Get Your Estate Plan in Gear

When Ginnie and Alan wrote me previously, they were feeling nervous about their portfolio’s ability to last through what they hoped would be a long and fruitful retirement. But this couple wasn’t thinking only about themselves. As parents of a daughter with special needs, they were seeking guidance on what to do to ensure that their child would be able to remain independent and have enough money to...

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S&P 500 eyes best winning streak in eight years

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, buoyed by sturdy corporate earnings from Procter & Gamble and Honeywell, with the S&P 500 poised for its longest winning streak in more than eight years. The strong start for the equity market this year has been attributed to solid corporate results, agreement in Washington to extend the government's borrowing power, encouraging signs...

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Murray edges Federer, reaches Australian final

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andy Murray has finally beaten Roger Federer at a Grand Slam.The U.S. Open champion beat 17-time major winner Federer 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 Friday at the Australian Open, calling it a massive confidence boost as he attempts to win his second consecutive major.Murray, who missed his chance to serve out the match at 6-5 in the fourth set, will play defending champion...

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Neanderthal cloning? Pure fantasy

A display of a reconstruction of a Neanderthal man and boy at the Museum for Prehistory in Eyzies-de-Tayac, France.STORY HIGHLIGHTSArthur Caplan: It would be unethical to try and clone a Neanderthal baby Caplan: Downsides include a good chance of producing a baby that is seriously deformedHe says the future belongs to what we can do to genetically engineer and control microbesCaplan: Microbes can...

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Country singer Gary Allan’s new album gets label’s early push

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – The release of country music singer Gary Allan’s new album “Set You Free,” this week, his first since undergoing vocal surgery in 2010, was not meant to happen so soon.But when his record label, MCA Nashville, saw his new song “Every Storm (Runs out of Rain),” race up the charts in September, the label pushed the album’s release up two months from March.“I’ve been...

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World Bank approves $500 million loan for Tunisia

Tunis (Reuters) – The World Bank has approved a $ 500 million loan to Tunisia to support its 2013 budget and help its economy after the first Arab Spring uprising that toppled its former ruler, a minister said on Thursday.Two years after the revolution that ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, increasing numbers of Tunisians are staging street protests to demand jobs and economic development.The...

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In the Garden: The Garden in Winter

Log in to manage your products and services from The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.Don’t have an account yet?Create an account »Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more »NYT > Real EstateTitle Post: In the Garden: The Garden in WinterUrl Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/in-the-garden-the-garden-in-winter/Link To Post : In the Garden: The Garden...

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Wall Street opens lower after Apple results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened lower on Thursday, a day after Apple Inc reported revenue that missed expectations, tanking the stock and weighing on technology shares. As the most valuable U.S. company and a heavy weight in both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx>, a decline in Apple shares has an outsized impact on the broader market. Apple dropped 10.5 percent to $459.84...

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No. 1 Duke routed by No. 25 Miami 90-63

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — With a steady din coming from the sea of orange behind the visitors' basket, No. 1 Duke had a tough time making a shot.The Blue Devils went more than 8 minutes without a field goal in the first half Wednesday night, and a sellout became a blowout for No. 25 Miami, which delighted a boisterous crowd with a 90-63 victory.The defeat was the third-worst ever for a No. 1 team....

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2013 could be 'climate game-changer'

An ice sculpture entitled 'Minimum Monument' by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo outside Berlin's Concert Hall, September 2, 2009.STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe "neglected" risk of climate change seems to be rising to the top of leaders' agendasExtreme weather events are costing the global economy billions of dollars each yearGas can be an important bridge to a lower carbon future but it's not the answerMore investment...

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