Taliban Claim Role in Attack That Kills Pakistan Politician

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bomb attack that killed a senior politician in northwest Pakistan who was one of the group’s most vocal critics. At least eight other people were killed in the attack and more than 15 others were wounded, senior government officials and doctors at a local hospital said. The politician, Bashir Ahmad...

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Analysis: Apple’s swoon exposes risk lurking in mutual funds

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The nearly 28 percent decline in shares of Apple Inc since mid-September isn’t just painful to individual shareholders. It’s also being felt by investors who chased hot mutual funds that loaded up on Apple as the stock raced to a record $ 705 per share.Apple makes up 10 percent or more of assets in 117 out of the 1,119 funds that own its shares, according to data from Lipper,...

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Emily VanCamp: My Boyfriend Likes When I Take Off My Makeup

12/22/2012 at 12:15 PM EST Josh Bowman prefers his girlfriend Emily VanCamp to be au naturel."When I take off my makeup, that's my boyfriend's favorite," the Revenge star, 26, tells Women's Health in its January/February issue of her Revenge costar and real-life beau, 24. "And that, to me, is a symbol of a...

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

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18,000 abused rodents removed from home

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has released a graphic video showing conditions at a Riverside County animal dealer, prompting officials to embark on what they described as the largest rodent seizure in U.S. history. Animal control officials have euthanized the entire inventory of an animal dealer, including more than 600 reptiles and 18,000 rodents. Authorities raided Global...

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In Syria, Kidnapping of Kochneva Shows New Danger

MOSCOW — Late last month, a Ukrainian blogger and journalist, Anhar Kochneva, sat on a couch in the place where she was being held by a Syrian rebel group and, as one of her captors filmed her, confessed to working at the behest of Russian intelligence services. via YouTubeA Ukrainian writer, Anhar Kochneva, in a video posted online by her captors, was kidnapped by Syrian rebels in October....

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Nokia, RIM settle old disputes in new patent pact

HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia Corp. and Canadian smartphone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent licensing pact which will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said Friday.The agreement includes a “one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia,” Nokia said, but did not disclose “confidential” terms.Last month, Nokia sued the Blackberry...

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Kim Kardashian Gets Dramatic in Trailer for New Tyler Perry Movie (Video)

12/21/2012 at 12:40 PM EST She's doing what she does best: standing – pretty in pink – in skin-tight dress in the first few seconds of the new trailer for Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. Playing a character named Ava, Kim Kardashian, 32, is taking a stab at a dramatic role in...

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.But since then, Big Pharma has been...

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18,000 'horrendously' abused rodents found inside business

Animal control officials have euthanized the entire inventory of an animal dealer in Lake Elsinore that were kept in “horrendous” conditions,  including more than 600 reptiles and 18,000 rodents. Authorities raided Global Captive Breeders after receiving information from a two-month undercover operation at the facility conducted by PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.VIDEO:...

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Way of the World: Coming of Age at a Sour Time

NEW YORK — Have you been naughty or nice? Whether you are a child writing to Santa or someone a little older taking stock of 2012 and preparing resolutions for 2013, this is the time of year a lot of us reflect on our personal performance. One yardstick is moral or religious: Was I good? But another way we judge ourselves — and another reason the very act of self-measurement feels...

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Diem Brown's Response to Newtown Tragedy: Be an Advocate for Change!

Celebrity Blog By Diem Brown 12/20/2012 at 11:30 AM EST Diem Brown Scott Gries for People.com In her PEOPLE.com blog, Diem Brown, the Real World/Road Rules Challenge contestant recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer for the second time, opens up about her desire...

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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Man molests boy at fast-food restaurant, police say

An Orange County man was convicted and sentenced Wednesday to three years in state prison for molesting an 8-year-old boy in the parking lot of a Santa Ana fast-food restaurant, prosecutors said.Pedro Castillo-Sanchez, 35, pleaded guilty to one felony count of lewd acts with a child under 14, with a sentencing enhancement of substantial sexual conduct with a child, according to a statement...

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U.N. Predicts 1 Million Syrian Refugees by Mid-2013

GENEVA — The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $1.5 billion in new aid to handle the steadily worsening humanitarian crisis created by spiraling violence in Syria and predicted that the number of refugees fleeing the conflict would double to more than 1 million in the next six months. The increased refugee estimate represents at least the fourth time the United Nations has revised...

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Shooting renews argument over video-game violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a shell-shocked nation has looked for reasons. The list of culprits include easy access to guns, a strained mental-health system and the “culture of violence” — the entertainment industry’s embrace of violence in movies, TV shows and, especially, video games.“The violence in the entertainment culture...

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In Cold Blood Killers' Bodies Exhumed in Kansas

By Stephen M. Silverman 12/19/2012 at 12:50 PM EST Richard Hickock (left) and Perry Smith AP The bodies of two men put to death for the 1959 murders made famous in Truman Capote's 1966 bestseller In Cold Blood – and subsequent film depictions – were exhumed Tuesday...

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