Gays in Pakistan Move Cautiously to Gain Acceptance

Max Becherer for the International Herald TribuneHIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT Ali, a gay man who lives in Lahore, is in a support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pakistanis. “The gay scene here is very hush-hush,” he says. LAHORE, Pakistan — The group meets irregularly in a simple building among a row of shops here that close in the evening. Drapes cover the windows. Sometimes members watch...

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Google's Android software in 3 out of 4 smartphones

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NYC Marathon runners fill unexpected free time

NEW YORK (AP) — Sue Johnson refuses to give New York City any more money.She preferred to shell out for the change fee to move her flight home to Pittsburgh up by 24 hours - leaving on the day she was supposed to run the New York City Marathon.Many of the runners who had descended on the city from all over the globe worked out their frustrations with a jog Saturday through Central Park, site of a...

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Second Illness Infects Meningitis Sufferers

Just when they might have thought they were in the clear, people recovering from meningitis in an outbreak caused by a contaminated steroid drug have been struck by a second illness. The new problem, called an epidural abscess, is an infection near the spine at the site where the drug — contaminated by a fungus — was injected to treat back or neck pain. The abscesses are a localized infection,...

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Google Casts a Big Shadow on Smaller Web Sites

Annie Tritt for The New York TimesJeffrey G. Katz, the chief executive of Wize Commerce, seen with employees. He says that about 60 percent of the traffic for the company’s Nextag comparison-shopping site comes from Google. In a geeky fire drill, engineers and outside consultants at Nextag scrambled to see if the problem was its own fault. Maybe some inadvertent change had prompted Google’s algorithm...

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Petraeus’s Lower C.I.A. Profile Leaves Benghazi Void

WASHINGTON — In 14 months as C.I.A. director, David H. Petraeus has shunned the spotlight he once courted as America’s most famous general. His low-profile style has won the loyalty of the White House, easing old tensions with President Obama, and he has overcome some of the skepticism he faced from the agency’s work force, which is always wary of the military brass. Brendan Smialowski/Getty...

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Google's Android software in 3 out of 4 smartphones

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NYC Marathon is canceled following storm damage

NEW YORK (AP) — Under growing pressure with thousands still shivering from Sandy, the New York City Marathon was canceled Friday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg after mounting criticism that this was not the time for a race.With the death toll in the city at 41 and power not yet fully restored, many New Yorkers had recoiled at the prospect of police officers being assigned to protect a marathon, storm...

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Urban Athlete: Discover Outdoors Offers Mountain Fitness Class

Willie Davis for The New York TimesRey Soriano, foreground, holding himself on suspension trainers in a workout run by Discover Outdoors. I HAVE spent a small fortune over the years on gym memberships. But all you really need to get in shape, I now know, are a few granite paving stones, some sandbags and a backpack full of water jugs. Willie Davis for The New York TimesDavid Tacheny,...

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A Promising Drug With a Flaw

Dr. Bryan A. Cotton, a trauma surgeon in Houston, had not heard much about the new anticlotting drug Pradaxa other than the commercials he had seen during Sunday football games. Then people using Pradaxa started showing up in his emergency room. One man in his 70s fell at home and arrived at the hospital alert and talking. But he rapidly declined. “We pretty much threw the whole kitchen sink...

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