Fat Dad: Baking for Love

Fat DadDawn Lerman writes about growing up with a fat dad.My grandmother Beauty always told me that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, and by the look of pure delight on my dad’s face when he ate a piece of warm, homemade chocolate cake, or bit into a just-baked crispy cookie, I grew to believe this was true. I had no doubt that when the time came, and I liked a boy, that a batch of...

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U.S. Manufacturing Weakens, but May Rebound Quickly

Manufacturing got off to a weak start this year in the United States as motor vehicle output tumbled in January, but a rebound in factory activity in New York State suggested that any setback would be temporary. In a further sign that the sluggish economic recovery remains on track, consumers were a bit more upbeat early this month even as they paid more for gasoline and a tax increase reduced...

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Vowing Reform, China’s Leader, Xi Jinping, Airs Other Message in Private

HONG KONG — When China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, visited the country’s south to promote himself before the public as an audacious reformer following in the footsteps of Deng Xiaoping, he had another message to deliver to Communist Party officials behind closed doors. Feng Li/Getty ImagesXi Jinping has came to power at a time when the pressure of public expectations for greater official...

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Olympian Oscar Pistorius charged with murder

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs.Reeva Steenkamp, a model who spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women, was shot four times in the predawn...

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Doctor and Patient: Afraid to Speak Up to Medical Power

The slender, weather-beaten, elderly Polish immigrant had been diagnosed with lung cancer nearly a year earlier and was receiving chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial. I was a surgical consultant, called in to help control the fluid that kept accumulating in his lungs.During one visit, he motioned for me to come closer. His voice was hoarse from a tumor that spread, and the constant hissing from...

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Higher Prices Help PepsiCo to 17% Gain in Profit

Investors in PepsiCo saw glimmers of the end of the tunnel on Thursday when the company reported a 17 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit after a long lackluster performance. Net income was $1.66 billion, or $1.06 a share, lifted by higher prices for the company’s products, significant investments in marketing of crucial brands like Pepsi and Lay’s and strong sales in Latin America...

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Kerry Says He Is Preparing Proposals on Syria Crisis

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday that he had ideas about how to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to agree to a political transition in Syria and planned to raise them on his first foreign trip this month. “We need to address the question of President Assad’s calculation currently,” Mr. Kerry said after a meeting with Jordan’s foreign minister, Nasser Judeh. “I...

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Barry Bonds seeks dismissal of felony conviction

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A lawyer for Barry Bonds urged a federal appeals court on Wednesday to toss out the slugger's obstruction of justice conviction, saying a rambling answer he gave while testifying before a grand jury was not a crime.Appellate specialist Dennis Riordan argued that Bonds was not formally or specifically charged with the felony that he was convicted of committing. A federal jury in...

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News Analysis: As North Korea’s Nuclear Ability Grows, China Faces Dilemma

BEIJING — In the aftermath of Tuesday’s nuclear test by North Korea, China will almost certainly join the United States in supporting tougher sanctions at the United Nations, accompanied by sterner reprimands from Beijing against its recalcitrant ally in Pyongyang. But as impatient as China might be with North Korea, there is little chance that the new Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, will move...

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Body slam for wrestling: Sport cut from Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — For wrestling, this may have been the ultimate body slam: getting tossed out of the Olympic rings.The vote Tuesday by the IOC's executive board stunned the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as popular in many countries and steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves.While wrestling will be included at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it was cut from the...

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