Between the squeeze of the recession and the annual appetite for holiday entertainment, the hunt for a good, cheap evening out has reached new heights.

As Good as Having an Uncle in the Business

The audit firm forced Bally Total Fitness to stop improper accounting practices, but didn’t make it admit to poor accounting in the past.

Ernst to Pay the S.E.C. $8.5 Million

For young New Yorkers who perform, trying out for one of the many competitive arts schools has become a consuming, nail-biting effort.

Auditioning Their Hearts Out, for High School

Muslim leaders say their relations with the F.B.I. have reached a low point in recent months.

Muslims Say F.B.I. Tactics Sow Anger and Fear

Democratic leaders seem willing to give Senator Ben Nelson anything to win his support of health care reform — except restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions.

A Race to Win One More Vote for Health Bill

Retailers might be emboldened by the recent trend in gas prices, but the numbers are much higher than a year ago and experts disagree about where prices are heading.

A Break at the Gas Pump

Bank of America’s new chief, Brian Moynihan, in many ways has had a career of falling into bigger jobs at the bank when executives were fired or shunted aside.

At Bank of America, a Chief Steps in Where Few Can

The authorities say drug traffickers, facing heightened border security, have stepped up efforts to corrupt agents.

Hired by Customs, but Working for Mexican Cartels

Foreign investors’ moves to buy U.S. industrial assets are getting a wary reaction from the Obama administration.

Questions on Security Mar Foreign Investments

In a sign that Google is interested in broadening its reach in the local business market, the search giant is in acquisition talks with Yelp, the review site for local businesses.

Google Said to Be Near a Yelp Deal

The deal addresses many of the issues that leaders wanted to settle, but leaves the implementation of its provisions uncertain.

Many Goals Remain Unmet in 5 Nations’ Climate Deal

Negotiations with Spyker Cars, a Dutch automaker, could not be completed by a Jan. 1 deadline, G.M. said.

G.M. Plans to Close Saab After Sales Talks Collapse

Basketball remains a passion for San Diego’s receivers and provides a hint to why they are among the best in the N.F.L.

Chargers Elevate Their Passing Game

The conventional way of selling a home, through a broker, is up against ever more Internet tools.

Agent or No Agent?

The mysterious telephone bidder who paid $33.2 million for a Rembrandt portrait was buying the painting on behalf of the casino owner.

Casino Chief Said to Own Rembrandt

The American savings rate hit a 16-year high in the spring, and the reasons went beyond the poor economy. Tighter credit and retirement accounts played a part.

Americans Are Finally Saving. How Did That Happen?

Philip Carlo, a true-crime writer who has a progressive motor neuron disease, is working on his memoir. His deadline, he says, is his death.

Plot Twist

Paul Moakley, a photographer and freelance photo editor, lives in a photography museum in Staten Island.

And for Compensation, the View

The company said revenues were up sharply from a year ago, and it reduced its net loss.

Palm Smartphone Sales Slip as It Struggles to Turn Around

The oil company is acquiring XTO Energy for a price that is more than 30 percent below its June 2008 high.

Merger Lessons
In the Oil Patch

An article on Dec. 4 about a detailed analysis of the varnish on Stradivarius instruments may have left the incorrect impression that earlier work by Joseph Nagyvary, a former professor at Texas A&M University, involved just cellos by other makers. When Dr. Nagyvary said, “We never had the privilege of getting a sample from a Strad,” he was referring to violins. (He analyzed a sample of varnish from a Stradivarius cello in 1986.).

Corrections

A report in the World Briefing column last Friday about an Inter-American Court of Justice ruling that criticized the Mexican government for its failure to prosecute the murders of young women in the border state of Chihuahua misstated the day the ruling was issued. It was Thursday, Dec. 10  not Wednesday, Dec. 9.

An article on Wednesday about a Russian company’s investment in Zynga, a developer of online games, misstated the background of a prominent shareholder in the Russian company, Digital Sky Technologies. While the shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, spent six years in an Uzbek jail on a conviction of fraud and embezzlement in the 1980s (charges he contended were politically inspired), a Soviet court dismissed the charges and expunged his record in 1989; Mr. Usmanov has no criminal record. (The Supreme Court in Uzbekistan later ruled that the original conviction was unjust.).

An article on Thursday about two American airline companies that are vying to team up with Japan Airlines gave an incorrect conversion into dollars of JAL’s most recent quarterly losses. JAL lost $360 million in its latest quarter, not $360 billion.

December 18, 2009

Headlines from December 18, 2009

As Good as Having an Uncle in the Business

Ernst to Pay the S.E.C. $8.5 Million

Auditioning Their Hearts Out, for High School

Muslims Say F.B.I. Tactics Sow Anger and Fear

A Race to Win One More Vote for Health Bill

Billboard 200

I Dreamed A Dream

My Christmas

Fearless

Untitled

The Fame

Historical Context for December 18, 2009