Soft Drink Industry Fights Proposed Food Stamp Ban The mayor wants to reduce obesity and diabetes by banning the use of food stamps to buy “sugar-sweetened beverages” in New York City. Food and beverage lobbyists see the mayor’s plan as a …

This Yellow Space for Rent The revenue generated by these ads is just a drop in the bucket for states and counties with deficits in the millions or billions of dollars. But supporters say every penny helps. Still, critics question whether …

TGC初の北京公演 日中韓豪華ゲスト総勢50名が出演復興の段階では冷めたリーダーが必要になるソニー、夏休み２週間に ２５％節電、他企業に波及もFed Report Notes That Economy Continues to Improve 被災者や被災企業を病人に例えると、ずっと病気でいるわ…

Microsoft + Nokia = a Challenge for Apple As a result, according to IDC predictions for 2015, Windows Phone 7 will occupy second place, at 20.9 percent of the market, ahead of iOS, which is projected to stay near 15 percent. BlackBerry, th…

For Tiger Woods, a Golf Course Design Business Is in the Rough Now, two and a half years later, no dirt has been moved at Punta Brava and Mr. Woods has not visited in some time. His two other designs, in Dubai and near Asheville, N.C., are…

Job Growth Alters Playbook for Obama and His Critics After 12 months of up-and-down job creation, the significant increase in March suggested that maybe, just maybe, the economy was gaining enough strength to grow and bring unemployment do…

As Phones Become Wallets, Many Have Hands Out The cellphone has been more than a cellphone for years, but soon it could take on an entirely new role — standing in for all of the credit and debit cards crammed into wallets. Instead of swipi…

Obama Seeks to Unify Allies as More Airstrikes Rock Tripoli Mr. Obama reiterated that the United States would step back from the leading role within days, but he also said it was confronting the complexities of running the military campaig…

A Crisis That Markets Can’t Grasp Lakshman Achuthan, the managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, a private forecasting group with an excellent track record, says that Japan’s economy, which he believes is already in rec…

U.S. Missiles Strike Libyan Air-Defense Targets President Obama, speaking during a visit to Brazil, reiterated promises that no American ground forces would be used. “I am deeply aware of the risks of any military action, no matter what li…

Powerful Quake and Tsunami Devastate Northern Japan On Friday, television images showed waves of more than 12 feet roaring inland in Japan. The floodwaters, thick with floating debris shoved inland, pushed aside heavy trucks as if they wer…

Japanese Foreign Minister Resigns Over Donations If he fails, Mr. Kan could be forced to call a new election or resign, which would make him the fifth Japanese prime minister in a row to be in office for a year or less. The succession of w…

Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices “Coffee production is under threat from global warming, and the outlook for Arabica in particular is not good,” said Peter Baker, a coffee specialist with CABI, a research group in Britain that …

‘Spider-Man’ Director May Face Her Own Exit The producers of Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” were negotiating on Monday with their director, Julie Taymor, for her to work with a newly expanded creative team to fix the critically…

Lawsuit Seeks to Erase Bike Lane in New York City Well-connected New Yorkers have taken the unusual step of suing the city to remove a controversial bicycle lane in a wealthy neighborhood of Brooklyn, the most potent sign yet of opposition…

China Tracks Foreign Journalists Western journalists have lately been tolerated in China, if grudgingly, but the spread of revolution in the Middle East has prompted the authorities here to adopt a more familiar tack: suddenly, foreign rep…

Retail Sales Rose in February, but Gas Prices Are a Worry Most of the nation’s retailers on Thursday reported improved sales in February, topping expectations in a month hit hard by winter weather and in which gasoline prices rose sharply.…

You’ve Got a Fan Club? Network and Mobilize It A few social media early birds found a new kind of recorded message on their smartphones on Monday: “Good morning,” said a woman in a soft, deep voice. “It’s February 28th, 2011 A.D. We’re on …

Japan Plans World’s Fastest Train For decades, Japan has been at the forefront of high-speed rail technology. Now, the Central Japan Railway Company has announced that it plans to build the fastest train in the world, between Tokyo and Nag…

Japanese Stock Market Is Getting New Respect So why do many global investors consider the Japanese stock market a buy? “Japan is by far one of the cheapest markets in the world,“ said Charles de Vaulx of International Value Advisers, a New…

The Dirty Little Secrets of Search TO understand the strategy that kept J. C. Penney in the pole position for so many searches, you need to know how Web sites rise to the top of Google’s results. We’re talking, to be clear, about the “orga…

Obama Says Plan to Expand Wireless Access Is Critical Declaring that “we can’t expect tomorrow’s economy to take root using yesterday’s infrastructure,” President Obama traveled to this snowbound town in a remote corner of Michigan on Thur…

Egypt Releases Google Executive, Company Says His friends and family initially searched area hospitals for him, while human rights activists became convinced that he was being held by the government authorities for inspiring some of the yo…

The Work of Art in the Age of Google If art is among your full-blown obsessions or just a budding interest, Google, which has already altered the collective universe in so many ways, changed your life last week. It unveiled its Art Project…

Cameron Criticizes ‘Multiculturalism’ in Britain LONDON — Faced with growing alarm about Islamic militants who have made Britain one of Europe’s most active bases for terrorist plots, Prime Minister David Cameron has mounted an attack on t…

Japan’s Steel Industry Heats Up on Merger Plans Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Industries said they envisioned merging by October 2012, a move that could reduce costs and ease the impact of rising prices for raw materials. Shares of Japan…

Quarterly Income Fell 26% for The New York Times Co. “The advertising marketplace was volatile during the quarter,” the chief executive, Janet L. Robinson, said. “The progress we made on the print advertising front in October and November …

Shippers Concerned Over Possible Suez Canal Disruptions So far, oil and gas flows through Egypt have not been interrupted, and the army has stepped up security around the canal and pipelines. But rising tensions in the port of Suez have le…

Sony Introduces New Portable Game Device TOKYO — Sony will start selling a new handheld game device by the end of the year and offer its PlayStation games on a range of portable devices, including some smartphones, the Japanese electronics…

.S.&P. Downgrades Japan as Debt Concerns Spread TOKYO — Standard & Poor’s, the credit ratings agency, downgraded Japan’s long-term sovereign debt on Thursday, a sharp reminder of the heavy burden plaguing the world’s third-largest economy …