Bits Blog: Facebook Likely to End Experiment With Democracy

A half-million Facebook users have told the social network they do not want the company to change its privacy policy. Sounds impressive, right? Well, the only way that crowd will get its way and the status quo remain intact is if an additional 300 million people vote thumbs down before Monday. Odds of that happening? About zero.Facebook says the changes to the policy are minor and beneficial for users....

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Changes to Agriculture Highlight Cuba’s Problems

HAVANA — Cuba’s liveliest experiment with capitalism unfolds every night in a dirt lot on the edge of the capital, where Truman-era trucks lugging fresh produce meet up with hundreds of buyers on creaking bicycle carts clutching wads of cash. “This place, it feeds all of Havana,” said Misael Toledo, 37, who owns three small food stores in the city. “Before, you could only buy or sell in the...

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Queens Doctor Is Charged in 2 Patients’ Deaths

A doctor accused of running a prescription pain medication mill out of a basement office in Queens was charged with manslaughter on Thursday in the deaths of two former patients. John Marshall Mantel for The New York TimesDr. Stan Xuhui Li, center, in court Thursday. Dr. Li is charged with manslaughter for prescribing pain medicine for medically unsound reasons to 20 patients. Seven later...

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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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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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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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Britons Are Warned of Lingering Austerity

Andrew Winning/ReutersA closed business in London. A nonpartisan agency monitoring the data said it expected the economy to shrink this year. LONDON — Britons, many already weary of government austerity budgets that some economists say are impeding the country’s recovery, are going to have to wait even longer for relief. The architect of the austerity program, George Osborne, the chancellor...

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Storm Hits Hiring in November; Service Sector Expands

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private-sector hiring took a hit in November due to the impact of storm Sandy that ravaged consumers and businesses in the northeastern United States, but the huge services sector continued to expand albeit at a modest pace. The ADP National Employment Report, which is closely watched as it comes two days ahead of the government's monthly employment report, showed that...

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Well: For Athletes, Risks From Ibuprofen Use

Phys EdGretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.Many active people use the painkiller ibuprofen on an almost daily basis. In surveys, up to 70 percent of distance runners and other endurance athletes report that they down the pills before every workout or competition, viewing the drug as a preemptive strike against muscle soreness.But a valuable new study joins growing evidence that ibuprofen and...

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