Unboxed: Stand-Up Desks Gaining Favor in the Workplace

THE health studies that conclude that people should sit less, and get up and move around more, have always struck me as fitting into the “well, duh” category. But a closer look at the accumulating research on sitting reveals something more intriguing, and disturbing: the health hazards of sitting for long stretches are significant even for people who are quite active when they’re not sitting...

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Some Economists Doubt Dire Effects From Tax Increases

As anxious investors assess their portfolios in light of expected tax increases on investment income, hedge fund manager Douglas Kass has a simple message: Relax. Mr. Kass, the founder of Seabreeze Partners Management, thinks much of the investing world has overestimated how hard the markets and investors would be hit if tax rates on dividends and capital gains rise at the end of the year,...

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North Korea Is Preparing to Launch Another Long-Range Rocket

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Saturday that it would try to launch another long-range rocket later this month, as the country prepares to commemorate the death a year ago of its longtime ruler Kim Jong-il, and as his son Kim Jong-un works to bolster his credentials as a leader. The launching, which North Korea said would take place between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22, is likely to prompt...

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Police: Chiefs' Belcher kills girlfriend, self

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend Saturday morning and minutes later, holding a gun to his head, thanked his general manager and coach before shooting himself outside the team's practice complex.Authorities did not release a motive for the murder-suicide, though police said that Belcher and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins, had...

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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,...

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Media Decoder Blog: Robert Thomson to Be Chief of News Corporation's New Publishing Company

2:53 p.m. | Updated Robert Thomson, the top editor at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones and a confidante of News Corporation’s chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, is expected to be named chief executive of the media conglomerate’s newly spun-off publishing company.Mr. Thomson will run the separate, publicly traded company, which will include The Journal, The New York Post, HarperCollins...

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Israel Moves to Expand Settlements in East Jerusalem

Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesFrom his home in East Jerusalem last year, Haj Ibrahim Ahmad Hawa looked at the separation barrier surrounding Jerusalem with the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the background. More Photos »JERUSALEM — Israel is moving forward with development of Jewish settlements in a contentious area east of Jerusalem, defying the United States by advancing a project...

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NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending starters home

The NBA fined the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 on Friday for sending four players home Thursday before their game Thursday night in Miami.Commissioner David Stern said in a statement that the Spurs "did a disservice to the league and our fans" when they didn't bring Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or Danny Green to Miami for the final game of their six-game road trip."The result here is dictated...

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Hockey Coaches Defy Doctors on Concussions, Study Finds

Despite several years of intensive research, coverage and discussion about the dangers of concussions, the idea of playing through head injuries is so deeply rooted in hockey culture that two university teams kept concussed players on the ice even though they were taking part in a major concussion study. The study, which was published Friday in a series of articles in the journal Neurosurgical...

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Wealth Matters: Defined-Benefit Plans Allow Fast Retirement Saving, but With Risks

Kevin Moloney for The New York TimesJohn Rogers, a Denver businessman, used a defined-benefit contribution to catch up on his retirement savings late in his career. WITH the prospect of significant changes in tax rates and deduction limits, taxpayers have been coming up with all sorts of strategies to save on their taxes, some riskier than others. So I couldn’t help but be skeptical when...

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