DealBook: 4 Years After Crisis, Ireland Strikes Deal to Ease a Huge Debt Load

LONDON — The Irish government, trying to lighten the staggering debt burden of bailing out some of its biggest banks four years ago, reached a deal on Thursday with the European Central Bank to give the country more time to repay some of those loans.The agreement, which came after 18 months of negotiations with the central bank, will enable Ireland to swap 28 billion euros ($38 billion) of high-interest...

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Obama Orders Release of Drone Memos to Lawmakers

WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday directed the Justice Department to release classified documents discussing the legal justification for the use of drones in targeting American citizens abroad who are considered terrorist to the two Congressional intelligence committees, according to an administration official. The White House announcement appears to refer to a long, detailed 2010...

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Signing Day: Ole Miss muscles in on power programs

Alabama. Ohio State. Michigan. Florida. Notre Dame. Mississippi?Ole Miss muscled in on the powerhouses that usually dominate national signing day, landing some of the most sought-after prospects in the country on college football's annual first-Wednesday-in-February frenzy.The Rebels, coming off a promising 7-6 season in their first season under coach Hugh Freeze, had the experts swooning by signing...

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Personal Health: Effective Addiction Treatment

Countless people addicted to drugs, alcohol or both have managed to get clean and stay clean with the help of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous or the thousands of residential and outpatient clinics devoted to treating addiction.But if you have failed one or more times to achieve lasting sobriety after rehab, perhaps after spending tens of thousands of dollars, you’re not alone. And chances...

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Postal Service Plans to End Saturday Delivery

Christopher Gregory/The New York TimesPatrick R. Donahoe, the postmaster general, announcing the planned service change. WASHINGTON — Faced with billions of dollars in losses, the Postal Service announced on Wednesday that it would seek to stop Saturday delivery of letters, a sweeping change in mail delivery that immediately drew criticism from postal unions, some businesses and lawmakers. ...

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Obama to Visit Israel in Spring

WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to travel to Israel this spring for the first time since taking office, as he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu try to move past the friction of the last four years now that both have won re-election. By making Israel a stop on the first overseas trip of his new term, Mr. Obama hopes to demonstrate support for the Jewish state despite doubts among some...

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Her knee shredded, Lindsey Vonn done for season

SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) — All it took was a moment. Lindsey Vonn landed hard and tumbled face first with a piercing shriek.Just like that, the star American skier was on the ground with two torn ligaments in her right knee and a broken bone in her lower leg.The cascading fall down the slope during the super-G at the world championships Tuesday knocked out the four-time World Cup champion for the...

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Well: Warning Too Late for Some Babies

Six weeks after Jack Mahoney was born prematurely on Feb. 3, 2011, the neonatal staff at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., noticed that his heart rate slowed slightly when he ate. They figured he was having difficulty feeding, and they added a thickener to help.When Jack was discharged, his parents were given the thickener, SimplyThick, to mix into his formula. Two weeks later, Jack was back in the...

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Nanoparticles in Food Raise Concern by Advocacy Group

Nanomaterials, substances broken down by technology into molecule-size particles, are starting to enter the food chain through well-known food products and their packaging, but there is little acknowledgment by the companies using them, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that works to enhance corporate accountability. Some companies may not even know whether nanomaterials...

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Europol Investigation Shows Fixing Is Suspected in 680 Soccer Matches

Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRob Wainwright, the director of Europol, at a press conference in The Hague on Monday. Soccer is known throughout much of the world as the beautiful game. But the sport’s ugliest side — the scourge of match-fixing — will not soon go away. With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil drawing closer, a European police intelligence agency said Monday...

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