DealBook | The Trade: An Asset So Toxic They Called It ‘Nuclear Holocaust’

On March 16, 2007, Morgan Stanley employees working on one of the toxic assets that helped blow up the world economy discussed what to name it. Among the team members’ suggestions: “Subprime Meltdown,” “Hitman,” “Nuclear Holocaust” and “Mike Tyson’s Punchout,” as well a simple yet direct reference to a bag of excrement.Ha ha. Those hilarious investment bankers.Then they gave it its real name and sold...

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Nechemya Weberman Sentenced to 103 Years in Prison

Bebeto Matthews/Associated PressNechemya Weberman and his lawyer, George Farkas, right, at Mr. Weberman's sentencing in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Tuesday. An unlicensed therapist who is a respected member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn was sentenced on Tuesday to 103 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a young woman, beginning the attacks when she was 12. The...

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‘Atari’ Is in Trouble Again

Atari is declaring bankruptcy — twice. Both the U.S. video game company and its French parent have done so, the latest twist for the company which largely invented the video game industry and remains synonymous with it, despite having seen its glory days end by the mid-1980s.But wait. Even though the Atari name celebrated its fortieth anniversary last year, it’s a mistake to talk about Atari...

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Shakira gives birth to baby boy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shakira is a mama.A spokeswoman for the 35-year-old Colombian singer says Shakira Mebarak and 25-year-old soccer star Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona welcomed son Milan Pique Mebarak on Tuesday at 9:36 p.m. in Barcelona, Spain.A statement posted on the pop star's site in English, Spanish and Catalan says that "just like his father, baby Milan became a member of FC Barcelona at birth."...

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The Well Column: Facing Cancer, a Stark Choice

In the 1970s, women’s health advocates were highly suspicious of mastectomies. They argued that surgeons — in those days, pretty much an all-male club — were far too quick to remove a breast after a diagnosis of cancer, with disfiguring results.But today, the pendulum has swung the other way. A new generation of women want doctors to take a more aggressive approach, and more and more are asking that...

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Square Feet: Pittsburgh Seeks to Expand Riverfront Access to the Public

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh exists for three reasons: the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio. In the 20th century, the banks of those rivers were controlled by industrial behemoths. They largely lost that identity after the waning of the steel industry in the 1980s. Over the last two decades, however, the city’s progress in clearing and cleaning its waterfront has created 12 miles of recreational...

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ArtsBeat: New York Radio Gets a New Country Station

Country music returned to the radio airwaves in New York on Monday morning, when Cumulus Media introduced “Nash 94.7” with a blast of contemporary country hits and a few old favorites like Brooks & Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.”It was the first time a major FM station had tried a country format since WYNY abandoned country music and became WKTU in 1996, and it came as welcome relief for beleaguered...

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Samsung decides to kick RIM when it’s down by bashing BlackBerry in new ad [video]

Samsung (005930) is well known for its clever ads mocking Apple (AAPL) and its fans, but the company has decided to pick on a less powerful target in its newest ad that takes swipes RIM (RIMM) and its BlackBerry smartphones. The ad revolves around an office that is implementing its own bring-your-own-device policy and is meant to show that both the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II are ideal...

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'Restrepo' director has sorrowful Sundance return

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Sebastian Junger wishes his latest Sundance Film Festival documentary never had to be made.It's been a bittersweet return for Junger at Sundance, where his war chronicle "Restrepo" won the top documentary prize three years ago.Junger's back with "Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington," a portrait of his "Restrepo" co-director, who was killed...

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Well: An Unexpected Road Hazard: Obesity

Obesity carries yet another surprising risk, according to a new study: obese drivers are more likely than normal weight drivers to die in a car crash.Researchers reviewed data on accidents recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Beginning with 41,283 collisions, the scientists selected accidents in which the cars, trucks or...

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