Well: Quitting Smoking for Good

Few smokers would claim that it’s easy to quit. The addiction to nicotine is strong and repeatedly reinforced by circumstances that prompt smokers to light up.Yet the millions who have successfully quit are proof that a smoke-free life is achievable, even by those who have been regular, even heavy, smokers for decades.Today, 19 percent of American adults smoke, down from more than 42 percent half...

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Some Parents, Shouldering Student Loans, Fall on Tough Times

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times“Jenni feels the guilt and I feel the burden.” Michele Fitzgerald, in debt for the loans she took out for her daughter Jenni’s college education. When Michele Fitzgerald and her daughter, Jenni, go out for dinner, Jenni pays. When they get haircuts, Jenni pays. When they buy groceries, Jenni pays. It has been six years since Ms. Fitzgerald — broke, unemployed...

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Changing of the Guard: Chinese Communist Party Faces Calls for Democracy

BEIJING — As the Communist Party’s 18th Congress approached, Li Weidong, a scholar of politics, made plans to observe a historic leadership battle in one of the world’s great nations. Instead of staying in Beijing to monitor China’s once-a-decade transfer of power, Mr. Li boarded a plane. “I’m going to the United States to study the elections,” Mr. Li said in a telephone interview...

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Taiwan’s HTC settles patent disputes with Apple

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. has settled with Apple Inc. on their outstanding patent disputes.In a joint statement Sunday, the two companies said they also signed a 10-year license agreement that will extend to current and future patents held by one other. Apple and HTC had battled patents...

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Mind Faded, Darrell Royal’s Wisdom and Humor Intact Till End

Three days before his death last week at 88, Darrell Royal told his wife, Edith: “We need to go back to Hollis” — in Oklahoma. “Uncle Otis died.” “Oh, Darrell,” she said, “Uncle Otis didn’t die.” Royal, a former University of Texas football coach, chuckled and said, “Well, Uncle Otis will be glad to hear that.” The Royal humor never faded, even as he sank deeper into Alzheimer’s...

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Hurricane Sandy and the Disaster-Preparedness Economy

Jeffrey Phelps for The New York TimesAn assembly line at a Generac Power Systems plant. Generac makes residential generators, coveted items in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. FOLKS here don’t wish disaster on their fellow Americans. They didn’t pray for Hurricane Sandy to come grinding up the East Coast, tearing lives apart and plunging millions into darkness. But the fact is, disasters are good...

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Citing Affair, Petraeus Resigns as C.I.A. Director

WASHINGTON — David H. Petraeus, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and one of America’s most decorated four-star generals, resigned on Friday after an F.B.I. investigation uncovered evidence that he had been involved in an extramarital affair. Mr. Petraeus issued a statement acknowledging the affair after President Obama accepted his resignation and it was announced by the C.I.A....

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Madonna fan guilty in NYC resisting arrest trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A former firefighter with a crush on Madonna has been convicted of resisting arrest outside her former New York City apartment building as he spray-painted poster boards with love notes.A jury delivered its verdict Friday in Robert Linhart's trial. He could face up to a year in jail.Defense lawyer Lawrence LaBrew tells the New York Post (http://bit.ly/ZgI4jl) that Linhart will appeal.Linhart...

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FEMA Chief Tours Damaged NYU Langone Medical Center

The federal government’s emergency management chief trudged through darkened subterranean hallways covered with silt and muddy water Friday, as he toured one of New York City’s top academic medical centers in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The basement of the complex, NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, smelled like the hold of a ship — a mixture of diesel oil and water. “You’re going...

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Black Friday Deals Will Start Earlier This Year

There was an outcry last year when some retailers opened at midnight on Thanksgiving, with workers and shoppers saying the holiday should be reserved for family, not spent lining up for the start of the Christmas shopping season. This year, retailers are responding to the criticism by opening even earlier on Thanksgiving evening — and a handful are even planning to be open all day. ...

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