In Islamist Bastion, Support Ebbs for Egypt’s Brotherhood

Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York TimesA school with old posters of Mohamed Morsi, now the president, in Al Talbeya, a neighborhood in Giza, where disaffection with the government is growing. More Photos »AL TALBEYA, Egypt — Mohamed Salamah used to vote with the Muslim Brotherhood. But in Saturday’s referendum on the Islamist-backed constitution, Mr. Salamah says he is voting against it, mainly...

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Alabama to End Isolation of Inmates With H.I.V.

Jamie Martin/Associated PressThe H.I.V. ward of an Alabama women's prison in 2008. The state was ordered to stop segregating inmates with the virus. A federal judge on Friday ordered Alabama to stop isolating prisoners with H.I.V. Alabama is one of two states, along with South Carolina, where H.I.V.-positive inmates are housed in separate prisons, away from other inmates, in an attempt to...

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Alabama to End Isolation of Inmates With H.I.V.

Jamie Martin/Associated PressThe H.I.V. ward of an Alabama women's prison in 2008. The state was ordered to stop segregating inmates with the virus. A federal judge on Friday ordered Alabama to stop isolating prisoners with H.I.V. Alabama is one of two states, along with South Carolina, where H.I.V.-positive inmates are housed in separate prisons, away from other inmates, in an attempt to...

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Park Geun-hye, South Korean President-Elect, Calls for Reconciliation

Ahn Young-Joon/Associated PressPresident-elect Park Geun-hye during a news conference at her party's headquarters on Thursday in Seoul. SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president-elect, Park Geun-hye, called for national reconciliation on Thursday, a day after she was elected as the country’s first female leader in a close contest that reflected generational divides and growing unease over North...

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‘We Steal Secrets’ Is First of WikiLeaks Films

LOS ANGELES — At the end of Alex Gibney’s not-quite-finished documentary “We Steal Secrets” — about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks — is a screen crawl describing the fate of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst who now faces trial for the release of confidential military and diplomatic documents. “He was found guilty of TK, and sentenced to TK years” in prison, the line says....

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Recipes for Health: Marinated Olives

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesMarinated olives. These are inspired by Patricia Wells’ “Chanteduc Rainbow Olive Collection” in her wonderful book “The Provence Cookbook.” It is best to use olives that have not been pitted. 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 5 bay leaves 2 large garlic cloves, peeled, green shoots removed, thinly sliced...

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Recipes for Health: Marinated Olives

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesMarinated olives. These are inspired by Patricia Wells’ “Chanteduc Rainbow Olive Collection” in her wonderful book “The Provence Cookbook.” It is best to use olives that have not been pitted. 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 5 bay leaves 2 large garlic cloves, peeled, green shoots removed, thinly sliced...

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Boehner Tax Plan in House Is Pulled, Lacking Votes

Brendan Hoffman for The New York TimesSpeaker John A. Boehner of Ohio leaving a meeting Thursday with fellow House Republicans on talks over the “fiscal cliff.” WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner’s effort to pass fallback legislation to avert a fiscal crisis in less than two weeks collapsed Thursday night in an embarrassing defeat after conservative Republicans refused to support legislation that...

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Arrests Made in Maple Syrup Theft From Quebec Warehouse

Francis VachonDanny Ayotte prepares maple syrup for pasteurization. The authorities are trying to recover six million pounds of stolen syrup. OTTAWA — It was an inside job of sorts. Thieves with access to a warehouse and a careful plan loaded up trucks and, over time, made off with $18 million of a valuable commodity. The question is what was more unusual: that the commodity in question was...

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Start-Ups Take on Special Tasks for Small Business

Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesLeah Busque, right, founder of TaskRabbit, with Lauren Sherman, a marketing manager, in San Francisco. Small-business owners are like Swiss Army knives: expected to handle dozens of specialized tasks without falling apart. But even the sharpest entrepreneurs have it tough this time of year — inevitably, some will outsource part of their workload to other enterprising...

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Europe Proposes New Tobacco Rules

BRUSSELS — Health warnings should cover 75 percent of cigarette packs but governments should also have leeway to require plain packaging, the European Commission said Wednesday. Yves Logghe/Associated PressEuropean Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy Tonio Borg held up a mock package of cigarettes during a news conference on proposals to revise the Tobacco Products Directive,...

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Europe Proposes New Tobacco Rules

BRUSSELS — Health warnings should cover 75 percent of cigarette packs but governments should also have leeway to require plain packaging, the European Commission said Wednesday. Yves Logghe/Associated PressEuropean Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy Tonio Borg held up a mock package of cigarettes during a news conference on proposals to revise the Tobacco Products Directive,...

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Challenging France to Do Business Differently

Pool photo by Bertrand LangloisPresident François Hollande must find a way to make palatable a shift in French labor practices. PARIS — Louis Gallois, one of France’s most influential industrialists, knew he was about to make waves for the country’s Socialist president. It was late October, and President François Hollande, faced with an alarming deterioration in the economy, had turned to...

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For Modernizing Thais, Monastic Life Loses Allure

Young monks rehearsed an evening candlelight ceremony at the Chedi Luang temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The country’s Buddhist temples are as much a part of the landscape as rice paddies and palm trees. But many temples in rural Thailand have fallen qui...

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Oracle’s Profit Climbs 18%

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oracle, the business software maker, said Tuesday that its profit rose 18 percent in its most recent quarter because companies spent more on software and other technology as the year was winding down. The results were an improvement from Oracle’s previous quarter, when its revenue fell slightly from a year earlier. The latest quarter spanned September through November....

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Church Officials Call on Filipinos to Campaign Against Birth Control Law

MANILA — After losing a battle to stop the passage of a contentious birth control law, Roman Catholic Church officials on Tuesday dug in and instructed their millions of followers to campaign against the measure in communities, schools and homes. “Let us intensify the moral spiritual education of our youth and children so that they can stand strong against the threats to their moral fiber,”...

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Church Officials Call on Filipinos to Campaign Against Birth Control Law

MANILA — After losing a battle to stop the passage of a contentious birth control law, Roman Catholic Church officials on Tuesday dug in and instructed their millions of followers to campaign against the measure in communities, schools and homes. “Let us intensify the moral spiritual education of our youth and children so that they can stand strong against the threats to their moral fiber,”...

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DealBook: As Unit Pleads Guilty, UBS Pays $1.5 Billion Over Rate Rigging

UBS, the Swiss banking giant, announced a record settlement with global authorities on Wednesday, agreeing to a combined $1.5 billion in fines for its role in a multiyear scheme to manipulate interest rates.In a sign that officials are increasingly taking a hard line against financial wrongdoing, the Justice Department also secured a guilty plea from the bank’s Japanese subsidiary, sending a warning...

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