Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times
Alexandra Chunn waited her turn to be introduced. Forty-seven women debuted at the ball on Monday night, 11 fewer than in 2006.

By LISA W. FODERARO

You had to look hard amid the four-foot floral sculptures and the Vera Wang originals to see signs of the economy’s collapse at the International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday night

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
ELEVATED The Bells’ house in Saugerties, N.Y., straddles a road.

By LISA A. PHILLIPS

BYRON BELL likes to describe himself as an architect who does his best work when there’s a challenge.

A senior partner at Bell Donnelly Architects & Planners in New York City, he designed the renovation of the Manhattan School of Music with, as he put it, “nowhere near enough money” and fused together five buildings that had different architectural styles and varying floor levels for the Council on Foreign Relations headquarters on East 68th Street.

By MARK LEIBOVICH and GRANT BARRETT

WASHINGTON — Politics without buzzwords is like sports without clichés, math without numbers or Blago without bleeps. Tough to imagine, in other words, especially in such a game-changer of a campaign year in which buzzwords were flying like shoes.

Buzzwords are what political wiseguys use to sound all important and knowing in a profession whose prime currency is the illusion of being both. They are like secret passwords for the chattering class, the verbal equivalent of a terrorist fist jab.

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co’s claims that its Diet Coke Plus include a variety of vitamins and minerals does not meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s standards, the agency said in a warning to the company.

“The FDA does not consider it appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages,” the agency said in a December 10 letter to the beverage giant released on Tuesday.

Additionally, the product’s label does not include the additional amounts of nutrients included in the “plus” product as the agency requires, the letter said.

Representatives for Coca-Cola defended the product’s claims.

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults might want to take an interest in their grandchildren’s’ video games, if early research on the brain benefits of gaming is correct.

In a study of 40 adults in their 60s and 70s, researchers found that those who learned to play a strategy-heavy video game improved their scores on a number of tests of cognitive function.

Men and women who trained in the game for about a month showed gains in tests of memory, reasoning and the ability to “multi-task.”
The findings suggest that video games that keep players “on their toes” might help older adults keep their brains sharp, the researchers report in the journal Psychology and Aging.

Dec 23 - Burger King’s new meat-inspired cologne is sold out, and it’s commanding fat prices on ebay.

The limited edition product costs just under four dollars. That’s one-tenth the price of a bottle of Aramis.

Fred Katayama reports from New York.