To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms

ARCHER’S POST, Kenya — Julius Lokinyi was one of the most notorious poachers in this part of Kenya, accused of single-handedly killing as many as 100 elephants and selling the tusks by the side of the road in the dead of night, pumping vast amounts of ivory into a shadowy global underground trade. But after being hounded, shamed, browbeaten and finally persuaded by his elders, he recently...

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No. 4 Louisville holds off Kentucky, 80-77

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Russ Smith ranked Louisville's 80-77 victory over Kentucky on Saturday as one of the five favorites of his career.Makes sense, considering he played a key role in ending the No. 4 Cardinals' four-game losing streak against the rival Wildcats.Smith scored 21 points, including five of Louisville's final 13, along with seven rebounds to help the Cardinals hold off Kentucky in an...

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Unboxed: Big Data Is Great, but Don’t Forget Intuition

Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business, led off the conference by saying that Big Data would be “the next big chapter of our business history.” Next on stage was Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor and director of the M.I.T. center and a co-author of the article with Dr. McAfee. Big Data, said Professor Brynjolfsson, will “replace ideas, paradigms, organizations...

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Memphis Aims to Be a Friendlier Place for Cyclists

Lance Murphey for The New York TimesThe Shelby Farms Greenline, which replaced a Memphis rail line. MEMPHIS — John Jordan, a 64-year-old condo appraiser here, has been pedaling his cruiser bicycle around town nearly every day, tooling about at lunchtime or zipping to downtown appointments. “It’s my cholesterol-lowering device,” said Mr. Jordan, clad in a leather vest and wearing a bright...

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Despite Vows For Safety, Walmart Seen as Obstacle to Change

Abir Abdullah/European Pressphoto AgencySeveral of Walmart's suppliers had used the factory in Bangladesh where 112 workers died last month.  More Photos »When Walmart’s chief executive, Michael Duke, appeared at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting in New York this month, a raucous crowd of protesters awaited him. Walmart was confronting reports of bribery in Mexico, a wave of labor demonstrations...

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Makers of $99 Android-Powered Game Console Ship First 1,200 ‘Ouyas’

Like Nintendo’s Wii U game console, the Ouya (that’s “OOH-yuh”) has an unusual name and even more unusual hardware. The console is roughly the size of a Rubik’s cube, and is powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally found on smartphones and tablets.Ouya’s makers, who are preparing the console for its commercial launch, encourage interested gamers to pop the case open...

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NHL makes new offer; lockout enters critical stage

NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL's latest offer to the players' association was enough for the sides to make plans to meet this weekend.Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday the league presented its proposal Thursday. The sides haven't met in person since a second round of talks with a federal mediator broke down Dec. 13.The NHL and the players' association are expected to talk via conference call on Saturday,...

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China Toughens Restrictions on Internet Use

How Hwee Young/European Pressphoto AgencyNew measures by the Chinese government could chill some of the vibrant discourse on Twitter-like microblogs. HONG KONG — The Chinese government issued new rules on Friday requiring Internet users to provide their real names to service providers, while assigning Internet companies greater responsibility for deleting forbidden postings and reporting them to the...

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Surgery Returns to NYU Langone Medical Center

Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSenator Charles E. Schumer spoke at a news conference Thursday about the reopening of NYU Langone Medical Center. NYU Langone Medical Center opened its doors to surgical patients on Thursday, almost two months after Hurricane Sandy overflowed the banks of the East River and forced the evacuation of hundreds of patients. While the medical center had been treating...

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Guangzhou Journal | Changing of the Guard: With Focus on Unity, China Looks to Nationalist Past

Shiho Fukada for The New York TimesTourists at the Whampoa Military Academy, on Changzhou Island in Guangzhou. GUANGZHOU, China — It was 1926, not long after the fall of the Qing dynasty, and much of China had been divided among warlords. In the south, leaders of the young Kuomintang mustered an army. At its head rode Chiang Kai-shek, who called to his side officers he had helped train, and together...

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Police offer ‘virtual ridealongs’ via Twitter

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Riding side by side as a police officer answers a call for help or investigates a brutal crime during a ridealong gives citizens an up close look at the gritty and sometimes dangerous situations officers can experience on the job.But a new social media approach to informing the public about what officers do is taking hold at police departments across the United States and...

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Net loss: Brooklyn fires coach Avery Johnson

NEW YORK (AP) — Coach of the month in November, out of a job by New Year's.The Brooklyn Nets have elevated expectations this season, and a .500 record wasn't good enough. Coach Avery Johnson was fired Thursday, his team having lost 10 of 13 games after a strong start to its first season in Brooklyn."We don't have the same fire now than we did when we were 11-4," general manager Billy King said at...

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Unemployment Deepens the Loss from Hurricane Sandy

In the Rockaways, none of the 450 employees of the Madelaine Chocolate Company will receive a paycheck this week. Until a few days ago, the floor of the company’s 200,000-square-foot complex was a muddy, sludgy, chocolaty mess, and its factory has temporarily closed. Outside, foiled Santas and candy roses lay victim to the hurricane. Not far away, the cash register at Fast Break, a local...

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Creating the Ultimate Housework Workout

Robert Wright for The New York TimesChris Ely, an English butler, and Carol Johnson, a fitness instructor at Crunch NYC, perfecting a houseworkout. CAN housework help you live longer? A New York Times blog post by Gretchen Reynolds last month cited research linking vigorous activity, including housework, and longevity. The study, which tracked the death rates of British civil servants, was the latest...

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U.N. and U.S. Raise Alerts in Central African Republic

BANGUI, Central African Republic (Agence France-Presse) — The United Nations is evacuating staff from the Central African Republic, and the United States has warned its citizens to leave, as rebel fighters close in on the tense capital, Bangui. France deployed troops to protect its embassy after it was attacked by demonstrators calling for the former colonial power to help push back the rebels,...

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Analysis: Amazon’s Christmas faux pas shows risks in the cloud

(Reuters) – A Christmas Eve glitch traced to Amazon.com Inc that shuttered Netflix for users from Canada to South America highlights the risks that companies take when they move their datacenter operations to the cloud.While the high-profile failure – at least the third this year – may cause some Amazon Web Services customers to consider alternatives, it is unlikely to severely hurt a fast-growing...

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