Israel Sticks to Tough Approach in Conflict With Hamas

TEL AVIV — With rockets landing on the outskirts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Friday and the Egyptian prime minister making a solidarity visit to Gaza, the accelerating conflict between Israel and Hamas — reminiscent in many ways of so many previous battles — has the makings of a new kind of Israeli-Palestinian face-off. The combination of longer-range and far deadlier rockets in the hands...

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President Obama Perfects the McKayla Maroney Scowl

By Kristen Mascia 11/17/2012 at 01:45 PM EST Pete Souza/The White House/Getty Heads up, America: the President is not impressed.During the U.S. women's gymnastics team's visit to the White House on Thursday, president Barack Obama posed with McKayla Maroney,...

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

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Girl, 15, forced into prostitution by family counselor

A San Bernardino family counselor responsible for providing services to children and families also coerced a 15-year-old girl into prostitution and sold sexual services on the Internet, the San Bernardino County district attorney's office said Thursday.Daron Lamar Whitworth, 42, worked for EMQ FamiliesFirst, a nonprofit that provides social services, mental-health and foster care for young...

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Havana Journal: In Cuba, Carlos Acosta’s Dream Project Draws Fire

Jose Goitia for The New York TimesCarlos Acosta, a Cuban-born ballet star, wants to turn this abandoned dance school in Havana into an international dance center. HAVANA — It has the ring of a modern Cuban fairy tale: A handsome ballet star returns to his native land and discovers an abandoned dance school, which he vows to restore to life. Yet Carlos Acosta’s dream of founding a dance center...

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Smartphones, tablets spark “post-pie” Thanksgiving sales

(Reuters) – Retailers are targeting “post-pie” commerce, the jump in shopping created by the boom in smartphones and tablet computers which Thanksgiving diners grab as they collapse onto the couch after eating turkey and pumpkin pie.While people relax with family and friends or watch football on TV, they are increasingly shopping online with these mobile...

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Lisa Ling: Pregnancy Makes Me Nervous

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 11/16/2012 at 09:00 AM ET Cindy Ord/Getty Lisa Ling has battled child traffickers, traveled to remote areas of the Congo to help women and raised awareness for her sister, captured and held in North Korea last year. But having a baby? That frightens her.“I’m finally...

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

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Irvine plans review of Great Park funds

Irvine leaders are planning a detailed review of the $200 million spent on what has been billed as the country's next great...

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Attacks Resume After Israeli Assault Kills Hamas Leader

KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel — Israel and Hamas widened their increasingly deadly conflict over Gaza on Thursday, as a militant rocket killed three civilians in an apartment block in this small southern town. The deaths were likely to lead Israel to intensify its military offensive on Gaza, now in its second day of airstrikes. In Gaza, the Palestinian death toll rose to 11 as Israel struck what...

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Snooki's Nights Out Now: Drinking Wine and Talking Politics

TV Watch By Dahvi Shira 11/15/2012 at 02:30 PM EST Snooki and Lorenzo Courtesy of Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi With her fist-pumping days behind her, newly mature mom Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi no longer spends her conversations trying to figure out what happened the night...

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Diabetes rates rocket in Oklahoma, South

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and the biggest jump over 15 years was in Oklahoma, according to a new federal report issued Thursday.The diabetes rate in Oklahoma more than tripled, and Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama also saw dramatic increases since 1995, the study showed.The South's growing weight problem is the main explanation, said Linda Geiss, lead author of the...

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Justin Bieber freeway chase charged unconstitutional, judge says

A Los Angeles Superior court judge threw out charges related to a first-of-its-kind anti-paparazzi law Wednesday in the case of a freelance photographer who was charged in connection with a freeway chase involving pop star Justin Bieber. Judge Thomas Rubinson ruled that while Los Angeles city prosecutors could proceed with two traffic-related charges against Paul Raef, the two counts...

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Israelis Launch Major Assault on Gaza, Killing Hamas Commander

ReutersPalestinians extinguished a fire after an Israeli airstrike on a car carrying Ahmed al-Jabari, who ran Hamas's military wing, on Wednesday in Gaza City. GAZA — Israel on Wednesday launched one of the most ferocious assaults on Gaza since its invasion four years ago, hitting at least 20 targets in aerial attacks that killed the top military commander of Hamas, drew strong condemnation from Egypt...

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Zac Efron Smooches Rebel Wilson at Lakers Game

By Julia Haskins 11/14/2012 at 02:20 PM EST Does Zac Efron have a new crush? The sexy young star Tweeted a picture of a smooch he gave hilarious Bridesmaids actress Rebel Wilson at Tuesday's Los Angeles Lakers game. "She's a Laker fan too??? I think I'm in love," Efron wrote in the picture post. And it sounded...

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Ireland probes death of ill abortion-seeker

DUBLIN (AP) — The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed that a woman in the midst of a miscarriage was refused an abortion and died in an Irish hospital after suffering from blood poisoning.Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he was awaiting findings from three investigations into the death of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian woman who was 17...

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Justin Bieber, driving Ferarri, gets second citation in 6 months

For the second time in six months, pop star Justin Bieber has been cited by authorities for a traffic violation involving a high-end sports car.But this time Bieber can't blame his traffic violation on the paparazzi. This time it was all Bieber during an apparent joyride Tuesday night in West Hollywood, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies.Bieber was pulled over in a white...

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White House Supports Top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan

President Obama has “faith” in Gen. John R. Allen, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, the White House spokesman said on Tuesday, after it was disclosed that the general was under investigation for what the Pentagon called “inappropriate communication” with the woman whose complaint to the F.B.I. set off the scandal involving David H. Petraeus’s extramarital affair. “The president...

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for...

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Teen bitten 6 times by rattlesnakes while searching for cell signal

A 16-year-old El Cajon girl is lucky to be alive after being bitten at least six times by rattlesnakes. "On a scale from 1 to 10 the pain was 45," Vera Oliphant recalled. The young woman was visiting her uncle in Jamul, Calif., east of San Diego about two weeks ago when she decided to walk up a hill, searching for cell phone reception. "I heard them all over, I heard the rattles, then I ran,"...

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Syrian Jet Strikes Close to Border With Turkey

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Syria pulled both Turkey and Israel closer to military entanglements in its civil war on Monday, bombing a rebel-held Syrian village a few yards from the Turkish border in a deadly aerial assault and provoking Israeli tank commanders in the disputed Golan Heights into blasting mobile Syrian artillery units across their own armistice line. The escalations, which threatened...

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RIM to unveil new BlackBerry phones on Jan. 30.

TORONTO (AP) — Research In Motion said Monday that it will hold an official launch event for its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones on Jan. 30. The new phones are seen as critical to RIM’s survival.The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said Monday details on the much-delayed smartphones and their availability will be announced at the event. The...

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Scott Wolf Welcomes Baby No. 2

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 11/12/2012 at 02:46 PM ET Amy Sussman/GettyIt’s officially a party of four for Scott Wolf!The former Party of Five actor, 43, and his wife, Real World: New Orleans alum Kelley, 35, welcomed son Miller William Wolf on Nov. 10 in Los Angeles, they tell PEOPLE exclusively.Miller,...

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for...

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Mother charges 'Modern Family' star had unlawful sex in home

Authorities are investigating an allegation by the mother of "Modern Family" star Ariel Winter that her daughter's 18-year-old boyfriend had unlawful sex with the 14-year-old actress, according to sources familiar with the investigation.The L.A. County Sheriff''s Department's Special Victims Unit also is separately examining whether Winter's mother, Chrisoula Workman, physically abused the...

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