Twin explosions strike southern Syrian city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria‘s state-run news agency says two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage.SANA did not immediately give further information or say what the target of Saturday’s explosions was. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights...

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Mick Jagger’s love letters to singer Marsha Hunt up for auction

(Reuters) – Love letters written by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to American singer Marsha Hunt, discussing poetry and his personal turmoil, will hit the auction block next month.Hunt, with whom Jagger had his first child, Karis, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper she was selling the letters, written in July and August 1969, because she had been...

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States given more time to work on health exchanges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration gave states extra time to work toward setting up new health insurance exchanges on Friday, days after President Barack Obama‘s re-election ensured the survival of his healthcare reform law.The move is seen as a concession to dozens of states that delayed compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable...

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How 'poor judgment' felled military star Petraeus

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - David Petraeus was a star on the battlefield, commanding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but was undone by "poor judgment" in engaging in an extramarital affair that led to his downfall as CIA director. Just two days after his 60th birthday, Petraeus stepped down from the spy agency where he had held the top office since September 6, 2011. "After being married for over...

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Assad says will live and die in Syria

DOHA (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad said he would “live and die” in Syria and warned that any Western invasion to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond.Assad’s defiant remarks coincided with a landmark meeting in Qatar on Thursday of Syria’s fractious opposition to hammer out an agreement on a new umbrella...

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Call me JackSUN, says singer Jermaine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jackson 5 singer Jermaine Jackson has petitioned to change his name, according to court documents filed earlier this week in Los Angeles.The older brother of pop stars Michael and Janet Jackson, Jermaine wants to change his famous last name to Jacksun for “artistic reasons.” Asked why Jermaine...

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Achilles Had Only 2 Heels

Recently, I came across the headline “Scientists Find Achilles’ Heel of Cancer Cells”, describing the discovery of a histone deactylase (HDAC11) as a novel target for cancer therapies. I was irritated by the metaphor of Achilles’ heel, because it implied that this was the lone vulnerability of cancer. I was also embarrassed by the fact that I used the...

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11,000 flee Syria in huge one-day exodus

DEAR ABBY: My brother lost his wife, the love of his life, three years ago. He has three children. His oldest, a 25-year-old daughter, "Jenny," told him that "when you marry, it is for life." She has threatened that if he dates someone or sees anyone, she will be out of his life and he won't be able to see his future grandchildren. (Jenny is getting married next summer.)My brother is very upset. He...

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Ghana building collapse traps dozens, kills 1

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — A five-story shopping center built earlier this year in a bustling suburb of Ghana‘s capital collapsed Wednesday, killing at least one person and leaving several dozen people trapped in the rubble, authorities and eyewitnesses said.Rescue crews used cranes to try and remove debris from the top of the building amid fears that machinery...

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Exclusive: Google Ventures beefs up fund size to $300 million a year

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Ex-oil man to be next Anglican leader: UK media

LONDON (Reuters) – A former oil executive who went to the same exclusive school as Prime Minister David Cameron will shortly be named Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, British newspapers said on Thursday.Justin Welby, 56, the Bishop of Durham, who has had a meteoric rise up the Church of England hierarchy since...

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Novartis says may have 14 new blockbuster drugs by 2017

ZURICH (Reuters) – Novartis could produce 14 or more new big-selling ‘blockbuster’ drugs within five years as it bets on cancer, heart and respiratory treatments to fill the gaps left by expiries on current patents, the Swiss firm said on Thursday.Like many of its rivals, Novartis is facing headwinds as some of its top earners lose patent protection, particularly...

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Hurtling towards the fiscal cliff?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Taking little time to celebrate, President Barack Obama is setting out to leverage his re-election into legislative success in an upcoming showdown with congressional Republicans over taxes, deficits and the impending "fiscal cliff." House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans are willing to consider some form of higher tax revenue as part of the solution — but only "under the right...

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Canada firms to capitalize on nuclear trade with India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Canadian firms will be able to export uranium and nuclear reactors to India for the first time in almost four decades under an agreement between the two nations, their prime ministers said, but more work is needed to implement the deal.Once implemented, the agreement will end a ban on nuclear cooperation Canada imposed in 1976 after...

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Move over, Obama; Twitter had a big night too

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called it - in less than 140 characters. Around 11:15 pm EST, just as the networks were beginning to call the race in his favor, Obama took to Twitter to proclaim himself the winner over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. "This happened because of you. Thank you," Obama tweeted. That the president would take his message...

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CBS’s ‘Elementary’ gets prized post-Super Bowl slot

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – CBS’s freshman Sherlock Holmes drama “Elementary” will get a big boost in February, when it airs following Super Bowl XLVII, the network said Monday.The series, which stars Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, delivers a modern-day take on the Sherlock Holmes saga, with both the detective and his sidekick Watson living in contemporary...

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Pfizer returns EU selling rights on Auxilium hand-disorder drug

(Reuters) – Auxilium Inc ended a marketing deal for its hand-disorder drug with Pfizer Inc, regaining the rights to sell the drug in Europe, and pushed up its 2012 revenue forecast to reflect deferred revenue from the termination of the deal.Pfizer, which had the right to negotiate marketing other Xiaflex indications in the European Union, will return...

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Obama's lease renewed despite tough economic times

WASHINGTON (AP) — His lease renewed in trying economic times, President Barack Obama claimed a second term from an incredibly divided electorate and immediately braced for daunting challenges and progress that comes only in fits and starts."We have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come," Obama said.The same voters who gave Obama...

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Cautious reformers tipped for new China leadership

BEIJING (Reuters) – China‘s ruling Communist Party will this month unveil its new top leadership team, expected to again be an all-male cast of politicians whose instincts are to move cautiously on reform.Sources close to the leadership say 10 main candidates are vying for seven seats on the party’s next Politburo Standing Committee, the peak decision-making...

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