Israeli Says Syria Twisted Comments by Rebel Supporter

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A public relations controversy erupted Saturday after a leading Israeli newspaper published comments from a brief interview with the leader of Syria’s main exile opposition group. The news media outlets of the Syrian government, and its ally Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, reported that the opposition leader had declared that Israel had “nothing to fear” from a rebel-led...

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Snoop Dogg blazes one during BMI songwriting panel

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Music fans who turned out to BMI's annual pre-Grammy Awards "How I Wrote That Song" discussion got a little more than they expected thanks to Snoop Dogg — a contact high.The rapper smoked marijuana during Saturday's panel discussion, lighting up a large, Kush-filled blunt on stage at The Roxy. He briefly passed it off to B.o.B before methodically reducing it to ash over a 15-minute...

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In Nigeria, Polio Vaccine Workers Are Killed by Gunmen

At least nine polio immunization workers were shot to death in northern Nigeria on Friday by gunmen who attacked two clinics, officials said. The killings, with eerie echoes of attacks that killed nine female polio workers in Pakistan in December, represented another serious setback for the global effort to eradicate polio. Most of the victims were women and were shot in the back of...

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Business Week in Pictures

Phil Libin, the chief executive of Evernote, during a staff meeting at Evernote’s headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. Evernote is among the privately held Silicon Valley start-ups that are worth more than $1 billion. An unprecedented number of high technology start-ups, easily 25 and possibly exceeding 40, have crossed that threshold. Many employees are quietly growing rich, or at least building...

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California Police Officer Manhunt

Alex Gallardo/ReutersA police cruiser in which an officer was shot in Corona, Calif. BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. — The search for the former Los Angeles police officer wanted in three killings continued throughout Friday here, even as a blizzard covered the mountains with a foot of snow. But as no new traces of the suspect were found, the authorities wondered if he had somehow slipped through their fingers....

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NBC pulls 'Do No Harm' after 2 low-rated episodes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC is pulling the drama series "Do No Harm" after two low-rated episodes.The show is a take on the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and stars Steven Pasquale of "Rescue Me." He plays a respected neurosurgeon who turns into a dangerous alter ego each night. Other cast members include Alana De La Garza and Phylicia Rashad."Do No Harm" started with a historically small audience for...

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Well: Think Like a Doctor: A Confused and Terrified Patient

The Challenge: Can you solve the mystery of a middle-aged man recovering from a serious illness who suddenly becomes frightened and confused?Every month the Diagnosis column of The New York Times Magazine asks Well readers to sift through a difficult case and solve a diagnostic riddle. Below you will find a summary of a case involving a 55-year-old man well on his way to recovering from a series of...

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DealBook: Southeastern Asset Management to Fight Dell's Takeover

7:44 p.m. | Updated One of the biggest investors in Dell said on Friday that it would oppose the company’s plans to go private, setting up a major potential roadblock for the biggest buyout since the financial crisis.Southeastern Asset Management, Dell’s largest outside shareholder, argued in a letter to the board that the $24.4 billion takeover bid was too low.The company’s founder, Michael S. Dell,...

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U.S. Official Faults F.A.A. for Missing 787 Battery Risk

The nation’s top transportation safety official said on Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration accepted test results from Boeing in 2007 that failed to properly assess the risks of smoke or fire from the batteries on Boeing’s new 787 jets. Deborah Hersman, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters that the problems seemed to have originated...

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Bieber's mom trying to stay out of abortion debate

NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Bieber's mom wants to set the record straight: She's not interested in the political fray on abortion as she promotes "Crescendo," a new film she hopes will raise $10 million for centers that help pregnant girls.Pattie Mallette, an unmarried teen herself when she had Bieber, signed on as an executive producer after the film was finished. She said Thursday that she connected...

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Well: The 'Monday Morning' Medical Screaming Match

I did not think I would ever see another “morbidity and mortality” conference in which senior doctors publicly attacked their younger colleagues for making medical errors. These types of heated meetings were commonplace when I was a medical student but have largely been abandoned.Yet here they were again on “Monday Mornings,” a new medical drama on the TNT network, based on a novel by Dr. Sanjay Gupta,...

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DealBook: Helping Start-Ups With Local Support and National Networks

When Will Fuentes planned an extended business trip to Seattle last year, he tapped into the local chapter of a national networking group there. Within hours, Mr. Fuentes, who founded the Arlington, Va., software company Lemur Retail, had secured a work space, introductions and even restaurant recommendations via the group, the Startup America Partnership.“Before I flew out there, I already had five...

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Tunisia Moves to Contain Fallout After Opposition Figure Is Assassinated

TUNIS — Tunisian officials moved quickly on Wednesday to contain the political fallout after a leading opposition figure was assassinated outside his home, announcing that they would dissolve the Islamist-led government and calling for a national unity cabinet as thousands took to the streets in protests that the security forces beat back with tear gas. The killing of the politician, Chokri...

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Chris Brown returns to court for probation issues

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With the woman he assaulted throwing him a kiss, Chris Brown walked into court Wednesday to face allegations he failed to complete his community labor sentence for Rihanna's 2009 beating.A judge asked for more information and scheduled another hearing in two months.Rihanna, the glamorous singer whose bruised face became a tabloid fixture after she was beaten by her then-boyfriend...

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Personal Health: Effective Addiction Treatment

Countless people addicted to drugs, alcohol or both have managed to get clean and stay clean with the help of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous or the thousands of residential and outpatient clinics devoted to treating addiction.But if you have failed one or more times to achieve lasting sobriety after rehab, perhaps after spending tens of thousands of dollars, you’re not alone. And chances...

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DealBook: The Politics of the R.B.S. Settlement

LONDON — The British government is taking aim at an unlikely target in the latest rate-rigging case: the British government.The $612 million settlement that the Royal Bank of Scotland reached with authorities on Wednesday over rate manipulation will leave British taxpayers liable for part of the fine.The government still owns a 82 percent stake in the bank, which was bailed out in 2008 during the...

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Ahmadinejad Visits Egypt, Signaling Realignment

CAIRO — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s historic three-day trip to Egypt, the first in three decades by an Iranian leader, started pleasantly enough on Tuesday. Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsi, greeted Mr. Ahmadinejad with a broad smile during a red-carpet ceremony at a Cairo airport. The two talked about the crisis in Syria and how to improve the relationship between their own countries,...

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Disney working on stand-alone 'Star Wars' films

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney is mining The Force for even more new films.Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger said Tuesday that screenwriters Larry Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are working on stand-alone "Star Wars" movies that aren't part of the new trilogy that's in the works."There has been speculation about some standalone films that have been in development, and I can confirm to you today that in fact we are...

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Well: Warning Too Late for Some Babies

Six weeks after Jack Mahoney was born prematurely on Feb. 3, 2011, the neonatal staff at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., noticed that his heart rate slowed slightly when he ate. They figured he was having difficulty feeding, and they added a thickener to help.When Jack was discharged, his parents were given the thickener, SimplyThick, to mix into his formula. Two weeks later, Jack was back in the...

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Zynga at a Crossroads in Mobile Quest

SAN FRANCISCO — Zynga has been on a monumental losing streak. Hits have been rare, profits nonexistent and crucial employees are fleeing. The story of the company, which developed the notion of social gaming and persuaded tens of millions of people to try it out on Facebook, illustrates how suddenly the fortunes of hot Internet companies can shift. Two years ago, as Zynga was first being...

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