Dec
15

With E.C.B. in Spotlight, Bundesbank Finds Itself in the Shadows

Mustafah Abdulaziz for The New York TimesThe Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, built in 1967 in Frankfurt. FRANKFURT — The exposed-concrete slab of the Bundesbank headquarters stands like a bulwark outside the downtown financial district here, a stolid, Brutalist structure that in its sheer mass evokes not just the German central bank’s stubborn resistance to change but, above all, its obsessive...
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Dec
14

Connecticut shooting: 20 schoolchildren among the 28 dead

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Swiss Team Plans Solar-Powered Flight From California to New York

The Solar Impulse team has had a busy week in the U.S., but that hasn’t included the ’round-the-world flight they had hoped for by now. Instead, co-founders Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg have been meeting with government agencies, politicians and benefactors in hopes of setting up a California to New York flight with their solar-powered airplane, slated to take place next year.The...
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Matt Damon fracking film in Berlin festival lineup

BERLIN (Reuters) – The Berlin film festival on Thursday announced the first movies of its 2013 lineup, and among the main competition entries will be U.S. director Gus Van Sant‘s drama starring Matt Damon and centering around the controversial shale gas industry.“Promised Land” will have its international premiere at the annual cinema showcase, although it is scheduled to be launched first in the...
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E.P.A. Proposes Tighter Soot Rule

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new standard for soot pollution on Friday that will force industry, utilities and local governments to find ways to reduce emissions of particles that are linked to thousands of cases of disease and death each year. The agency, acting under a court deadline, is proposing an annual standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air,...
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Dec
13

Susan Rice withdraws from Secretary of State consideration

WASHINGTON – Susan Rice, who came under heavy criticism for her defense of the Obama administration after armed militants killed...
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Amazon Pushes Streaming Media to iOS and Roku

The fight for streaming eyes and ears continues as Amazon pushes its video player to every iOS device and its Cloud Player app lands on Roku boxes and Samsung Smart TVs.Amazon announced on Thursday the immediate availability of Amazon Instant Video for iPhone and iPod touch. The app joins the iPad app launched in August. With most of iOS covered, can Amazon convince...
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Documents: Prisoner plotted to kill Justin Bieber

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — An imprisoned man whose infatuation with Justin Bieber included a tattoo of the pop star on his leg has told investigators in New Mexico he hatched a plot to kill him.Court documents in a New Mexico district court say Dana Martin told investigators he persuaded a man he met in prison and the man’s nephew to kill Bieber, Bieber’s bodyguard and two others not connected to the...
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World’s Population Living Longer, New Report Suggests

A sharp decline in deaths from malnutrition and diseases like measles and tuberculosis has caused a shift in global mortality patterns over the past 20 years, according to a new report, with far more of the world’s population now living into old age and dying from diseases more associated with rich countries, like cancer and heart disease. The shift reflects improvements in sanitation, medical...
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European Leaders Hail Accord on Banking Supervision

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders gathering here Thursday for their year-end summit meeting hailed an agreement to place euro zone banks under a single supervisor, calling it a concrete measure to maintain the viability of the currency as well as a step in laying the groundwork for a broader economic union. Pool photograph by Michael EulerAngela Merkel, the German chancellor, and François...
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