Huston's "Infrared" wins Bad Sex fiction prize

LONDON (AP) — It's the prize no author wants to win.Award-winning novelist Nancy Huston won Britain's Bad Sex in Fiction award Tuesday for her novel "Infrared," whose tale of a photographer who takes pictures of her lovers during sex proved too revealing for the judges.The choice was announced by "Downton Abbey" actress Samantha Bond during a ceremony at the Naval & Military Club in London.Judges...

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Clinton Warns Syria Against Using Chemical Weapons

Narciso Contreras/Associated Press A kitchen in a home in Aleppo, Syria showed signs of heavy fighting Sunday. WASHINGTON — President Obama warned Syria’s government on Monday that it would be “totally unacceptable” to use chemical weapons against its own people and vowed to hold accountable anyone who did, as American intelligence officials picked up signs that such arms might be deployed in...

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Four Things Google’s Nexus 4 Has in Common with the iPhone 4

Besides being each company’s flagship smartphone (and having the number 4 in their names), Google‘s new Nexus 4 and the 2010 iPhone 4 have a fair bit in common with each other.This could be a good thing, if you remember just how popular the iPhone 4 was. Unfortunately, in this case it’s more of a bad thing, and hearkens back to “Antennagate” and the iPhone 4′s other problems. Do any of these features...

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Additional copies of 'Lincoln' headed to theaters

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Lincoln" is marching to more movie theaters.Disney, which distributed the DreamWorks film, is making additional prints of director Steven Spielberg's historical saga starring Daniel Day-Lewis to meet an unexpected demand that has left some moviegoers in Alaska out in the cold."To say that we're encouraged by the results to date or that they've exceeded our expectations is an understatement,"...

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Global Update: GlaxoSmithKline Tops Access to Medicines Index

Sang Tan/Associated PressGlaxoSmithKline hung on to its perennial top spot in the new Access to Medicines Index released last week, but its competitors are closing in. Every two years, the index ranks the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies based on how readily they get medicines they hold patents on to the world’s poor, how much research they do on tropical diseases, how ethically...

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Deficit Talks Stumble Over Down Payment

WASHINGTON — For all the growing angst over the state of negotiations to head off a fiscal crisis in January, the parties are farthest apart on a relatively small part of the overall deficit reduction program — the down payment. President Obama and the House speaker, John A. Boehner, are in general agreement that the relevant Congressional committees must sit down next year and work out changes...

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Big City: Hurricane Sandy Donations — 15 Percent of What?

Benjamin Norman for The New York TimesCHARITABLE PIPELINES A concert for Hurricane Sandy victims this month at Madison Square Garden will donate its “net proceeds.” In 1983, Jerry Welsh, an executive vice president at American Express, observed from his Lower Manhattan office that the Statue of Liberty was undergoing a major renovation. Within a short time, the company inaugurated an advertising...

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Young down by boardwalk for benefit show

NEW YORK (AP) — Neil Young said Sunday that he couldn't see performing in the area devastated by Superstorm Sandy without doing something to help people who were affected by it.Young and his longtime backing band, Crazy Horse, will hold a benefit concert for the American Red Cross' storm relief effort Thursday at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. The New Jersey coastline areas were...

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Unboxed: Stand-Up Desks Gaining Favor in the Workplace

THE health studies that conclude that people should sit less, and get up and move around more, have always struck me as fitting into the “well, duh” category. But a closer look at the accumulating research on sitting reveals something more intriguing, and disturbing: the health hazards of sitting for long stretches are significant even for people who are quite active when they’re not sitting...

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Advertising: Ford Plan to Revive Lincoln Hinges on a New Brand

An unusual ad campaign features Abraham Lincoln, the president for whom the car brand is named. DEARBORN, Mich. — In the fiercely competitive world of luxury cars, the Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln brand has long been stuck in the slow lane, with stodgy models, older buyers and a distinct lack of pizazz. But Ford is determined to change that. On Monday, the company will announce upgraded customer...

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