Feb
12

Zhuang Zedong dies at 72; helped get 'ping-pong diplomacy' rolling

It might have been a chance meeting or a cunning act of propaganda, but the encounter more than 40 years ago between two ping-pong...
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Dave Clark Five bassist Rick Huxley dies aged 72

(Reuters) – Rick Huxley, the bassist for the 1960s British Invasion pop-rock group the Dave Clark Five, has died, the band’s leader said on Tuesday. He was 72.Huxley died unexpectedly at his home in the English countryside on Monday, Dave Clark told Reuters.The band scored No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic during its decade-long run from 1960-1970.“Glad All Over” holds the honor of knocking...
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Well: Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia

At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term “conversation” loosely. I couldn’t hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.A senior moment? Maybe. (I’m 65.) But for me, it’s complicated...
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Media Decoder Blog: Comcast Buys Rest of NBC In Early Sale

8:53 p.m. | Updated Comcast gave NBCUniversal a $16.7 billion vote of confidence on Tuesday, agreeing to pay that sum to acquire General Electric’s remaining 49 percent stake in the entertainment company. The deal accelerated a sales process that was expected to take several more years.Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, said the acquisition, which will be completed by the end of March, underscored...
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Feb
11

Pentagon expands military benefits for same-sex couples

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has agreed to expand benefits for gay and lesbian couples serving in the military, but officials continued...
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Health Testing on Mice Is Found Misleading in Some Cases

Evan McGlinn for The New York TimesDr. H. Shaw Warren is one of the authors of a new study that questions the use of laboratory mice as models for all human diseases. For decades, mice have been the species of choice in the study of human diseases. But now, researchers report evidence that the mouse model has been totally misleading for at least three major killers — sepsis, burns and trauma. As a...
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Media Decoder Blog: Univision and Disney Give Details of Fusion, a Channel for Latinos

A new 24-hour news and entertainment channel has a name, Fusion. It also has powerful backers in Univision and ABC News, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, and distribution deals in at least 20 million homes. What is not known is whether Fusion has an audience.Fusion will have its premiere late this summer, the companies announced Monday, as the first cable channel aimed to appeal specifically to...
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Feb
10

Gen. Joseph Dunford becomes U.S. commander in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. took over Sunday as the newest and probably last U.S. commander in Afghanistan,...
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For Families Struggling with Mental Illness, Carolyn Wolf Is a Guide in the Darkness

When a life starts to unravel, where do you turn for help? Melissa Klump began to slip in the eighth grade. She couldn’t focus in class, and in a moment of despair she swallowed 60 ibuprofen tablets. She was smart, pretty and ill: depression, attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, either bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. In her 20s, after a more...
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The Media Equation: The Inconvenient but Vital Drone Debate

Last week, the debate over drone strikes broke out into plain view during the confirmation hearings for John O. Brennan, President Obama’s choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Given that the program has been operating largely under the public radar, a question has been raised whether the news media have done their job in keeping the American public informed about this radically different...
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