Plenty of Theories, and Enemies, in Killing of 3 Kurds in Paris

Joel Saget/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe brother of Sakine Cansiz (on poster), one of three Kurdish activists found shot on Thursday, said his family was convinced that it was a professional assassination. PARIS — With her signature long hennaed hair, fiery resolve and olive-green military fatigues, Sakine Cansiz was a feminist, guerrilla fighter and former political prisoner as adept at...

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Biden seeks video game industry input on guns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking for broader remedies to gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden is reaching out to the video game industry for ideas as the White House seeks to assemble proposals in response to last month’s massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.Biden is scheduled to meet with video game representatives Friday as the White House explores cultural factors that may contribute to violent...

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Armstrong will answer 'honestly' during Oprah talk

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong said he will answer questions "directly, honestly and candidly" during an interview with Oprah Winfrey next week. He will also apologize and make a limited confession to using performance-enhancing drugs, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.Armstrong has spent more than a decade denying that he doped to win the Tour de France seven times. Without...

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‘Bodega Clinicas’ Draw Interest of Health Officials

HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. — The “bodega clinicas” that line the bustling commercial streets of immigrant neighborhoods around Los Angeles are wedged between money order kiosks and pawnshops. These storefront offices, staffed with Spanish-speaking medical providers, treat ailments for cash: a doctor’s visit is $20 to $40; a cardiology exam is $120; and at one bustling clinic, a colonoscopy is advertised...

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Aaron Swartz, Internet Activist, Dies at 26

Michael Francis McElroy for The New York TimesAaron Swartz in 2009. Aaron Swartz, a wizardly programmer who as a teenager helped develop code that delivered ever-changing Web content to users and later became a steadfast crusader to make that information freely available, was found dead on Friday in his New York apartment. He was 26.  An uncle, Michael Wolf, said that Mr. Swartz...

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Featured Videos from Syria

Latest VideoNews/TimesCastBest of 2012WorldU.S.BusinessScienceOpinionArtsStyleSportsAfricaAmericasAsia PacificEuropeMiddle EastConflict in Syria The Civilian Toll of Cluster MunitionsThe Fight for AleppoDirty Tricks in Syria’s Civil WarFighting for IdlibThe Lions of TawhidMore video from Conflict in Syria HomeMember CenterLog In© 2013 The New York Times CompanyPrivacy PolicyContact UsH...

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Factbox: Video game industry meets with Biden gun task force

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Representatives from the companies that make “first-person shooter” games such as “Call of Duty,” “Medal of Honor” and “Grand Theft Auto” met with Vice President Joe Biden on Friday as the Obama administration looks for ways to curb U.S. gun violence.Biden is heading a task force formed after a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults last month at a Connecticut elementary...

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Alabama's Lacy, Milliner, Fluker enter NFL draft

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama tailback Eddie Lacy, cornerback Dee Milliner and right tackle D.J. Fluker are entering the NFL draft after helping lead the Crimson Tide to a second straight national title.Lacy and Milliner announced their plans to skip their senior seasons Friday at a news conference. Fluker couldn't be there for the announcement because he was traveling.It's another exodus of talented...

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Flu Vaccine Safe for Children Allergic to Eggs, Doctors Say

Scott Olson/Getty ImagesDr. Anne Furey Schultz examined a patient who was experiencing flu-like symptoms at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Because the vaccine is grown in chicken eggs, manufacturers recommend that the roughly 2 percent of all children who have egg allergies not get them. But flu hospitalizes 21,000 young children a year, said...

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DealBook: Wells Fargo Profit Jumps 24% in Quarter, Driven by Mortgage Gains

8:46 a.m. | Updated Wells Fargo reported $5.1 billion in profit for the fourth quarter on Friday, a 24 percent increase, driven by the bank’s lucrative mortgage business.Seizing on low-interest rates that have spurred a flurry of refinancing activity, the bank again notched record profits. For the last 12 quarters, profits at the bank have increased.In this latest quarter, Wells Fargo, based in San...

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Zorbing Accident Kills 1 Man and Injures Another in Russia

MOSCOW — It is called a zorb, an outsize inflatable ball in which people strap themselves, then bounce down a ski slope and, presumably, have a good time doing so. But when a zorb veered off a ski run high in Russia’s Caucasus Mountains earlier this month, there was little anyone could do but watch as the two men inside careened along a jagged ridge and then plunged over a precipice. The...

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Jimmy Dushku: The 25-year-old who is North Korea’s one true Twitter friend

Mother Jones takes a look at a globetrotting young investor who’s the only American — and the only human being — Pyongyang followsGoogle Chairman Eric Schmidt capped a controversial four-day visit to North Korea on Thursday with a call for the country’s censorship-happy communist government to give its people access to the internet, or face further economic decline due to the country’s global isolation....

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Researchers: NFL's Seau had from brain disease

When he ended his life last year by shooting himself in the chest, Junior Seau had a degenerative brain disease often linked with repeated blows to the head.Researchers from the National Institutes of Health said Thursday the former NFL star's abnormalities are consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.The hard-hitting linebacker played for 20 NFL seasons with San Diego, Miami and New...

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Children’s Flu Medicine in Short Supply

As influenza cases surge around the country, health officials say they are trying to stem a shortage of treatments for children. Pharmacies around the country have reported dwindling supplies of liquid Tamiflu, a prescription flu medicine that can ease symptoms if taken within 48 hours of their onset. The drug is available in capsules for adults and a liquid suspension for children and infants....

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DealBook: For Some Dead Brands, a Tortuous Path to Resurrection

At a time when bankruptcy auctions are filled with sad tales of beleaguered brands, snagging a well-known name for pennies on the dollar can seem like a sure bet for ambitious investors.Yet, as Stephen F. Heese and Stephen M. Julius describe, buying the rights to a name and restarting operations requires years of dedication.The two, who were classmates at Harvard Business School in the 1980s, manage...

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Venezuelan Court: Chávez Swearing-In Can Be Postponed

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles is condemning the Supreme Court's endorsement of a delay in President Hugo Chavez's inauguration. The Supreme Court sided with Venezuela's government and ruling party earlier Wednesday in the heated dispute with the opposition while the ailing leader struggles with complications a month after cancer surgery in Cuba. ...

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Men and Women of (Limited) Letters: Must-Follow Twitter Accounts of 2013

Scientific American editors voted in recent weeks on the 20 most informative Twitter accounts to stay abreast of the latest ideas, issues and developments in science and technology. We weeded through hundreds of lists and feeds to select the most brilliant and engaging, as well as the quirkiest of the bunch.Our picks are often witty, sometimes eccentric and occasionally silly, but each brings valuable...

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Bonds, Clemens rejected; no one elected to BB Hall

NEW YORK (AP) — Steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa were denied entry to baseball's Hall of Fame, with voters failing to elect any candidates for only the second time in four decades.In a vote that keeps the game's career home run leader and one of its greatest pitchers out of Cooperstown — at least for now — Bonds received just 36.2 percent of the vote and Clemens 37.6...

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