The potential deal would include financial muscle from Microsoft and the investment firm Silver Lake.

Dell Nears a Buyout of More Than $23 Billion

Gen. Moisés García Ochoa was blocked from becoming defense minister after American officials expressed their concern that he had ties to drug traffickers.

Hand of U.S. Is Seen in Halting General’s Rise in Mexico

Uncertainty over who buys Herbalife products has left shares of the company vulnerable to wild market swings in recent months.

Seeking a Company’s Elusive Sales Data

An unexpectedly large number of high-technology start-ups are valued at $1 billion or more.

A Billion-Dollar Club, and Not So Exclusive

With studies suggesting that long lines at the polls cost Democrats hundreds of thousands of votes in November, party leaders are beginning a push to make voting and voter registration easier.

Waiting Times at Ballot Boxes Draw Scrutiny

Investors have flocked to so-called target date funds, but the retirement products are not as worry-free as the big investment companies advertise.

Target Date Funds at Fidelity Fall Short of Rivals

Sunday was a crowning evening for Emily London-Jones and her only child, Ravens receiver Jacoby Jones, who grew up in New Orleans and scored two touchdowns in the Super Bowl.

For Raven, a Glorious Return (to Hometown and End Zone)

Two trailers in a wealthy town stand as testament to an increasingly intractable problem for localities across the country: where to let sex offenders live after prison.

In 2 Trailers, the Neighbors Nobody Wants

Dell announced that it had agreed to go private in a $24.4 billion deal led by its founder and the investment firm Silver Lake, in the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis.

Dell in $24 Billion Deal to Go Private

President Obama pressed lawmakers on Tuesday to pass a package of limited spending cuts and tax changes to avoid the across-the-board reductions set to take effect on March 1.

Obama Urges Congress to Act to Stave Off Cuts

Ezra Stoller’s photographs of architecture helped fix modern design into America’s consciousness.

Capturing Modernism’s Chic and Sheen

Jonathan Lippman, the state’s chief judge, said the system unfairly detained many people and did not allow judges to consider public safety when determining bail.

Top Judge Says Bail in New York Isn’t Safe or Fair

The saxophonist Chris Potter discusses his new album, “The Sirens,” and how it was influenced by “The Odyssey.”

Sax Inspiration in a Greek Epic

In 2006, some executives at Standard & Poor’s pushed to revise the firm’s rating models in hopes of preserving market share, while others expressed deep concerns about the poor performance of the securities, according to court documents. The credit rating agency has called the suit “meritless.”

S.& P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor

As its revenue remains flat, the social-game creator faces the test of successfully putting its most popular Web games, starting with Farmville, on mobile devices.

Zynga at a Crossroads in Mobile Quest

The Dining section conducted a blind tasting of 27 candies to find the best American small-batch, handmade chocolate-covered salted caramels.

The Best in the Box

Netflix subscribers had to decide this weekend whether to watch “House of Cards” all at once, or dribbled out. This led to much discussion on Twitter.

Release of 13 Episodes Redefines Spoiler Alert

Assessing Richard Pryor’s film legacy as the retrospective “A Pryor Engagement” comes to the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Rose Cinemas.

Wild, Wired, Remembered

The Huawei 4Afrika Windows Phone will cost $150 and initially will be sold in seven African countries.

Microsoft and Huawei to Sell Windows Smartphones in Africa

Quotation of the Day for Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Quotation of the Day for Tuesday, Feb. 5

Corrections appearing in print on February 5, 2013.

Editor’s Note: February 5, 2013

Kim Sajet, the current president and chief executive of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, will be the new director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

New Director Named for National Portrait Gallery

Three months after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast, the federal government is trying to determine what could be done better to keep cellphone and Internet services running in the event of another natural disaster.

F.C.C. Seeks Ways to Keep Phones Alive in a Storm

Daniil Trifonov, the 21-year-old Russian pianist, will make his Carnegie Hall recital debut in the main hall on Tuesday.

Losing Baby Teeth in Concert

Reactions were mixed on the effectiveness of the emotional or humorous commercials that were shown during Super Bowl XLVII.

A Postgame Follow-Up on Super Bowl Commercials

Reinaldo Apolo Gargano Ostuni was a Uruguayan political figure.

Reinaldo Gargano, Uruguayan journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Uruguay (born 1934)

Reinaldo_Gargano

Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer and conductor (born 1924)

Egil_Hovland

Thomas Malcolm McGuigan was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

February 5, 2013

Headlines from February 5, 2013

Dell Nears a Buyout of More Than $23 Billion

Hand of U.S. Is Seen in Halting General’s Rise in Mexico

Seeking a Company’s Elusive Sales Data

A Billion-Dollar Club, and Not So Exclusive

Waiting Times at Ballot Boxes Draw Scrutiny

Billboard 200

Long.Live.A$AP

Kidz Bop 23

Pitch Perfect

Red

Unorthodox Jukebox

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for February 5, 2013