Moscow Journal: Book Gives Russians Close-Up of American Minutiae

MOSCOW — After 20 years of opining on weighty bilateral issues like NATO expansion and ballistic missile defense, the political analyst Nikolai V. Zlobin recently found himself trying to explain, for an uncomprehending Russian readership, the American phenomenon of the teenage baby sitter. In Russia, children are raised by their grandmothers, or, if their grandmothers are not available, by...

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Thefts a Concern as Holiday Deliveries Increase

Librado Romero/The New York TimesA driver in Midtown Manhattan on Friday. U.P.S. expects to deliver more than 500 million packages this season, leaving some to fear a rise in thefts. A pair of brown leather boots was snatched last week from a doorstep in the suburbs of Chicago. A computer disappeared from a front porch in Fort Worth last month, and an iPad case was stolen outside a Long Island home...

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Mind: A Compromise on Defining and Diagnosing Mental Disorders

They plotted a revolution, fell to debating among themselves, and in the end overturned very little except their own expectations. But the effort itself was a valuable guide for anyone who has received a psychiatric diagnosis, or anyone who might get one. This month, the American Psychiatric Association announced that its board of trustees had approved the fifth edition of the association’s...

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Mind: A Compromise on Defining and Diagnosing Mental Disorders

They plotted a revolution, fell to debating among themselves, and in the end overturned very little except their own expectations. But the effort itself was a valuable guide for anyone who has received a psychiatric diagnosis, or anyone who might get one. This month, the American Psychiatric Association announced that its board of trustees had approved the fifth edition of the association’s...

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DealBook: U.S. to Sell Last Holdings of A.I.G. Common Stock

The Treasury Department said on Monday that it planned to sell its remaining holdings of common stock in the American International Group, essentially ending taxpayers’ four-year ownership of the bailed-out insurer.The Treasury Department said that it had begun a public offering of its 15.9 percent stake in A.I.G., amounting to about 234.2 million shares. It is the latest in a string of sales by the...

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Fear of Fighting Haunts Once-Tranquil Damascus

Muzaffar Salman/ReutersDamascenes cling to the hope that the ethnic strife that has deepened when fighting has reached other areas will not arise in their city. DAMASCUS, Syria — Business has been terrible for Abu Tareq, a taxi driver, so last week, without telling his wife, he agreed to drive a man to the Damascus airport for 10 times the usual rate. But, he said later, he will not be doing that...

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Browser Wars Flare Again, This Time for Phones and Tablets

SAN FRANCISCO — When Google took a video camera to Times Square in 2009 and asked passers-by what a browser is, most of the answers were hilariously incorrect, from “a search engine” to “broadband” to “Yahoo.” But even if consumers are not so sure what Web browsers are (programs like Internet Explorer and Firefox), they have become a crucial business for tech companies like Google and...

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A Breakthrough Against Leukemia Using Altered T-Cells

PHILIPSBURG, Pa. — Emma Whitehead has been bounding around the house lately, practicing somersaults and rugby-style tumbles that make her parents wince. It is hard to believe, but last spring Emma, then 6, was near death from leukemia. She had relapsed twice after chemotherapy, and doctors had run out of options. Desperate to save her, her parents sought an experimental treatment at...

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A Breakthrough Against Leukemia Using Altered T-Cells

PHILIPSBURG, Pa. — Emma Whitehead has been bounding around the house lately, practicing somersaults and rugby-style tumbles that make her parents wince. It is hard to believe, but last spring Emma, then 6, was near death from leukemia. She had relapsed twice after chemotherapy, and doctors had run out of options. Desperate to save her, her parents sought an experimental treatment at...

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As Recovery Inches Ahead, Banks Face a New Reckoning

The nation’s largest banks are facing a fresh torrent of lawsuits asserting that they sold shoddy mortgage securities that imploded during the financial crisis, potentially adding significantly to the tens of billions of dollars the banks have already paid to settle other cases. Regulators, prosecutors, investors and insurers have filed dozens of new claims against Bank of America, JPMorgan...

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