Syrians Face a Bread Shortage in Aleppo and Elsewhere

Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesA bakery in Aleppo. The price has shot up from 25 Syrian pounds, about 35 cents, for a bag of about eight flat, pitalike loaves to more than 200 pounds, nearly $3. GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Jalal al-Khanji, the closest thing the Syrian city of Aleppo has to a mayor, hopes to organize elections there within two weeks, but he fears that residents with empty stomachs are in no...

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Manitoba Tories to oust youth president over social media comments

WINNIPEG – An official with Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party is being ousted over social media comments about aboriginals.Brayden Mazurkiewich, the president of the party’s youth wing, is being asked to resign over a post on his Facebook page today.The post concerns a planned urban reserve on a former Winnipeg military base, and says the land was designed for — quote — “hard-working men and...

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Connecticut Shooting: Bodies Removed from School, Positively Identified

By Mike Fleeman 12/15/2012 at 10:25 AM EST Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance Mary Altaffer/AP A horrific day turned to a night of unspeakable grief as parents received formal notifications that their children were killed in the Connecticut school massacre.The last of the dozens of...

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Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants

ALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered...

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Actor decapitated student, killed girlfriend, DA alleges

Clinging to keepsakes and memories more than two years after their children were killed, the parents of two slain Orange Coast College students say the pain of reliving the details of their deaths in court can't match their desire for justice.On Thursday, the families of Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 23, and Samuel Herr, 26, sat in Orange County Superior Court for a preliminary hearing to determine...

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Rome Journal: As Mario Monti Prepares to Step Down, Italians Express Disappointment

ROME — As Prime Minister Mario Monti prepares to exit the stage, he has burnished Italy’s image — and his own — abroad, but he is less beloved at home. Italians are irate about higher taxes, while critics say that Mr. Monti failed to carry out the basic structural changes he said were needed, leaving a legacy more of austerity than growth. While Mr. Monti passed tax increases, introduced...

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Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 might not launch until 2014

Nintendo (NTDOY) says its kickstarted the next generation of video game consoles with the Wii U. But considering its graphics and processing power are comparable to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3, hardcore gamers are holding out for the next Xbox, tentatively dubbed “Xbox 720,” and next-generation PlayStation, tentatively called...

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Dozens Reported Dead in Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

Breaking News By Stephen M. Silverman UPDATED 12/14/2012 at 01:55 PM EST • Originally published 12/14/2012 at 01:00 PM EST State police personnel lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee/Reuters/Landov A...

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APNewsBreak: Texas cancer probe draws NCI scrutiny

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The National Cancer Institute confirmed Friday that federal officials are taking a closer look at a troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas that is under a criminal investigation over a lucrative taxpayer-funded grant awarded by the state agency.The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has coveted status as an NCI-approved funding entity — an exclusive...

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Man sought to videotape girlfriend's murder for Christmas, DA says

A south Orange County man who solicited his ex-girlfriend's murder and asked that the killing be videotaped so he could watch it on Christmas was sentenced Thursday to 31 years to life in state prison. Mark Alan Jarosik, a Ladera Ranch resident, was in custody at the time of the murder solicitation, being held on suspicion of raping his former girlfriend.Jarosik, 46, was found guilty in...

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American Idol: Has Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey's Feud Fizzled?

TV Watch American Idol 12/13/2012 at 02:45 PM EST Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey Frank Micelotta/FOX (2) Fans hoping to see new American Idol judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj battle it out in an epic feud may be disappointed. The new panelists, along with host...

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Study: People worldwide living longer, but sicker

LONDON (AP) — Nearly everywhere around the world, people are living longer and fewer children are dying. But increasingly, people are grappling with the diseases and disabilities of modern life, according to the most expansive global look so far at life expectancy and the biggest health threats.The last comprehensive study was in 1990 and the top health problem then was the death of children under...

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'Evil' actor killed college students, girlfriend says

A woman authorities say helped her then-fiance after he allegedly killed two people said at a news conference Tuesday night that she is "completely innocent." Rachel Mae Buffett, 25, addressed the media at her brother's Long Beach wine bar flanked by her brothers, sister and mother. She declared her innocence and vowed to assist Costa Mesa police in their ongoing investigation into the...

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Most Googled in 2012: Whitney, PSY, Sandy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world’s attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, millions of people searched the Web to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.Whitney Houston was the “top trending” search of the year, according to Google Inc.’s year-end “zeitgeist” report. Google‘s 12th annual roundup is “an in-depth look at the...

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Miranda Lambert Gets Kissed by a Llama

People Pets 12/12/2012 at 02:30 PM EST Miranda Lambert at the San Diego Zoo Courtesy Miranda Lambert Miranda Lambert is feeling the love – and not just from husband Blake Shelton."Llama kisses!" she Tweeted on Friday, sharing a photo of her up-close-and-personal...

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Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major...

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Doctor caught with 1,000 child porn images, police say

A Santa Ana foot doctor was arrested Tuesday on a warrant accusing him of possessing more than 1,000 images of child pornography on his company computer. Dr. Pete Thomas, 58, of Coastline Podiatry in Santa Ana, surrendered to a judge Tuesday and was booked into Santa Ana jail before being released on $50,000 bail, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. The images were first discovered...

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Afghan Law Offering Abused Women Redress Makes Slow Gains

KABUL, Afghanistan — Women who suffer violence in Afghanistan are often afraid to report abuses to government authorities and rarely see their cases taken to trial, though prosecutors regularly obtain convictions when cases do go forward, according to a report released on Tuesday by the United Nations office here. The detailed study of the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act, enacted...

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Web host Go Daddy appoints former Yahoo executive as CEO

(Reuters) – Go Daddy, one of the world’s biggest Internet hosting firms, appointed Yahoo Inc‘s former Chief Product Officer Blake Irving as chief executive.He will take over from interim CEO Scott Wagner on January 7. Irving left Yahoo, where he headed a centralized products group that straddled several client types, on April 27.“Blake Irving’s deep technology experience and his history of developing...

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Man Builds Full-Scale Replica of Noah's Ark

People Pets By Stephen M. Silverman 12/11/2012 at 02:15 PM EST Johan Huibers and his ark Peter Dejong/AP He may have trouble finding two animals of every kind, but Johan Huibers of the Netherlands isn't one to be dissuaded.After 20 years, the professional builder...

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Actor's girlfriend says he killed, dismembered college students

Hours before he played the romantic lead in a community theater play opposite his real-life fiancee, authorities allege Daniel Patrick Wozniak shot and killed his neighbor.Not long after that evening’s performance, he slipped out of the Costa Mesa apartment he shared with his then-fiancee, Rachel Buffett, 25, and killed a second person , according to police, prosecutors and Buffett's account...

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Morsi Spokesman Tries to Clarify Military Order

Petr David Josek/Associated PressDemonstrators camping out in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Monday. CAIRO — A day after President Mohamed Morsi formally directed the military to help keep public order and authorized soldiers to arrest civilians, a spokesman on Monday sought to draw distinctions between the order and the forms of martial law that the Egyptian Army had previously imposed. The spokesman,...

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China party chief stresses reform, censors relax grasp on internet

BEIJING (Reuters) – China must deepen reforms to perfect its market economy and strengthen rule of law, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said in southern Guangdong, echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping in the same province 20 years ago.Xi’s call for reform was reported on Monday, coinciding with an apparent easing of Internet search restrictions that the party has...

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Pink Offers Sympathy for Kate's Pregnancy Woes

By Andrea Billups 12/10/2012 at 02:30 PM EST Pink and Willow Sage Hart NPG She's tiny, athletic and so fit she can sing while hanging upside down performing Cirque du Soleil-style moves. But Pink says she was just like many other women when she was pregnant last...

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed...

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Man lived with murdered girlfriend's rotting corpse for months, DA says

Prosecutors say a Stockton man lived with his girlfriend's rotting corpse for months after killing her.In court last week, prosecutors alleged that the man hit is girlfriend on the head with a  a metal table pedestal, raped her and stabbed her 32 times.Devon Epps was evicted from his apartment in December 2011. The next day, when the apartment manager stopped by, they found a dead...

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Fear of Fighting Haunts Once-Tranquil Damascus

Muzaffar Salman/ReutersA portrait of President Bashar al-Assad outside the venue of a charity concert by the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra in Damascus on Nov. 21. DAMASCUS, Syria — Business has been terrible for Abu Tareq, a taxi driver, so last week, without telling his wife, he agreed to drive a man to the Damascus airport for 10 times the usual rate. But, he said later, he will not be doing...

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U.S. judge names lead plaintiffs in Facebook litigation

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of investors including state pension funds in North Carolina and Arkansas will be the lead plaintiffs in securities lawsuits arising out of Facebook Inc’s $ 16 billion initial public offering, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday.The investors, in a proposed class-action case, have accused Facebook of misrepresenting its financial condition in the run-up to the May stock offering....

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