Feb
23

Italy Set to Vote for a New Parliament

ROME — As Italian voters head to the polls on Sunday and Monday to elect a new Parliament and three regional governments, the prevailing mood is one of anger and disillusionment. The fledgling, anti-establishment parties that campaigned on promises of radical change could benefit from the voters’ discontent, but the lack of a clear winner could also leave Italy mired in uncertainty. ...
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Mindy McCready: A Country Star's Tragic Life and Death

Cover Story 02/23/2013 at 12:40 PM EST Alone and adrift, Mindy McCready seemed to have little concept of time in the blurry month following the apparent suicide of her boyfriend, songwriter David Wilson, on Jan. 13 at the lakefront home they shared in quiet Heber Springs, Ark. "She would call you at 2 in the...
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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...
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Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large. Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling. Talks on the U.S. budget...
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Feb
22

Russia Sends Aid to Mali as Fighting Flares

MOSCOW — Russia sent a planeload of food, blankets and other aid to war-stricken Mali on Friday, a day after Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov warned about the spread of terrorism in North Africa, which the Russian government has linked to Western intervention in Libya. Mr. Lavrov met on Thursday with the United Nations special envoy for the region, Romano Prodi, to discuss the situation...
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Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman to Present at Academy Awards

02/22/2013 at 12:40 PM EST Dustin Hoffman (left) and Jack Nicholson AP; Getty Jack's back – at the Oscars.Legendary actor Nicholson will join Dustin Hoffman as presenters at Sunday's Academy Awards. Both stars are 75. "Between the two of them, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman have created...
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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla (kad-SY'-luh) from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell,...
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HP lifts Wall Street, S&P on pace for first weekly loss of year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, rebounding off two days of losses as Dow component Hewlett-Packard surged on strong results, but the S&P 500 was on track to end a seven-week-long streak of gains. The S&P shed 1.9 percent over the previous two sessions, its worst two-day drop since early November, putting the index on pace for its first weekly decline of the year. The...
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Feb
21

IHT Rendezvous: Europe's Jobless Youth: Should the Old Make Way?

LONDON — A British minister has advised people aged over 60 to go to university and update their skills if they want to continue working.With youth unemployment on the rise across Europe, it might seem an odd time to be encouraging older people to keep working rather than take a well-earned break and free up jobs for a younger generation.But with pension funds in deficit and the number of over-60s...
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The Duggars Visit Asia on Upcoming TLC Special: Catch a Sneak Peek

TV Watch By Tim Nudd 02/21/2013 at 12:50 PM EST Kids, we're not in Arkansas anymore. One of America's most populous family, the Duggars, visit the world's most populous country, China, as part of a longer trip to Asia captured in a three-episode special coming to TLC in March. Getting 25 Duggars and their...
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Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors

ATLANTA (AP) — For those 65 and older, this season's flu shot is only 9 percent effective against the most common and dangerous flu bug, according to a startling new government report.Flu vaccine tends to protect younger people better than older ones and never works as well as other kinds of vaccines. But experts say the preliminary results for seniors are disappointing and highlight the need for...
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Wall Street extends losses, Nasdaq down 1 percent

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't...
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Feb
20

Former Lebanon Minister and Syrian Co-Defendant Could Face Death Penalty

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Lebanese military court judge on Wednesday charged a former government information minister and his suspected Syrian accomplice of a conspiracy to kill Lebanese political and religious leaders and foment sectarian strife, recommending the death penalty for both. The announcement about the defendants, Michel Samaha, the former minister, and Mr. Mamlouk, a Syrian security...
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Sean Lowe: Tierra Made Me Feel Like 'Such a Fool'

TV Watch The Bachelor 02/20/2013 at 12:15 PM EST Sean Lowe and Tierra on The Bachelor No regrets? Not so fast.In his PEOPLE.com blog, The Bachelor's Sean Lowe has written about how he never saw Tierra LiCausi behaving badly – despite what the other women told...
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Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines."The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed...
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Wall Street dips after rally, energy shares weaker

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped on Wednesday, with energy shares falling as investors found few reasons to buy following a rally that has held major indexes near five-year highs for three weeks. In addition, investors waited for the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting due at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) for clues to the interest rate outlook. Traders...
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Feb
19

India Ink: Image of the Day: Feb. 19

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Serve Up Dinner Straight from the South Beach Wine & Food Festival

02/19/2013 at 12:05 PM EST Carrot Lemon Thyme Sorbet and Executive Chef Hector Morales's Gazpacho Come Thursday, there will be plenty of familiar faces heating up Miami Beach. And we mean in the kitchen.As celeb chefs such as Bobby Flay, Paula Deen and Rachael...
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UK patient dies from SARS-like coronavirus

LONDON (AP) — A patient being treated for a mysterious SARS-like virus has died, a British hospital said Tuesday.Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, said the coronavirus victim was also being treated for "a long-term, complex unrelated health problem" and already had a compromised immune system.A total of 12 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease, six of whom have...
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M&A deals lift shares, suggest more value in market

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as merger activity suggested the market could offer investors still more value even as the S&P 500 and Dow industrials hover near five-year highs. Equities have resisted a pullback as investors use dips in stocks as buying opportunities. The S&P is up about 7 percent so far in 2013 and has climbed for the past seven weeks in its...
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Feb
18

India Ink: Image of the Day: Feb. 18

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Chaz Bono: How I Lost 43 Lbs. - and Hope to Lose More

By Dahvi Shira 02/18/2013 at 01:00 PM EST Chaz Bono, before and after losing weight Courtesy CBS Television Distribution Chaz Bono's 2013 has gotten off to a healthy start!The former Dancing with the Stars contestant, 43, has already dropped 43 lbs. since announcing...
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Yen resumes fall after G20, U.S. holiday thins trade

LONDON (Reuters) - The yen resumed falling on Monday after Japan signaled it would push ahead with expansionist monetary policies having escaped criticism from the world's 20 biggest economies at the weekend. Industrial metals also dipped and European shares were soft on lingering worries about the economic outlook, especially for the euro zone. While the risk of an inconclusive outcome...
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Feb
17

Letter From Washington: A Sensible Deal Can Avert a 'Sequester' Disaster

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans in Washington agree: It would be a disaster if the “sequester,” with its more than $1 trillion of cuts to U.S. defense and domestic spending, took effect on March 1, as scheduled. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta says the reductions to the Pentagon budget would undermine national security; the cuts to already pared-down domestic spending will set back...
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Carrie Underwood's Light-Up Dress Makes Readers Say 'Wow'

By Andrea Billups 02/17/2013 at 12:35 PM EST What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love knowing your response to the news – and, as always, you had lots to say about all of our stories.From a heartfelt (and funny) "baby announcement" for a 13-year-old to your sadness over the shocking news that...
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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...
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Florida hit by "tsunami" of tax identity fraud

MIAMI (Reuters) - Bruce Parton was only a few weeks from retirement after 30 years as a mail carrier in sunny Florida. He never lived to fulfill his retirement plan of moving back to a quiet life in the Catskill mountains of New York, not far from where he grew up on Long Island. Instead, he was gunned down on his daily mail route in December 2010 by members of an identity...
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