Envoy to Syria Warns of Descent to Warlord ‘Hell’

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, drew a grim portrait on Sunday of the country’s future in the absence of a political solution, warning of a state carved up by warlords and a death toll that would rapidly surge, while conceding that there was little sign that the antagonists intended to negotiate. Muzaffar Salman/ReutersA rebel soldier firing at pro-government...

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Angry Birds, YouTube among top apps of 2012

TORONTO (Reuters) – Angry Birds, Instagram and Facebook continued to be among the most downloaded apps of the year but rising stars also earned coveted spots on smartphones and tablets.This year consumers spent on average two hours each day using mobile applications, an increase of 35 percent over last year, according to analytics firm Flurry. The number is expected to continue growing in 2013.“2012...

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Kim Kardashian: From Divorce Drama to Baby Mama in 5 Clicks

Follow her odyssey from her messy split with Kris Humphries to her great expectation with Kanye West Credit: Prahl/Winslow/Splash News Online Updated: Monday Dec 31, 2012 | 11:45 AM EST Subscribe Now ...

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FDA approves 1st new tuberculosis drug in 40 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis drug that is the first new medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than four decades.The agency approved J&J's pill, Sirturo, for use with older drugs to fight a hard-to-treat strain of tuberculosis that has not responded to other medications. However, the agency cautioned that the...

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S&P, Nasdaq rise on last day of 2012, Apple advances

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street mostly edged higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 on track for double-digit gains for the year, as politicians bargained for a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff." Equities are coming off a five-day streak of losses, driven by the growing concern that there wouldn't be a deal before the midnight deadline to avoid the combination of tax hikes and spending...

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Letter From Washington: Lessons From the 2012 U.S. Election

WASHINGTON — The 2012 U.S. elections, though not seminal, revealed much about the nature and direction of U.S. politics. A divided government may be ingrained: At the presidential level, Democrats start with a decided advantage. Changing demographics — more Hispanics and other minorities solidly behind the party; women and young voters moving that way and forming hard-to-break voting habits...

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Microsoft Surface trampled at the bottom of the tablet pile this Christmas

While it does have drawbacks just like anything else, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Surface is a great slate for those looking for a fresh new take on the modern tablet. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like very many people were looking for a fresh new take on the modern tablet this holiday season. In a recent note to investors, R.W. Baird analyst William Power recounted recent conversations had at retailers...

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Ashlee Simpson Flaunts Her Hot Bikini Body in Hawaii

By Maggie Coughlan 12/30/2012 at 11:30 AM EST Ashlee Simpson is sending 2012 off with a bang!The 28-year-old showed off her svelte figure in a tiny bikini as she splashed along the shores of Oahu, Hawaii on Saturday. The singer and son Bronx (with Pete Wentz) joined pregnant big sister Jessica, her fiancé Eric...

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Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

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Obama says failure to reach fiscal deal would hurt markets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Financial markets would be affected adversely if U.S. lawmakers fail to agree on a "fiscal cliff" deal before Tuesday, President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, while urging Congress to act quickly to extend tax cuts for middle-class Americans. Lawmakers are seeking a last-minute deal that would set aside $600 billion in tax increases and...

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Apple still said to account for 87% of North American tablet traffic as Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 gain

Apple’s (AAPL) share of the global tablet market is in decline now that low-cost Android slates are proliferating, but the iPad still appears to be the most used tablet by a huge margin. Ad firm Chitika regularly monitors tablet traffic in the United States and Canada and in its latest report, Apple’s iPad was responsible for almost 90% of all tablet traffic across the company’s massive network.[More...

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Just Kidding! Shakira's Baby News Is a Prank

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 12/28/2012 at 11:00 AM ET XPosureHold off on the congratulations — at least for now.News and social media sites lit up on Thursday after Shakira‘s boyfriend, FC Barcelona soccer star Gerard Piqué, posted a message on Twitter, announcing the arrival of their baby...

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Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

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Wall Street sags for fifth day, heads for "fiscal cliff"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track for a fifth straight decline, as President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders were set to make a last-ditch attempt to steer the country away from severe fiscal austerity next year. Obama and lawmakers from both political parties will meet at the White House on Friday afternoon for talks in an effort...

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Bolivia Makes Inroads Toward Reducing Coca Production

Meri Pintas, 30, center, harvests coca leaves with her children in the Yungas region of Bolivia. Bolivia, the world’s third-largest cocaine producer, has advanced its own unorthodox approach toward controlling the growing of coca, which veers markedly from the wider war on drugs and includes high-tech monitoring of thousands of legal coca patches intended to produce coca leaf for traditional us...

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Police using Twitter to offer virtual ridealongs

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Riding side by side as a police officer answers a call for help or investigates a brutal crime during a ridealong gives citizens an up close look at the gritty and sometimes dangerous situations officers can experience on the job.But a new approach to informing the public about what officers do is taking hold at police departments across the United States and Canada 7/8— one...

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It's a Girl for Kings of Leon's Nathan Followill

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 12/27/2012 at 11:50 AM ET Splash News OnlineChristmas came late for this King!Nathan Followill and his wife Jessie Baylin welcomed daughter Violet Marlowe Followill on Wednesday, Dec. 26 in Nashville, his rep confirms to PEOPLE.“Mom, Dad and baby are doing well and...

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Dow falls more than 1 percent

To a black ESPN sports analyst, this is the critical question: Is Robert Griffin III, aka RG III, the black rookie sensation Washington Redskins quarterback, "a brother, or is he a cornball brother?" What has RG III done or said to raise a suspicion about his bona fides as a black person? More importantly, what does this have to do with appreciating — or choosing not to appreciate — Griffin as an...

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Egypt’s Hamdeen Sabahi vs. Islamists and Free Markets

CAIRO — Hamdeen Sabahi was the most popular leader in the fight against Egypt’s new Islamist-backed constitution. Now he is preparing for his next battle: against Islamist leaders’ plans for Western-style free-market reforms. Do not listen to your allies in the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Sabahi said he warned President Mohamed Morsi, of the Brotherhood’s political arm, in a private meeting a...

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Kim Kardashian Tries a New Hair Color

Stylewatch Style News Now 12/26/2012 at 11:30 AM ET SPW/Splash News Online. Inset: StartraksThe bangs may have been fake (turns out they were just clip-ins), but Kim Kardashian‘s new hair shade is definitely for real.Just before...

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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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Wall Street sags, "cliff" angst steals retailers' Christmas

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as retailers' shares dropped sharply after a report that showed holiday shoppers were less enthusiastic than last year, with investors saying worries about the "fiscal cliff" may have kept them away from stores. The Morgan Stanley retail index <.mvr> skidded 1.8 percent as holiday-related sales rose 0.7 percent from October 28 through...

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No Easy Route If Assad Opts to Go, or Stay

BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria sits in his mountaintop palace as the tide of war licks at the cliffs below. Explosions bloom over the Damascus suburbs. His country is plunging deeper into chaos. The United Nations’ top envoy for the Syrian crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, met with Mr. Assad in the palace on Monday in an urgent effort to resolve the nearly two-year-old conflict....

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Jessica Simpson Confirms: I'm Pregnant Again!

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 12/25/2012 at 12:15 PM ET Courtesy Jessica Simpson; Jamie McCarthy/WireImage It’s official: the stork is once again headed to Jessica Simpson‘s house!Just seven months after the singer and actress delivered daughter Maxwell Drew, Simpson and fiancé Eric...

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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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Yen on defensive on U.S. fiscal worry, helps Nikkei

TOKYO (Reuters) - Uncertainty over whether U.S. lawmakers will strike a deal by an end-of-year deadline to avert a severe fiscal retrenchment undermined the yen and bolstered Japanese shares on Tuesday in low volume, with many participants away on Christmas holiday. The dollar rose to a 20-month high of 84.965 yen early on Tuesday in Asia, as Japanese markets caught up with global investors...

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