Amazon will have the exclusive e-book rights to two books from Stephen R. Covey, a move that promises to raise the anxiety level among print publishers.

Top Author Shifts E-Book Rights to Amazon.com

In his first two weeks as chief of General Motors, Edward E. Whitacre Jr. has tried to shake up the automaker’s famously bureaucratic culture.

In the Changeover at G.M., a New Hands-On Attitude

The senator is infuriating Democrats, but they may bow to his demands by dropping a Medicare expansion and the public option.

Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan

A Canadian doctor who treated top athletes reportedly gave them performance-enhancing drugs.

Sports Medicine Pioneer Subject of Doping Inquiry

In a sign of shifting power, three bank titans said bad weather stopped them from meeting with the president.

Putting Obama on Hold, in a Hint of Who’s Boss

Dubai’s credit woes have given Abu Dhabi an opening to assert more control over its reeling neighbor. Abu Dhabi offered Dubai $10 billion lifeline on Monday.

Abu Dhabi Tightens Its Grip as It Offers Help to Dubai

China’s aggressive program of building new nuclear plants could cut carbon emissions, but experts worry that the pace may lead to safety shortcuts.

Nuclear Power Expansion in China Stirs Concerns

Credit Suisse is expected to pay a fine of $536 million to settle charges that it violated sanctions.

Iranian Dealings Lead to a Fine for Credit Suisse

Judy and Steven Gluckstern have been hosting fund-raiser concerts in their loft for a decade. That era is ending, as they prepare to move to San Francisco.

Music and Charity Meet in Intimate, Lofty Setting

The Shinnecocks, based on Long Island, have met the required federal criteria and may soon be able to open a casino.

U.S. Eases Way to Recognition for Shinnecock

Mr. Roberts’s televised ministry attracted millions of followers and made him one of the most controversial religious leaders of the 20th century.

Oral Roberts, Fiery Preacher, Dies at 91

“Nine,” “Avatar” and “Inglorious Basterds” round out nomination leaders, while Meryl Streep gets to compete against herself.

‘Up in the Air’ Nominated for 6 Golden Globes

Especially at Christmas, the cake ladies of southeastern Alabama distinguish themselves with creations that can reach 15 layers or more.

Festiveness, Stacked Up Southern Style

Negotiators were closing in on a sweeping deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests and other natural landscapes.

Climate Talks Near Deal to Save Forests

Apple’s purchase of the start-up Lala is bringing more attention to streaming music services as a replacement for songs on your computer.

Music Business Heads Into Virtual World

A new book is a tribute to a Microsoft researcher, lost at sea in 2007, who argued that computing was transforming science.

A Deluge of Data Shapes a New Era in Computing

Because of an editing error, an article on Dec. 7 about the scientific evidence supporting global warming overstated the level of certainty expressed in a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a network of scientists, that human-caused warming was under way and, if unabated, would pose rising risks. The panel said that most warming since 1950 was “very likely” caused by humans, not that there was “no doubt.” The article also misidentified the temperature data cited by a scientist at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit who had expressed frustration in a log about trying to make sense of disparate data. The data was direct measurements of temperature, not indirect indicators like the study of tree rings.

Corrections

An article on Thursday about proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, referred incorrectly to the origin of the World Wide Web, which was invented there. The inventor was a computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee; the Web was not invented by “particle physicists.” The article also referred incorrectly to the creation of a new light source at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. The National Synchrotron Light Source was built from scratch in 1978; it was not a conversion of an older accelerator.

An article on Monday about malicious programs that take over people’s social networking accounts and send messages to their friends and followers misspelled the surname of the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, whose Twitter account was hijacked by such a program. He is Lee Rainie, not Rainey.

Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about Israelis’ reactions to a deal being negotiated for the release of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit that is expected to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners referred incorrectly to a war in 1982, after which Israel handed over hundreds of prisoners in exchange for three captured Israelis. It was the Lebanon War  not a war against Hezbollah, which did not exist when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982.

An article on Monday about increasing sales of Blu-ray digital video discs omitted, in some editions, the last four words of a quotation by Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research. He said, “We’re sanguine about Blu-ray taking over as the physical disc format of choice.”.

A picture caption on Dec. 7 with a music review of a jazz group led by the trumpeter, arranger and composer David Weiss, at Iridium, misidentified the bass player shown. He is Vicente Archer, not Peter Washington.

The Scientist at Work article last Tuesday, about A. Thomas McLellan, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, overstated the level of federal spending on drug-law enforcement and antitrafficking efforts during President George W. Bush’s administration. It ranged from 54 to 65 percent of the drug control budget  not 75 to 90 percent. The article also misidentified the institution where Dr. McLellan earned his doctorate in experimental psychology. It was Bryn Mawr, not the University of Pennsylvania.

An article on Dec. 3 about audio systems available as gifts misstated the model number of an ION Audio turntable that comes with a dust cover. It is the TTUSB10  not the TTUSB, which has no dust cover.

An obituary on Thursday about Yosef Yerushalmi, a scholar of Jewish history, referred incorrectly in some copies to his parents’ immigration. Mr. Yerushalmi’s father immigrated from Russia in the 1920s to what was then the British mandate of Palestine, and then to the United States; his mother immigrated directly to the United States from Pinsk, Russia. They did not immigrate from Russia “to Israel.” (The state of Israel did not exist at that time.) The obituary also misspelled part of the name of one of Mr. Yerushalmi’s major works. It is “Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory,” not “Zachor.” And the obituary and a picture caption misspelled his middle name. It is Hayim, not Haim.

Eliza Atkins Gleason was the first African American to receive a doctorate in Library Science at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in 1940. In 1941, she established and became the first Dean of the School of Library Service at Atlanta University and created a library education program that trained 90 percent of all African-American librarians by 1986.

Eliza Atkins Gleason, American librarian (born 1909)

Eliza_Atkins_Gleason

Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church from 1936 until his transfer to the United Methodist church in 1968, a controversial relationship that ended in 1987 when his credentials were revoked. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

December 15, 2009

Headlines from December 15, 2009

Top Author Shifts E-Book Rights to Amazon.com

In the Changeover at G.M., a New Hands-On Attitude

Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan

Sports Medicine Pioneer Subject of Doping Inquiry

Putting Obama on Hold, in a Hint of Who’s Boss

Billboard 200

I Dreamed A Dream

My Christmas

For Your Entertainment

Rated R

The Fame Monster (EP)

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for December 15, 2009