DealBook: UBS Described as Near Deal With U.S. and Britain on Rate Rigging

UBS, the Swiss banking giant, is close to reaching settlements with American and British authorities over the manipulation of interest rates, the latest case in a multiyear investigation that has rattled the financial industry and spurred a public outcry for broad reform.UBS is expected to pay more than $450 million to settle claims that some employees reported false rates to increase the bank’s profit,...

Read More..

After Death of Sattar Beheshti, Iranian Blogger, Head of Tehran’s Cybercrimes Unit Is Fired

TEHRAN — Iranian’s national police chief fired the commander of Tehran’s cybercrimes police unit on Saturday for negligence in the death of a blogger in prison. The dismissal of the commander, Gen. Saeed Shokrian, follows investigations by Parliament and Iran’s judiciary into the unexplained death of the blogger, Sattar Beheshti, 35, who died in early November just a few days after being...

Read More..

Software Programs Help Doctors Diagnose, but Can’t Replace Them

SAN FRANCISCO — The man on stage had his audience of 600 mesmerized. Over the course of 45 minutes, the tension grew. Finally, the moment of truth arrived, and the room was silent with anticipation. At last he spoke. “Lymphoma with secondary hemophagocytic syndrome,” he said. The crowd erupted in applause. Professionals in every field revere their superstars, and in medicine the best...

Read More..

Software Programs Help Doctors Diagnose, but Can’t Replace Them

SAN FRANCISCO — The man on stage had his audience of 600 mesmerized. Over the course of 45 minutes, the tension grew. Finally, the moment of truth arrived, and the room was silent with anticipation. At last he spoke. “Lymphoma with secondary hemophagocytic syndrome,” he said. The crowd erupted in applause. Professionals in every field revere their superstars, and in medicine the best...

Read More..

DealBook: UBS Described as Near Deal With U.S. and Britain on Rate Rigging

UBS, the Swiss banking giant, is close to reaching settlements with American and British authorities over the manipulation of interest rates, the latest case in a multiyear investigation that has rattled the financial industry and spurred a public outcry for broad reform.UBS is expected to pay more than $450 million to settle claims that some employees reported false rates to increase the bank’s profit,...

Read More..

In Damascus, Tense Anticipation of Strongest Push Yet by Rebels

Joseph Eid/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDistant explosions have awakened a sense of foreboding even in the tranquil Old City. BEIRUT, Lebanon — As Syrian rebels and government forces clashed on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday, with explosions rumbling in the distance and warplanes screeching overhead, the rebels appeared to be making their strongest push toward the city since the government...

Read More..

This Life: Maria Popova Has Some Big Ideas

Elizabeth Lippman for The New York TimesMaria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, an online grab bag of eclectic information. SHE is the mastermind of the one of the faster growing literary empires on the Internet, yet she is virtually unknown. She is the champion of old-fashioned ideas, yet she is only 28 years old. She is a fierce defender of books, yet she insists she will never write one herself....

Read More..

Opinion: A Health Insurance Detective Story

I’VE had a long career as a business journalist, beginning at Forbes and including eight years as the editor of Money, a personal finance magazine. But I’ve never faced a more confounding reporting challenge than the one I’m engaged in now: What will I pay next year for the pill that controls my blood cancer? After making more than 70 phone calls to 16 organizations over the past few weeks,...

Read More..

Airbus Parent Expected to Alter Base of Its Investors

PARIS — The board of European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent company of Airbus, was expected Monday to announce a significant restructuring of its core shareholder base that would give the German government a direct stake in the group equal to that of France. The restructuring, which was the subject of a board meeting late Sunday, would dissolve a decade-old agreement that gave...

Read More..

Israeli Settlement Plan Would Split West Bank

Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesA point in East Jerusalem overlooking a region to the left called E1, where Israel plans to build. JERUSALEM — High up in an empty, mountainous expanse east of this city there is a stone patio with a pair of green metal benches and a plaque marking the cornerstone of a future Jewish community. Dedicated in 2009, the plaque promises the new city will be built...

Read More..