French Capture Gao Airport in Move to Retake North Mali

KONNA, Mali — French special forces took control of the airport in the Islamic rebel stronghold of Gao, the French government said Saturday, meeting “serious resistance” from militants even as they pressed northward. Gao is one of three main northern cities in Mali that has been under rebel control for months, and the capture of the main strategic points in Gao represents the biggest prize...

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Guy Fieri Says His Beef Sandwich Recipe Is 'the Bomb!'

By Maggie Coughlan 01/26/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Guy Fieri's Beef Sandwich Andrew Purcell; Inset: Michael Tran/Getty After crossing the nation on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy Fieri knows a thing or two about what makes a sandwich spectacular.The co-host of Food...

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very...

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Nude woman hits nude fiance with car, CHP says

Authorities are investigating after a woman in San Bernardino County allegedly struck her fiance with a car. The California Highway Patrol said both were naked at the time of the Thursday incident.CHP officials told KTLA News that the couple were in the parked car on Phelan Road in Phelan when Alberto Giovanni Bravo got out and walked in front of the vehicle. For reasons that are not clear,...

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Dolours Price, Defiant I.R.A. Bomber, Dies at 61

Press Association, via Associated PressDolours Price, left, and her younger sister, Marian, in 1972. Dolours Price, an unrepentant former member of the Irish Republican Army who went to prison for a 1973 London bombing and who recently shook Northern Ireland’s fragile calm by claiming that her orders had come from Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein party leader and peace negotiator who denies having ever...

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BlackRock to buy $80 million Twitter stake: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, has taken an $ 80 million stake in Twitter Inc, a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday.The six-year old social media company will not raise new capital as part of the private deal that values the firm at more than $ 9 billion. BlackRock will buy shares directly from early Twitter employees seeking to liquidate...

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Liberty Ross Files for Divorce from Rupert Sanders

By Dahvi Shira 01/25/2013 at 08:20 PM EST Liberty Ross Michael Buckner/Wireimage It's over for Rupert Sanders and Liberty Ross.The Snow White and the Huntsman actress, 34, filed for divorce Friday from her director-husband Sanders, 41, in Los Angeles County Superior...

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very...

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St. John's in court fight over failed nurse recruitment effort

Short of hospital nurses in recent years, St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica hired a recruiter in England and flew one...

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St. Gallen Journal: Swiss City Fears for Cultural Legacy in Wake of a Bank’s Fall

Daniel Auf der Mauer for The New York TimesBach concerts sponsored by the bank Wegelin were sometimes held at the St. Laurentius church in St. Gallen. ST. GALLEN, Switzerland — Given the modest size of its offices, a trim neo-Classical building off the marketplace, it is easy to underestimate the imprint of the bank once called Wegelin on this compact Swiss city. It is not just that it was...

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Baby Born with Heart Outside Her Chest Goes Home from Hospital

By Dahvi Shira 01/24/2013 at 06:40 PM EST Ashley and Audrina Cardenas Three-month-old Audrina Cardenas is a survivor.The infant, delivered on Oct. 15 with a rare genetic deformity called "ectopia cordis," was born with part of her heart outside of her body. Following...

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Penalty could keep smokers out of health overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to experts who are just now teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation.The Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to its detractors — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies...

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'California did the impossible,' Brown says in State of the State

SACRAMENTO — Seeking to reclaim the state's identity as an innovator and engine of growth, Gov. Jerry Brown declared in a sweeping...

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The Making of Yair Lapid, Israel’s New Power Broker

Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto AgencyYair Lapid spoke to reporters in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, a day after his centrist party became the second-largest faction in Parliament. TEL AVIV — They pitched tents along Rothschild Boulevard and took to the streets in unprecedented numbers, hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the rising costs of gas, apartments, even cottage cheese. Back on...

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Women have caught up to men on lung cancer risk

Smoke like a man, die like a man.U.S. women who smoke today have a much greater risk of dying from lung cancer than they did decades ago, partly because they are starting younger and smoking more — that is, they are lighting up like men, new research shows.Women also have caught up with men in their risk of dying from smoking-related illnesses. Lung cancer risk leveled off in the 1980s for men but...

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As Bell corruption trial nears, city faces uncertain future

When Doug Willmore became Bell's city manager last June, one of his first questions was about the padded black chair behind...

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Exit Polls in Israel Suggest Netanyahu’s Showing Is Weaker Than Expected

Pool photo by Uriel SinaiPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel touched the Western Wall on Tuesday in Jerusalem. TEL AVIV — A weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged Wednesday from Israel’s national election likely to serve a third term, according to preliminary results and political analysts after voters on Tuesday gave a surprising second place to a new centrist party founded by...

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Google’s fourth quarter results shine after ad rate decline slows

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Revenue from Google Inc’s core Internet business outpaced many analysts’ expectations during the crucial holiday quarter and advertising rates fell less than in previous periods, pushing its shares up more than 4 percent.The world’s largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter – typically its strongest – and also benefited from...

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PEOPLE's Music Critic: Why We're Upset About Beyoncé's Lip-Synching Drama

By Chuck Arnold 01/22/2013 at 08:40 PM EST Did she lip-synch or didn't she?That's the question surrounding Beyoncé after reports surfaced that she didn't sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" live at yesterday's presidential inauguration. A spokesperson for the U.S. Marine Band, which backed the pop diva at the ceremony,...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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Years after bond's passage, no start on new Sierra Madre school

The summer before Kenna Castillo started sixth grade at Sierra Madre Middle School, education officials ordered demolition of...

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Euro Official, in New Role, Aims to Mend Rift Over Austerity

BRUSSELS — Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the newly elected president of the group of ministers overseeing the euro, said on Monday he wanted to heal the rift over austerity policies that had bred mistrust between southern and northern nations using the currency. Mr. Dijsselbloem, 46, the Dutch finance minister, also said he wanted to improve the stature of the group, and the image of the currency,...

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Sony to sell new Xperia tablet in Japan: Nikkei

(Reuters) – Sony Corp’s Sony Mobile Communications Inc said it will sell the new version of its Xperia tablet in Japan this spring, the Nikkei reported, citing Kyodo News.The Xperia Tablet Z, whose price has not been announced, has a 10.1-inch display, is 6.9 mm thin and weighs 495 grams, according to the company’s website.Rival Google Inc’s Nexus 10 tablet is 8.9 mm thick, while Apple Inc’s iPad...

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