The Media Equation: Buffeted by the Web, but Now Riding It

When the consumer Web exploded in the mid-1990s, part of the promise was that it would transform careers and the concept of work. Remember the signs on telephone poles and banners all over the Internet? “Work at home and turn your computer into a cash register! Ask me how.” The next generation of Americans would be able to work on their own terms. It didn’t turn out that way. If anything,...

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Syrians Face a Bread Shortage in Aleppo and Elsewhere

Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesA bakery in Aleppo. The price has shot up from 25 Syrian pounds, about 35 cents, for a bag of about eight flat, pitalike loaves to more than 200 pounds, nearly $3. GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Jalal al-Khanji, the closest thing the Syrian city of Aleppo has to a mayor, hopes to organize elections there within two weeks, but he fears that residents with empty stomachs are in no...

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Manitoba Tories to oust youth president over social media comments

WINNIPEG – An official with Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party is being ousted over social media comments about aboriginals.Brayden Mazurkiewich, the president of the party’s youth wing, is being asked to resign over a post on his Facebook page today.The post concerns a planned urban reserve on a former Winnipeg military base, and says the land was designed for — quote — “hard-working men and...

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7 schools leaving Big East

WASHINGTON (AP) — The seven Big East schools that don't play FBS football have decided to leave the conference and pursue a new basketball framework.The presidents of the seven schools made the announcement Saturday, saying it was a unanimous vote.The move leaves Connecticut, a founding member of the league in 1979, Cincinnati and South Florida — three current members with FBS football programs —...

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School Yoga Class Draws Religious Protest From Christians

T. Lynne Pixley for The New York TimesMiriam Ruiz during a yoga class last week at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif. A few dozen parents are protesting that the program amounts to religious indoctrination. More Photos »ENCINITAS, Calif. — By 9:30 a.m. at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, tiny feet were shifting from downward dog pose to chair pose to warrior pose in surprisingly...

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Rome Journal: As Mario Monti Prepares to Step Down, Italians Express Disappointment

ROME — As Prime Minister Mario Monti prepares to exit the stage, he has burnished Italy’s image — and his own — abroad, but he is less beloved at home. Italians are irate about higher taxes, while critics say that Mr. Monti failed to carry out the basic structural changes he said were needed, leaving a legacy more of austerity than growth. While Mr. Monti passed tax increases, introduced...

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Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 might not launch until 2014

Nintendo (NTDOY) says its kickstarted the next generation of video game consoles with the Wii U. But considering its graphics and processing power are comparable to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3, hardcore gamers are holding out for the next Xbox, tentatively dubbed “Xbox 720,” and next-generation PlayStation, tentatively called...

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Hamilton agrees to $125M, 5-year deal with Angels

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Josh Hamilton is heading to the Los Angeles Angels, lured with a $125 million, five-year contract that steps up the migration of high-profile stars to Southern California.The Angels persuaded the free-agent outfielder to leave the Texas Rangers with their third big-money offseason signing in as many years. Hamilton heads to Anaheim after first baseman Albert Pujols came West for...

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Paper Links Nerve Agents in ’91 Gulf War and Ailments

Reviving a 20-year debate over illnesses of veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf war, a new scientific paper presents evidence that nerve agents released by the bombing of Iraqi chemical weapons depots just before the ground war began could have carried downwind and fallen on American troops staged in Saudi Arabia. The paper, published in the journal Neuroepidemiology, tries to rebut the longstanding...

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European Leaders Back Banking Regulation but Delay Further Measures

BRUSSELS — E.U. leaders pledged Friday to take further steps to set up common banking rules for the bloc. But they delayed plans for a shared budget for the euro zone nations, amid signs of easing pressure on the single currency. At the end of a two-day summit meeting, the leaders fully endorsed a deal, hashed out early Thursday by E.U. finance ministers, to place the region’s biggest...

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