Global Update: Meningitis Vaccine Gets Longer Window Without Refrigeration

In what may prove to be a major advance for Africa’s “meningitis belt,” regulatory authorities have decided that a new meningitis vaccine could be stored without refrigeration for up to four days. The announcement was made last week at a conference in Atlanta of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. While a few days may seem trivial, the hardest part of protecting poor countries...

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DealBook: Latest Slip for H.P. Forces a New Write-Down

Hewlett-Packard‘s already troubled history with deal-making just got worse.The technology giant said on Tuesday that it had taken an $8.8 billion accounting charge, in part related to accounting problems at Autonomy, the British software company it bought for $10 billion last year. The announcement comes just one quarter after another large write-down by H.P. in relation to Electronic Data Systems,...

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Hamas Leader Dares Israel to Invade Amid Gaza Airstrikes

GAZA CITY — The top leader of Hamas dared Israel on Monday to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian enclave, including a second hit on a 15-story building that houses media outlets. A volley of rockets fired from Gaza into southern...

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Marlins salary dump to Toronto finalized

MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Marlins' latest payroll purge received final approval Monday from the commissioner's office, and as the team's top baseball executive began to discuss the deal during a conference call, a bad connection generated waves of reverberating noise that filled the phone line.Nearly a week after the Marlins swung their widely ridiculed trade with Toronto, negative feedback keeps coming.Commissioner...

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News Analysis: Tainted-Drug Deaths Spawn Heated Debate Over F.D.A.’s Powers

If she kept being defensive, Mr. Dingell warned, “I would assure you that you are putting your head in the noose.” Hearings like this may be partly theater, a chance for politicians to strut their righteous indignation and threaten tough new laws. But a public health disaster had occurred on Dr. Hamburg’s watch, one about which she has been mostly silent, and the hearing was a chance for her...

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News Corporation Looks at Potential Acquisitions

Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesRupert Murdoch, second from left, with his sons, Lachlan, left, and James, second from right, and Chase Carey, News Corporation’s president and chief operating officer, in July in Sun Valley, Idaho. The media conglomerate, which had been on its heels for more than a year because of the phone hacking scandal in Britain, is looking to make acquisitions again. First...

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Gaza Violence Is Unabating as Outsiders Push for a Truce

GAZA CITY — Israeli forces killed at least 11 people, including several children, in a single airstrike that destroyed a home here on Sunday, as Israel pressed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip for a fifth day, deploying warplanes and naval vessels to pummel the coastal enclave. The airstrike, which the Israeli military said was meant to kill a Palestinian militant involved in the recent...

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Wii U: New console launches in a sea of gadgets

NEW YORK (AP) — In the six years since the last major video game system launched, Apple unveiled the iPhone and the iPad, “Angry Birds” invaded smartphones and Facebook reached a billion users. In the process, scores of video game consoles were left to languish in living rooms alongside dusty VCRs and disc players.On Sunday, Nintendo Co. is launching the...

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Schaub rallies Texans past Jaguars, 43-37

HOUSTON (AP) — Tied in overtime with one of the NFL's worst teams, the Houston Texans turned to their superstar to pull out the victory.Andre Johnson caught a screen pass from Matt Schaub and ran 48 yards for the winning touchdown as the Texans rallied to beat Jacksonville 43-37 on Sunday.Schaub threw a career-high five touchdown passes, completed a franchise-record 43 passes and finished with 527...

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Ashlyn Blocker, the Girl Who Feels No Pain

Jeff Riedel for The New York TimesAshlyn Blocker, who feels no pain, at home in Patterson, GA. The girl who feels no pain was in the kitchen, stirring ramen noodles, when the spoon slipped from her hand and dropped into the pot of boiling water. It was a school night; the TV was on in the living room, and her mother was folding clothes on the couch. Without thinking, Ashlyn Blocker reached her right...

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