Dec
10

Interest Groups Push to Fill Margins of Health Coverage

The chiropractors were out in force, lobbying for months to get their services included in every state’s package of essential health benefits that will be guaranteed under the new health care law. “We’ve been in constant contact with our state chapters, just telling them, ‘Look, you’ve got to get in the room,’ ” said John Falardeau, senior vice president of government relations at the...
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Bloomberg Weighs Making a Run for Financial Times

Not long ago, The Financial Times would have been the crown jewel of any media company, instantly conferring prestige and influence on its owner. Now, given the likely bidders, one of the world’s most respected and distinctive financial newspapers could end up as a trophy to help sell more computer terminals. Michael R. Bloomberg is weighing the wisdom of buying The Financial Times Group,...
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Dec
09

Syrian Rebels Tied to Al Qaeda Play Key Role in War

Sana Handout, via European Pressphoto AgencyIn May in Damascus, Syrian workers removed debris from two car bombs that were linked to the Qaeda-backed Nusra Front. BAGHDAD — The lone Syrian rebel group with an explicit stamp of approval from Al Qaeda has become one of the uprising’s most effective fighting forces, posing a stark challenge to the United States and other countries that want to support...
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Rolling Stones rock Brooklyn at anniversary gig

NEW YORK (AP) — It sure didn't feel like a farewell.The Rolling Stones — average age 68-plus, if you're counting — were in rollicking form as they rocked the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for 2½ hours Saturday night, their first U.S. show on a mini-tour marking a mind-boggling 50 years as a rock band.And although every time the Stones tour, the inevitable questions arise, — whether it's "The Last Time,"...
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New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law

WASHINGTON — For more than a year, politicians have been fighting over whether to raise taxes on high-income people. They rarely mention that affluent Americans will soon be hit with new taxes adopted as part of the 2010 health care law. The new levies, which take effect in January, include an increase in the payroll tax on wages and a tax on investment income, including interest, dividends...
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Financiers Bet on Rental Housing

DAVID N. MILLER, a master of bailouts, steps to the dais and coolly explains how the financial world went crazy. It is February 2010. The anger behind Occupy Wall Street is building. Flicking through slides, Mr. Miller, a Treasury official working with the department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, lays out what caused the housing bubble: easy credit, shoddy banking, feeble...
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Dec
08

Afghan Leader Says Attack on Spy Chief Was Planned in Pakistan

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday a suicide bombing that wounded his intelligence chief was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta and that he would raise the issue with Islamabad. Karzai stopped short of blaming the Pakistani government directly. But he said the issue would be raised with neighboring Pakistan, a regional power seen as critical to U.S. efforts...
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New Sony online store offers remote downloads to PlayStation and mobile devices

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Viral rapper PSY apologizes for anti-US protests

South Korean rapper and Internet sensation PSY is apologizing to Americans for participating in anti-U.S. protests several years ago.Park Jae-sang, who performs as PSY, issued a statement Friday after reports surfaced that he had participated in concerts protesting the U.S. military presence in South Korea during the early stages of the Iraq war.At a 2004 concert, the "Gangnam Style" rapper performs...
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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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