customers in various regions.RIM’s projected 100,000 apps – a record for any new platform at launch – will still be a fraction of those available on Apple Inc...

Read More..

Lady Gaga tweets some racy images before concert

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.She told her followers that it's a "surprise for...

Read More..

Israel Prepares Possible Ground Offensive in Gaza

Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesIsraeli soldiers near the border with Gaza on Friday. More Photos »JERUSALEM — After a morning of heavy rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the Israeli military seemed to be edging closer to a ground invasion of Gaza on Friday, saying forces were “on standby” and “ready to enter should it be decided that a ground operation is necessary.” In a statement,...

Read More..

Exclusive: Facebook offering e-retailers sales tracking tool

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc wants more credit for making online cash registers ring.Facebook will begin rolling out on Friday a new tool which will allow online retailers to track purchases by members of the social network who have viewed their ads. The tool is the latest of the new advertising features Facebook...

Read More..

Jason Mraz to make historic appearance in Myanmar

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is believed to be the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the country. The show includes...

Read More..

For Alzheimer’s, Detection Advances Outpace Treatment Options

Joshua Lott for The New York TimesAwilda Jimenez got a scan for Alzheimer’s after she started forgetting things. It was positive. When Awilda Jimenez started forgetting things last year, her husband, Edwin, felt a shiver of dread. Her mother had developed Alzheimer’s in her 50s. Could his wife, 61, have it, too? He learned there was a new brain scan to diagnose the disease and nervously agreed...

Read More..

Automated Bidding Systems Test Old Ways of Selling Ads

Publishers and broadcasters have long tried to offer advertisers the right audience for their products. Want to sell pick-ups to people who like sports? Buy ads at halftime during a football game. Selling luggage or airline tickets? Buy ads in the travel section of a newspaper or Web site. In digital advertising, that formula is being increasingly tested by fast-paced, algorithmic bidding...

Read More..

Attacks Resume After Israeli Assault Kills Hamas Leader

KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel — Israel and Hamas widened their increasingly deadly conflict over Gaza on Thursday, as a militant rocket killed three civilians in an apartment block in this small southern town. The deaths are likely to lead Israel to intensify its military offensive on Gaza, now in its second day of airstrikes. In Gaza, the Palestinian death toll rose to 11 as Israel struck what...

Read More..

2 more books coming from 'Gone Girl' author

NEW YORK (AP) — "Gone Girl" novelist Gillian Flynn is sticking around.The million-selling author has agreed to write two more books for Random House Inc. The publisher announced Thursday that she will write a novel and a young adult novel. The books currently are untitled and publication dates have not been set."Gone Girl" has been among the top sellers of 2012, with sales approaching 2 million copies....

Read More..

Hospital Death in Ireland Renews Fight Over Abortion

DUBLIN — The death of a woman who was reportedly denied a potentially lifesaving abortion even while she was having a miscarriage has revived debate over Ireland’s almost total ban on abortions. The woman, Savita Halappanavar, 31, a dentist who lived near Galway, was 17 weeks pregnant when she sought treatment at University Hospital Galway on Oct. 21, complaining of severe back pain. ...

Read More..

Greece Looks at Offering Creditors a Buyback to Lower Its Debt

LONDON — As Greece’s creditors bicker over the terms of its bailout, the government is examining a more radical approach that could reduce the country’s escalating debt pile in one fell swoop. Milos Bicanski/Getty ImagesAn anti-austerity protest on Wednesday in Athens. The government this month narrowly secured parliamentary approval for yet another round of spending cuts and tax increases....

Read More..

Israelis Kill Hamas Military Commander in Gaza

ReutersPalestinians extinguished a fire after an Israeli air strike on the car carrying Ahmed Al-Jaabari, who ran Hamas's military wing, on Wednesday in Gaza City. GAZA — An Israeli airstrike blew up a car carrying the commander of the Hamas military wing in Gaza on Wednesday, making him the most senior official of the group to be killed by the Israelis since their invasion of Gaza four years ago....

Read More..

Facebook stock up as lock-up expires on largest block of shares

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of Facebook Inc jumped 10 percent in early trading on Wednesday, even as the biggest block of shares held by insiders became eligible for sale for the first time since the social media company’s disappointing debut in May.In heavy morning trading, Facebook gained $ 2.02 to $ 21.89. “While...

Read More..

Dave Matthews Band pledges $1M for Sandy relief

NEW YORK (AP) — The Dave Matthews Band is giving $1 million to help Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.The band announced Wednesday that the Nov. 30 opening show of its winter tour at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., will be a benefit concert. All ticket and merchandise sales will go to the Bama Works Sandy Relief Fund, established at the Community Foundation of New Jersey.Sandy's assault...

Read More..

Lance Armstrong Cuts Officials Ties With His Livestrong Charity

In the wake of being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, Lance Armstrong last week cut all official ties with Livestrong, the charity he founded 15 years ago while he was treated for testicular cancer. On Nov. 4, he resigned from the organization’s board of directors; he had previously stepped down as the chairman of the board Oct. 17. He has distanced himself from...

Read More..

Top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Is Linked to Petraeus Scandal

PERTH, Australia — Gen. John R. Allen, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has become ensnared in the scandal over an extramarital affair acknowledged by David H. Petraeus, a former general. General Allen is being investigated for what a senior defense official said early Tuesday was “inappropriate communication” with Jill Kelley, a woman in Tampa, Fla., who was seen by Mr. Petraeus’s...

Read More..

Day-Lewis heeded inner ear to find Lincoln's voice

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A towering figure such as Abraham Lincoln, who stood 6 feet 4 and was one of history's master orators, must have had a booming voice to match, right? Not in Daniel Day-Lewis' interpretation.Day-Lewis, who plays the 16th president in Steven Spielberg's epic film biography "Lincoln," which goes into wide release this weekend, settled on a higher, softer voice, saying it's more true...

Read More..

Well: A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Table

Every year, Well goes vegetarian for Thanksgiving to celebrate the fall harvest and the delicious vegetable dishes that take up most of the space on holiday tables.This year, we have another terrific lineup of vegan and vegetarian recipes from some of your favorite food writers and chefs. Cooking up a meat-free celebration will inspire you to be more creative in the kitchen all year round, preparing...

Read More..

Square Feet: A Wounded Wall Street Is Expected to Stay Put

Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA businessman made his way Monday into One New York Plaza in Manhattan's financial district, where the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy was still underway. More than two weeks after Hurricane Sandy came ashore in Manhattan, sending an 11-foot surge of seawater over much of the southern tip of the island, the financial district is still in tatters. ...

Read More..