Art and Commerce Meet in Miami Beach

Katie Orlinsky for The New York TimesVisitors at the V.I.P. opening of Art Basel Miami Beach. MIAMI — Mera Rubell was taking time out from greeting the hundreds of visitors at her family’s sprawling contemporary art center here to vent. “It’s the height of arrogance to dismiss — — ,” she began. Jason, her son, interrupted: “It’s arrogance. It’s a completely uninteresting story.” ...

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Justices to Take Up Generic Drug Case

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said on Friday that it would decide whether a pharmaceutical company should be allowed to pay a competitor millions of dollars to keep a generic copy of a best-selling drug off the market. Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesRalph Neas, head of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, said the case would alter the marketing of new generics. ...

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IHT Rendezvous: Romany Were European 500 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

LONDON — The Romany people constitute Europe’s largest and, arguably, now its most persecuted minority.A new genetic study published this week suggests their ancestors arrived in Europe from northwestern India in a single wave around 1,500 years ago, half a millennium earlier than previously thought.The international authors of the peer-reviewed paper in Current Biology journal said their study is...

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Steven A. Cohen Is Absent at Art Basel Miami Beach

Katie Orlinsky for The New York TimesArt Basel’s V.I.P. opening this week in Miami Beach, as seen through Olafur Eliasson’s kaleidoscopic installation “Your Shared Planet.” MIAMI BEACH — The opening of Art Basel Miami Beach, under way here this week, looked like the start of the most glamorous doorbuster sale in history, with hundreds of V.I.P.’s streaming into the convention center wearing high-end...

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Question Mark: Sense of Taste Changes With Age

They are a ghastly orange color when they tumble out of their crinkly package with its flamelike logo, and salt mines and chemical plants may come to mind when you eat the first one, but, man, those tortilla chips are tasty. Or maybe it’s just that you can actually taste them. Because sorry, Charlie: as we get older, there may come a time when we find ourselves drawn not to food with good taste or...

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Apple to Resume U.S. Manufacturing

For the first time in years, Apple will manufacture computers in the United States, the chief executive of Apple, Timothy D. Cook, said in interviews with NBC and Bloomberg Businessweek. “Next year, we will do one of our existing Mac lines in the United States,” he said in an interview to be broadcast Thursday on “Rock Center With Brian Williams” on NBC. Apple, the biggest company...

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Antismoking Outlays Drop Despite Tobacco Revenue

Faced with tight budgets, states have spent less on tobacco prevention over the past two years than in any period since the national tobacco settlement in 1998, despite record high revenues from the settlement and tobacco taxes, according to a report to be released on Thursday. Paul J. Richards/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesState antismoking spending is the lowest since the 1998...

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Antismoking Outlays Drop Despite Tobacco Revenue

Faced with tight budgets, states have spent less on tobacco prevention over the past two years than in any period since the national tobacco settlement in 1998, despite record high revenues from the settlement and tobacco taxes, according to a report to be released on Thursday. Paul J. Richards/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesState antismoking spending is the lowest since the 1998...

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McAfee Antivirus Software Pioneer Arrested in Guatemala City

MEXICO CITY — The antivirus software pioneer John McAfee was arrested in Guatemala City on Wednesday after he slipped over the border from his home in Belize where police want to question him in their investigation of the murder of his neighbor. Jorge Dan Lopez/ReutersJohn McAfee spoke during an interview in Guatemala City on Wednesday. The interior minister,...

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U. S. and Russia to Meet on Syrian Conflict

DUBLIN — A new round of diplomacy on the conflict in Syria will begin on Thursday afternoon when Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy, hosts an unusual three-way meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. The session, which is being held on the margins of a meeting on European security, comes amid reports of heightened...

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DealBook: Freeport to Buy Plains Exploration and McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold said on Wednesday that it would buy two oil and natural gas companies, Plains Exploration and Production and the McMoRan Exploration Company, in a return to the energy business.The two transactions will create a natural resources titan worth about $60 billion, including debt, and will formally reunite Freeport with McMoRan, the oil exploration company it spun off in...

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Extended Use of Breast Cancer Drug Suggested

The widely prescribed drug tamoxifen already plays a major role in reducing the risk of death from breast cancer. But a new study suggests that women should be taking the drug for twice as long as is now customary, a finding that could upend the standard that has been in place for about 15 years. In the study, patients who continued taking tamoxifen for 10 years were less likely to have...

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Extended Use of Breast Cancer Drug Suggested

The widely prescribed drug tamoxifen already plays a major role in reducing the risk of death from breast cancer. But a new study suggests that women should be taking the drug for twice as long as is now customary, a finding that could upend the standard that has been in place for about 15 years. In the study, patients who continued taking tamoxifen for 10 years were less likely to have...

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Free-Messaging Apps Siphon Profits from Cellular Providers

For a long time, opening a cellphone bill was scary for the parents of teenagers. Charges for texting could reach hundreds of dollars a month, prompting many families to sign up for unlimited plans. But at perhaps $20 a month for each family member, that quickly added up, too. Lucas Jackson/ReutersA man uses his Apple iPhone in New York in September. Cellphone users are sending more text...

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Op-Ed Contributor: How Cities Can Save China

CHINA is experiencing its most severe economic downturn in decades, and revitalizing its economic model is critical to future prosperity — not only in China, but around the world. Central to that effort is the transformation of China’s cities. By adopting a new approach to urbanization, its leaders can assure more balanced investment, address a major source of debt, achieve a consumption...

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More Dads Buy the Toys, So Barbie, and Stores, Get Makeovers

Barbies are for girls and construction sets are for boys. Or are they? For the first time in Barbie’s more than 50-year history, Mattel is introducing a Barbie construction set that underscores a huge shift in the marketplace. Fathers are doing more of the family shopping just as girls are being encouraged more than ever by hypervigilant parents to play with toys (as boys already do) that...

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National Briefing | New England: New Hampshire: Not Guilty Plea in Hepatitis Case

A traveling hospital technologist accused of stealing drugs and infecting patients with hepatitis C through contaminated syringes pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday. The technologist, David Kwiatkowski, whom prosecutors described as a “serial infector,” was indicted last week on charges of tampering with a consumer product and illegally obtaining drugs. Until May, Mr. Kwiatkowski worked...

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National Briefing | New England: New Hampshire: Not Guilty Plea in Hepatitis Case

A traveling hospital technologist accused of stealing drugs and infecting patients with hepatitis C through contaminated syringes pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday. The technologist, David Kwiatkowski, whom prosecutors described as a “serial infector,” was indicted last week on charges of tampering with a consumer product and illegally obtaining drugs. Until May, Mr. Kwiatkowski worked...

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Gadgetwise Blog: Turn Your Photos into E-Holiday Cards

From Christmas trees to Christmas cards, December is a pretty deadly season for trees. There’s not a lot you can do about the Christmas trees (aluminum tinsel tree anyone?), but you can cut down on the cards.An iPhone app, Over, lets you put type on top of your own photos. Although it wasn’t intended with holidays in mind – more like a chance to make your own memes – it’s an easy way to make cards...

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Obama Calls on Russia to Renew Weapons Pact

WASHINGTON — President Obama called on Russia on Monday to renew a two-decade-old nuclear disarmament program that Moscow has threatened to cancel as the two sides try to figure out the future of a rocky relationship now that elections in both countries are behind them. Russia declared this fall that it would not renew the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which has helped...

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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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