Algeria Begins ‘Final Assault’ on Gas Field; 7 Hostages Reported Killed

Louafi Larbi/ReutersAlgerian police officers escorted a freed Norwegian hostage as he left the In Amenas police station on Saturday. BAMAKO, Mali — The hostage crisis in the Algerian desert reached a bloody conclusion Saturday as the army carried out a final assault on the gas field taken over by Islamist militants, killing 11 of them, but only after several hostages also died, Algerian officials...

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Raspberry Pi creator says sequel unlikely in 2013

Raspberry Pi’s $ 35 Linux-based computer is a runaway success. Creator Eben Upton told ZDNet in a recent interview that his team thought they would sell 1,000 units when they were designing the mini PC, but sales have now topped 700,000. ”We honestly did think we would sell about 1,000, maybe 10,000 in our wildest dreams,” Upton said. “We thought we would make a small number and give...

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Armstrong's enemies find vindication, sadness

First shunned, then vilified by Lance Armstrong, Mike Anderson had to move to the other side of the world to get his life back.Now running a bike shop outside of Wellington, New Zealand, Armstrong's former assistant watched news reports about his former boss confessing to performance-enhancing drug use with only mild interest. If Anderson never hears Armstrong's voice again, it would be too soon."He...

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Personal Health: That Loving Feeling Takes a Lot of Work

When people fall in love and decide to marry, the expectation is nearly always that love and marriage and the happiness they bring will last; as the vows say, till death do us part. Only the most cynical among us would think, walking down the aisle, that if things don’t work out, “We can always split.”But the divorce rate in the United States is half the marriage rate, and that does not bode well...

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The Boss: New Leaders Inc. C.E.O. on Giving Children a Chance

I AM the youngest of 10 children in my family, and the only one born in the United States. My father was a municipal judge who fled Haiti during the Duvalier regime. He and my mother settled in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, but could not initially afford to bring over my four brothers and five sisters, who stayed in Haiti with relatives. Jean S. Desravines is the chief executive...

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British Leader Sees Wider Threat in Algeria Attack

Oli Scarff/Getty ImagesPrime Minister David Cameron en route to Parliament to deliver a statement on the Algeria hostage crisis. LONDON — With more than 60 hostages still missing and many feared dead, Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament on Friday that the Qaeda-linked attack on a remote Algerian gas installation demonstrated the need for Britain and its Western allies, including the United...

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In Which Actual Joe Biden and ‘Onion’ Joe Biden Pal Around on Reddit and Twitter

The Onion‘s brilliant creation, “Diamond” Joe Biden, stopped by Reddit, in character, for one of the site’s signature Ask Me Anything sessions on Friday afternoon. And, hey, look who asked something over Twitter just as the AMA began:Q for @reddit AMA with my @theonion pal: A Trans-Am? Ever look under the hood of a Corvette? #imavetteguy –VP twitter.com/VP/status/2923…— Office of VP Biden (@VP) January...

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Anti-doping officials say Armstrong must say more

For anti-doping officials, Lance Armstrong's admission of cheating was only a start. Now they want him to give details — lots of them — to clean up his sport.Armstrong's much-awaited confession to Oprah Winfrey made for riveting television, but if the disgraced cyclist wants to take things further, it will involve several long days in meetings with anti-doping officials who have very specific questions:...

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Well: A Great Grain Adventure

This week, the Recipes for Health columnist Martha Rose Shulman asks readers to go beyond wild rice and get adventurous with their grains. She offers new recipes with some unusual grains you may not have ever cooked or eaten. Her recipes this week include:Millet: Millet can be used in bird seed and animal feed, but the grain is enjoying a renaissance in the United States right now as a great source...

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The Lede: Inside the Fed's 2007 Deliberations

On Friday the Federal Reserve released the transcripts of its discussions in 2007, the year the housing market, the financial markets, and the broader economy began to unravel. Focusing on the crucial period from August to December, reporters from The Times shared their findings on what the transcripts reveal in the blog entries and tweets below.This post has been revised to reflect the following...

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The Lede Blog: An Irish Hostage Is 'Safe and Free' in Algeria, but Britons Are Told to Brace for Bad News

An Arabic-language video report from Al Jazeera showing the gas facility in Algeria where dozens of workers were taken hostage by Islamist militants.Following a military raid on a gas facility in Algeria, where a heavily armed group of Islamist militants took dozens of workers hostage, the Irish government confirmed on Thursday that a man from Belfast who had been part of the group taken captive was...

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Intel’s revenue forecast short of expectations

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Intel Corp forecast current-quarter revenue that was slightly below expectations as the personal computer industry grapples with falling sales and a shift toward tablets and smartphones.PC makers are struggling to stop a decline in sales as consumers hold off on buying new laptops in favor of spending on more nimble mobile gadgets.Microsoft Corp‘s long-awaited launch of Windows...

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Manti Te'o girlfriend's death apparently a hoax

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Not long before Notre Dame played Michigan State last fall, word spread that Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te'o had lost his grandmother and girlfriend within hours of each other.Te'o never missed a practice and made a season-high 12 tackles, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery in a 20-3 victory against the Spartans. His inspired play became a stirring story line for...

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Life, Interrupted: Brotherly Love

Life, InterruptedSuleika Jaouad writes about her experiences as a young adult with cancer.There are a lot of things about having cancer in your 20s that feel absurd. One of those instances was when I found myself calling my brother Adam on Skype while he was studying abroad in Argentina to tell him that I had just been diagnosed with leukemia and that — no pressure — he was my only hope for a cure.Today,...

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DealBook: Rio Tinto to Book $14 Billion Charge; C.E.O. Replaced

5:42 a.m. | Updated LONDON — Two expensive acquisitions have come at a steep price for Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining giant.The company, the world’s second-largest mining company after BHP Billiton, said on Thursday that it was taking a $14 billion write-down on the value of aluminum and coal mining assets — a huge amount that came as a surprise to some analysts and investors.As a result,...

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IHT Special: Women Appointed to Saudi Council for First Time

DUBAI — For the first time in Saudi Arabia’s history, women have been appointed to the Shura Council, the traditionally all-male body which drafts laws, debates major issues and provides advice to the king. It may seem a modest step. There are still no female ministers in the cabinet and women will remain segregated within the council, with their own seating area and a separate door....

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RIM says users line up to try new BlackBerry 10 platform

TORONTO (Reuters) – BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is helping customers prepare to switch to its soon-to-be-launched BlackBerry 10 smartphones that it hopes will help it reclaim market share from rivals such as Apple Inc.RIM is betting that the new range of touch-screen and keyboard devices, set for a January 30 launch, will revive its fortunes.The company was “very enthused by the engagement...

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Eagles get their man, hire Oregon's Chip Kelly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In the end, Chip Kelly chose the NFL, giving the Eagles their guy.Philadelphia hired Kelly on Wednesday, just 10 days after he decided to stay at Oregon. The 49-year-old Kelly, known as an offensive innovator, becomes the 21st coach in team history and replaces Andy Reid, who was fired on Dec. 31 after a 4-12 season.He'll be introduced at a news conference Thursday at 1:30 p.m....

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Study Confirms Benefits of Flu Vaccine for Pregnant Women

While everyone is being urged to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible, some pregnant women avoid it in the belief that it may harm their babies. A large new study confirms that they should be much more afraid of the flu than the vaccine. Norwegian researchers studied fetal death among 113,331 women pregnant during the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009-2010. Some 54,065 women were unvaccinated,...

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Supreme Court Hears Argument on Cellphone Towers

WASHINGTON — In June, two Texas cities asked the Supreme Court to decide a practical question and an abstract one, both concerning how quickly local zoning authorities have to respond to applications from telecommunications companies to build wireless towers. The practical question was whether the Federal Communications Commission was authorized to set time limits. But the Supreme Court,...

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