Syrian Resort Town Is Stronghold for Alawites

TARTUS, Syria — Loyalists who support the government of President Bashar al-Assad are flocking to the Mediterranean port of Tartus, creating an overflowing boomtown far removed from the tangled, scorched rubble that now mars most Syrian cities. The New York TimesThe port city of Tartus is sheltered by a mountain range. There are no shellings or air raids...

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As Shoppers Hop From Tablet to PC to Phone, Retailers Try to Adapt

Jim Wilson/The New York TimesShoppers often visit ModCloth, a Web site that sells women’s clothes, on their phones but return on a different kind of device to buy something, said Sarah Rose, a vice president at ModCloth. Ryan O’Neil, a Connecticut government employee, was in the market to buy a digital weather station this month. His wife researched options on their iPad, but even though she found...

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Genetic Gamble : New Drugs Aim to Make Cells Destroy Cancer

C.J. Gunther for The New York TimesDr. Donald Bergstrom is a cancer specialist at Sanofi, one of three companies working on a drug to restore a tendency of damaged cells to self-destruct. For the first time ever, three pharmaceutical companies are poised to test whether new drugs can work against a wide range of cancers independently of where they originated — breast, prostate, liver, lung. The drugs...

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Genetic Gamble : New Drugs Aim to Make Cells Destroy Cancer

C.J. Gunther for The New York TimesDr. Donald Bergstrom is a cancer specialist at Sanofi, one of three companies working on a drug to restore a tendency of damaged cells to self-destruct. For the first time ever, three pharmaceutical companies are poised to test whether new drugs can work against a wide range of cancers independently of where they originated — breast, prostate, liver, lung. The drugs...

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Preoccupations: When Relocation Is a Way of Life

ON New Year’s Day, the company I work for, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, will move me from Washington to Paris, where I will become a regional vice president of the company and general manager of the Hotel George V, which it manages. Daniel Rosenbaum for The New York TimesGathering the frequent-mover miles: From left are Christian and Meg Clerc, and their daughters, Eleanor and Georgia,...

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U.N. Panel Votes to Help Mali’s Army Oust Extremists

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Thursday that will send thousands of African troops into the desert nation of Mali to help oust Islamist extremists who have turned its northern half into a vast Qaeda enclave and training ground, menacing the stability of neighboring states and posing a potent new international terrorism threat. But the resolution also...

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Noted: A Vibrator That Will Make Her Thankful for the Memory

FLASH memory drives come in many odd forms — disguised as plastic sushi pieces, Swiss Army knives and Hello Kitty figures. Now, a contender for the oddest: a vibrator. An erotic toy with built-in flash memory is the latest addition to a growing, evolving industry. The toy’s maker is Crave, a new San Francisco company begun by a Stanford University designer-engineer whose Duet vibrator started...

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For Tracy Anderson, Fitness Expert, Always a New Move

Erin Baiano for The New York TimesTracy Anderson, center, teaching a fitness class at her studio in TriBeCa. Her classes and DVDs have attracted devoted followers — and, she says, mimics. TRACY ANDERSON, the tiny blond fitness guru perhaps best known as Gwyneth Paltrow’s trainer and business partner, is as bright and sparkly as the Swarovski crystal-encrusted iPhone case she was admiring one...

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For Tracy Anderson, Fitness Expert, Always a New Move

Erin Baiano for The New York TimesTracy Anderson, center, teaching a fitness class at her studio in TriBeCa. Her classes and DVDs have attracted devoted followers — and, she says, mimics. TRACY ANDERSON, the tiny blond fitness guru perhaps best known as Gwyneth Paltrow’s trainer and business partner, is as bright and sparkly as the Swarovski crystal-encrusted iPhone case she was admiring one...

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At Benghazi Hearing, State Dept. Concedes Errors

WASHINGTON — State Department officials promised on Thursday to carry out quickly the recommendations of a review board to beef up security for the foreign service and urged Congress to provide more money to protect American diplomats. The promises came during a Senate hearing into the handling of diplomatic security in Benghazi, Libya, before a deadly attack on a diplomatic outpost there...

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New Online Privacy Rules for Children

In a move intended to give parents greater control over data collected about their children online, federal regulators on Wednesday broadened longstanding privacy safeguards covering children’s mobile apps and Web sites. Members of the Federal Trade Commission said they updated the rules to keep pace with the growing use of mobile phones and tablets by children. The regulations also reflect...

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The Lede Blog: Aleppo's History Under Threat

As my colleagues Chris Chivers, Tyler Hicks and Ben Solomon report in text, photographs and video, civilians are suffering from shortages of food and medicine, among other hardships, in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, which is being torn apart in urban warfare between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.But the city is also one of the Middle East’s most culturally and historically significant....

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Career Couch: Home Office Requires a Businesslike Attitude

Q. You have been working from home and find that it’s hard to stay focused and productive. Could it be that you simply don’t work well outside a corporate office? A. Not necessarily. We often assume that people are more productive when they work in an office rather than at home, but that’s not always the case. We are less productive when we’re distracted, and that can happen anywhere, says...

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Lawyer Says Ritual Circumcision Is Protected Activity

A lawyer for Orthodox Jewish groups asked a federal judge on Tuesday to throw out a New York City regulation requiring parents to sign a consent form before their infant sons undergo a form of Jewish ritual circumcision in which the circumciser uses his mouth to remove blood from the incision. The lawyer, Shay Dvoretzky, said the practice, which is prevalent in parts of the ultra-Orthodox...

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Lawyer Says Ritual Circumcision Is Protected Activity

A lawyer for Orthodox Jewish groups asked a federal judge on Tuesday to throw out a New York City regulation requiring parents to sign a consent form before their infant sons undergo a form of Jewish ritual circumcision in which the circumciser uses his mouth to remove blood from the incision. The lawyer, Shay Dvoretzky, said the practice, which is prevalent in parts of the ultra-Orthodox...

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F.T.C. Broadens Rules for Online Privacy of Children

In a move intended to give parents greater control over data collected about their children online, federal regulators on Wednesday broadened longstanding privacy safeguards covering children’s apps and Web sites. Daniel Rosenbaum for The New York TimesSenator John D. Rockefeller of West Virginia, left, and Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the F.T.C., at a news conference announcing rules...

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Sasol Betting Big on Gas-to-Liquid Plant in U.S.

OryxThe Oryx natural gas processing plant in Qatar, where Sasol is converting natural gas to diesel fuel. RAS LAFFAN INDUSTRIAL CITY, Qatar — The compact assembly of towers, tubes and tanks that make up the Oryx natural gas processing plant is almost lost in a vast petrochemical complex that rises here like a hazy mirage from a vast ocean of sand. A blog about energy and the environment. ...

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