For those who must know first
Reuters – Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday he expected almost all of the country’s provinces to eliminate their budget deficits by 2015, the same target the federal government has set for itself.
Read More: Focus on deficits, Flaherty tells Canada provinces
(Reuters)
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OneWorld.net – BHUBANESWAR, Dec 22 (IPS) – Just two years ago, Ratha Majhi was at his witsâ end trying to
eke out a decent living from his modest vegetable farm.
Read More: Wonder Irrigation Pump Goes a Long Way
(OneWorld.net)
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AFP – Bomb blasts in the Chilean and Swiss embassies in Rome injured two staffers in attacks that officials said may have been carried out by anarchists like the ones behind a similar plot in Greece.
Read More: Bomb blasts hit Swiss, Chilean embassies in Rome
(AFP)
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Reuters – Russian lawmakers said they could approve a nuclear arms reduction pact that is crucial to the “reset” in ties with the United States as early as Friday if a successful U.S. Senate vote left the terms of the treaty intact.
Read More: Russian Duma could ratify START within days
(Reuters)
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Time.com – The Israelis may not agree, but the U.S.-backed Prime Minister of the West Bank believes that the logic of the institutions he’s building will bring sovereign independence by next summer
Read More: Peace Talks Stall, But Palestinians' Fayyad Conjures a State
(Time.com)
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Time.com – Nationalist groups targeting ethnic minorities seek to turn Russian soccer fans into their shock troops, which could wreck the country’s plans to host the world’s premier sports event in 2018
Read More: Racist Violence Threatens Russia's World Cup Plans
(Time.com)
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The Christian Science Monitor – As an unseasonable freeze settles over much of Europe, even the Continent’s balmier southern climates are suffering. But their freeze relates to cash, not the cold.
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AP – One month after a deadly exchange of artillery fire, the two Koreas ramped up their rhetoric, with South Korea’s president pledging unsparing retaliation if attacked again and a top North Korean official threatening a “sacred” nuclear war if provoked.
Read More: War rhetoric rises between North and South Korea
(AP)
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AP – A Palestinian medic says the Israeli army shot and killed a shepherd near Gaza’s border with Israel.
Read More: Palestinian medic: Israel kills Gaza shepherd
(AP)
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omg! – Ali Landry, Alison Sweeney, Lisa Rinna, Denise Richards, Kyle Richards and Candace Cameron Bure host their monthly Hot Moms Potluck Dinner where they have a lively conversation about a variety of interesting topics including beauty tips and much more.
Read More: Hollywood's Hottest Moms Get-Together
(omg!)
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omg! –
The most powerful woman in show business isn’t worried about the most powerful woman in politics becoming even more powerful.
Read More: Oprah: Prospect of Sarah Palin Becoming President Doesnt "Scare" Me
(omg!)
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AP – The head of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing regulatory conditions to ensure that cable TV giant Comcast Corp. cannot stifle competition in the video market once it takes control of NBC Universal.
Read More: FCC chairman seeks conditions on Comcast, NBC deal
(AP)
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omg! – AP – Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson have made their breakup official by filing for divorce in Los Angeles.
Read More: Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson file for divorce
(omg!)
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Reuters – Another previously unheard Justin Bieber song has hit the web: “Ride,” an uptempo dance track that leaked online Wednesday and finds the 16-year-old pop star reflecting on — what else? — love over 8-bit-style blips.
Read More: New Justin Bieber song "Ride" is for another artist
(Reuters)
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AP – Capsule reviews of films opening this week:
Read More: Capsule reviews: 'True Grit' and other films
(AP)
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omg! – Kit Hoover asks Tom Arnold to share three things we don’t know about him, but instead he tells her three things women don’t know about men. Plus, Tom shows off his tattoos, but what does one of them possibly mean other than what he originally thought?
Read More: Tom Arnold Shares Three Things Women Don't Know About Men
(omg!)
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AP – Ten weeks after giving birth to 17 puppies, the Rhodesian Ridgeback mother is to be spayed while her cute offspring leave for new homes, the dog’s owner said Thursday.
Read More: German dog to be spayed after 17-puppy litter
(AP)
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AP – Lindsay Lohan isn’t the only one authorities are investigating over a late night spat with a rehab worker. Experts say the facility where she is being treated and its former employee will also receive some scrutiny.
Read More: Lohan rehab spat to bring scrutiny to Betty Ford
(AP)
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AP – Universal’s “Little Fockers,” the latest installment in the successful comedy franchise that began 10 years ago, is set to bring home yet another No. 1 debut for Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and their reunited family of A-listers.
Read More: Box Office Preview: Little doubt 'Fockers' to win
(AP)
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AP – Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson have made their breakup official by filing for divorce in Los Angeles.
Read More: Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson file for divorce
(AP)
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AP – Actress Jane Lynch says her “Glee” character Sue Sylvester throws “a hissy fit the likes of which no one has seen before” when the show returns.
Read More: Lynch promises prime `hissy fit' in new episode
(AP)
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omg! –
More than a week after announcing their split, Ryan Reynolds has filed for divorce from Scarlett Johansson, People reports
The 34-year-old actor filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. Johansson, 26, filed…
Read More: Ryan Reynolds Files For Divorce From Scarlett Johansson
(omg!)
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omg! – Reuters – In the U.S., 20th Century Fox is selling the feature film “Gulliver’s Travels” as a Jack Black comedy.
Read More: "Gulliver's Travels" tests Jack Black's appeal
(omg!)
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Reuters – On Broadway, bad press doesn’t necessarily spell failure, and the struggling “Spider-Man” musical is still luring tourists and theater goers into seats as it deals with persistent technical problems.
Read More: Epic disaster or blockbuster? "Spider-Man" hangs on
(Reuters)
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omg! – Reuters – In the midst of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by BP drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, a number of news outlets got a bunch of yuks with news that Kevin Costner was the potential savior for the crisis — that his company, CINC (“Costner in Nevada Corporation”), had developed a technology that separated oil from water.
Read More: Stephen Baldwin sues Kevin Costner in BP Oil drama
(omg!)
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AP – Curtain up! Light the lights! Spider-Man returned to the stage Thursday, a day after two performances were canceled due to a scary fall that left a stuntman seriously injured.
Read More: Curtain up! Theatergoers see `Spider-Man' return
(AP)
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Reuters – Shea butter is in everything from diaper cream to tissue paper, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers shea nuts — from which the butter derives – to be tree nuts, and therefore potential allergens. A new study suggests, however, that shea butter poses little, if any, allergy risk to people who use products containing the substance.
Read More: Corrected: Shea nuts appear safe in allergy study
(Reuters)
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Reuters – Only a minority of obese youths are screened for diabetes, liver problems and high cholesterol, electronic medical records from an Ohio healthcare system show.
Read More: Little screening of kids for obesity complications
(Reuters)
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U.S. News & World Report – Federal officials have approved a new weapon against anal cancer. Merck’s Gardasil can now be marketed as an anal cancer vaccine for men and women ages 9 to 26, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said Wednesday. Clinical data suggest the vaccine, originally approved to prevent cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, could also be 78 percent effective in preventing anal cancer associated with four strains of HPV. Both men and women are affected by the disease, but the incidence is highest among men who have sex with men. …
Read More: Health Buzz: FDA Approves Gardasil for Anal Cancer
(U.S. News & World Report)
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HealthDay – THURSDAY, Dec. 23 (HealthDay News) — Flu activity in the United
States was low this fall throughout most of the nation, but government
health officials expect flu viruses will infect more people in the weeks
and months to come.
Read More: Flu Activity Low So Far, But More Cases to Come: CDC
(HealthDay)
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HealthDay – (HealthDay News) — Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy
of ClinicalConnection.com:
Read More: Clinical Trials Update: Dec. 23, 2010
(HealthDay)
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AFP – Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk said Thursday it planned to put a new insulin product on the market by 2013 after tests showed advantages to the widely sold diabetes drug Lantus.
Read More: Novo Nordisk says to market improved insulin in 2013
(AFP)
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HealthDay – THURSDAY, Dec. 23 (HealthDay News) — Here’s another reason not
to pile on too many excess pounds: A new study finds that the obese and
very obese are at raised risk of death in severe car crashes.
Read More: Obese Drivers at Higher Risk of Death in Car Crashes: Study
(HealthDay)
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Reuters – Britain’s state-run health service will get a partial rebate from GlaxoSmithKline if the company’s new kidney cancer drug Votrient does not match up to a rival medicine in a head-to-head clinical trial.
Read More: GSK offers UK rebate if Pfizer cancer drug better
(Reuters)
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HealthDay – THURSDAY, Dec. 23 (HealthDay News) — Most people think of arthritis as
a disease of old age, with people’s joints growing creaky and painful
later in life.
Read More: Doctor Shortage Adds to Pain of Juvenile Arthritis
(HealthDay)
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Appolicious – Just in time for the holidays, we have new “information” about the supposedly imminent iPad 2. As usual, the rumors come from anonymous sources in China, and have slight technical details about Apple’s (AAPL) next-generation tab.
Read More: New iPad 2 rumors focus on smaller size and louder speakers
(Appolicious)
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Reuters – U.S. online shopping rose 15.4 percent to $36.4 billion for the holiday shopping season, a MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed on Thursday.
Read More: Online holiday sales up 15.4 percent: SpendingPulse
(Reuters)
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Macworld – The iPad has taken yet another step toward becoming a full-fledged laptop replacement for business users with Quickofficeâs release of a free update for its Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad. The 2.0.0 version of the suite adds extensive text formatting and graphical editing abilities for PowerPoint 2003 files as well as viewing and presenting capabilities for PowerPoint 2007 files.
Read More: QuickOffice Connect for iPad gets PowerPoint editing ability
(Macworld)
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NewsFactor – Mozilla launched a new Firefox 4 beta release for PCs and laptops Wednesday featuring expanded support for 3-D graphics, together with a revamped Firefox add-on manager. And on the mobile side, Mozilla introduced several enhancements to the mobile version of Firefox 4 beta for smartphones based on Google’s Android and Nokia’s Maemo platforms.
Read More: Firefox 4 Beta Provides Support for 3-D Graphics
(NewsFactor)
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Ben Patterson – What could be more fun than blogging about the latest and greatest gadgets? Beats me, but even an avowed gadget hound like me needs a break once in a while. Anyway, I’ll be going offline during the holidays â and …
Read More: Happy holidays from the Gadget Hound
(Ben Patterson)
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Macworld – Bluetooth already helps us make hands-free phone calls, but now it can help us cook a perfect steak. iDevicesâs iGrill is a Bluetooth-enabled thermometer that communicates with an app on your iOS device, keeping you updated on the temperature of your food, while freeing you from the confines of your kitchen when you cook.
Read More: iDevice releases iGrill Bluetooth kitchen thermometer
(Macworld)
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Digital Trends – We just posted a Black Ops parody, but the news doesn’t end there. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick spoke with CNN about the insane popularity of the newest Call of Duty game, which he claims is so popular it is on par with common activities like texting and Facebooking. “More people play Black Ops every day than watch Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon, combined,” Kotick gloated. “The audience of Call of Duty is probably greater in terms of size … than in any other interactive form of entertainment.” 60 percent of all Xbox Live traffic comes from Call of Duty games, he added.
Read More: Activision CEO: Call of Duty is as popular as Facebook, texting
(Digital Trends)
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Reuters – The Federal Communications Commission’s top official has backed Comcast Corp’s NBC Universal purchase, subject to conditions addressing competition in areas like online video and program access.
Read More: FCC chair proposes Comcast-NBC conditional approval
(Reuters)
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AFP – Air-powered batteries, 3-D cellphones that project holographs and personalized commutes are among the predictions of IBM scientists gazing into their crystal balls.
Read More: IBM offers glimpse into the future
(AFP)
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AP – If you voted this fall, there’s a good chance you were texting about it.
Read More: Study: 26 pct in US used cell phones for activism
(AP)
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NewsFactor – It’s one step forward and one back for security on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. A new report from a security firm found that IE9 beta offers “vastly” more protection from malware than other browsers, while Microsoft on Wednesday issued a warning that there is a vulnerability in IE 6, 7 and 8 that could allow someone to take remote control of the computer.
Read More: IE9 Blocks Malware, But Older Versions Are Vulnerable
(NewsFactor)
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 The Guardian |
Preparations under way for Sudan vote
CNN International A resident of the Southern Sudan village of Nyal receives his voting card from a referendum worker at a local school. (CNN) — A plane carrying thousands of ballots has landed in Southern Sudan ahead of a pivotal referendum there … Independence Referendum Ballots Arrive in Sudan Yearender: Worry grips Sudan as new year looms Bashir: Sharia law will be strengthened if South Sudan votes to secede |
Read More: Preparations under way for Sudan vote – CNN International
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 The Guardian |
Assange says 'high chance' he would be killed in US jail
AFP LONDON — WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Thursday there was a "high chance" he would be killed in a US jail if he were to be extradited from Britain on espionage charges. The Australian is on bail in Britain fighting a bid … Julian Assange: my fate will rest in Cameron's hands if US charges me Assange: I could die in a US jail Julian Assange: 'I feel at peace' |
Read More: Assange says 'high chance' he would be killed in US jail – AFP
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 Kansas City Star |
Romanian jumps from Parliament balcony to protest budget cuts
USA Today Protesting austerity measures, a Romanian public-television technician jumped off a balcony in Parliament today during a speech by the country's prime minister. The man, who has an autistic son, survived the 20-foot fall, which was broadcast live on … Romania – Factors to Watch on Dec 23 Romanian Flings Himself From Parliament Balcony Man survives extreme balcony protest plunge |
Read More: Romanian jumps from Parliament balcony to protest budget cuts – USA Today
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 ABC Online |
Think Christmas is commercial? Wait until you see the 'Jesus trail'
MiamiHerald.com NAZARETH, Israel — Strains of "Silent Night" stream from the tour bus speakers on what has become known as the Jesus circuit in Nazareth, northern Israel. Locals here joke that the carols constitute a whole new category of music in … City readies to celebrate birth of Christ Gaza's Christians celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem Record numbers flock to Bethlehem for Christmas |
Read More: Think Christmas is commercial? Wait until you see the 'Jesus trail' – MiamiHerald.com
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