The Lede: Reeva Steenkamp, Steve Biko and the Quest for Justice in South Africa

LONDON – The title of the presiding judge 35 years ago was the same, chief magistrate of Pretoria, and the venue for the hearing, a converted synagogue, was not far from the modern courthouse seen on television screens around the world in recent days as Oscar Pistorius, the gold medal-winning Paralympic athlete, fought for bail in the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.The case that unfolded...

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It's a Girl for The Price Is Right's Rachel Reynolds

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/23/2013 at 04:00 PM ET On Feb. 13, the date was definitely right for Rachel Reynolds.The Price Is Right model and husband David Dellucci welcomed their first child, daughter Ruby Rey Dellucci, on Wednesday, Feb. 13 — the couple’s third wedding anniversary.Born...

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

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Digital billboard company issues $100-million threat against L.A.

An outdoor advertising company fighting to preserve dozens of digital billboards across Los Angeles warned this week that it...

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At War Blog: A Modern Medal Is Met with Modern Protest

It is only fitting that the announcement of a medal created for the digital age spawned its own Internet memes. As soon as Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced the creation of the new Distinguished Warfare medal — immediately dubbed the Drone Medal — images such as the one below began appearing on blog after blog; in tweet after retweet.The medal, Mr. Panetta explained, is intended to provide...

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Courtney Lopez: Gia Thinks Our Dog Is Having a Baby

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/22/2013 at 01:00 PM ET Denise Truscello/Wireimage Mario Lopez is a man of his word.Following a December wedding, the EXTRA host declared he and wife Courtney would get to work expanding their family immediately — and he wasn’t kidding.In January, the couple discovered...

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

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Councilman's preferred successor holds edge in Westside district

When Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl decided in October to retire and focus on battling cancer, he anointed Mike...

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Neighbors Kill Neighbors in Kenya as Election Tensions Stir Age-Old Grievances

MALINDI, Kenya — In a room by the stairs, Shukrani Malingi, a Pokomo farmer, writhed on a metal cot, the skin on his back burned off. Down the hall, at a safe distance, Rahema Hageyo, an Orma girl, stared blankly out of a window, a long scar above her thimble-like neck. She was nearly decapitated by a machete chop — and she is only 9 months old. Jonathan Kalan for The New York TimesOrma...

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Cressida 'Cress' Bonas: 5 Things About Prince Harry's New Squeeze

By Simon Perry 02/21/2013 at 07:50 PM EST Prince Harry and Cressida Bonas Bauer-Griffin; Splash News Online It's love on the slopes for Prince Harry – who has been spending some of his downtime since returning from Afghanistan rekindling his relationship with society gal Cressida Bonas.With...

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APNewsBreak: Govs to hear Oregon health care plan

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber will brief other state leaders this weekend on his plan to lower Medicaid costs, touting an overhaul that President Barack Obama highlighted in his State of the Union address for its potential to lower the deficit even as health care expenses climb.The Oregon Democrat leaves for Washington, D.C., on Friday to pitch his plan that changes the way doctors...

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Persistent strain of TB claims victims on L.A.'s skid row

Public health officials have launched a new, coordinated attack to contain a persistent outbreak of tuberculosis on downtown...

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Iceland Weighs Exporting the Power Bubbling From Below

Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York TimesThe Krafla plant is Iceland’s largest geothermal power station, a showcase of renewable energy. KRAFLA, Iceland — Soon after work began here on a power plant to harness some of the vast reserves of energy stored at the earth’s crust, the ground moved and, along a six-mile-long fissure, began belching red-hot lava. The eruptions continued for nine years, prompting...

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Oscar Preview: Les Mis, Chicago Casts to Sing & Dance

By Stephen M. Silverman 02/20/2013 at 07:00 PM EST From left: Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, in Les Misérables, and Catherine Zeta Jones, in Chicago Universal (2); Miramax Strike up the band, for Sunday night's Oscars promise to be very musical.In the most detailed preview yet of what is...

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Agency checks water after body found in hotel tank

LOS ANGELES (AP) — British tourist Michael Baugh and his wife said water had only dribbled out of the taps at the downtown Cecil Hotel for days.On Tuesday, after showering, brushing their teeth and drinking some of the tap water, they headed down to the lobby and found out why.The body of a Canadian woman had been discovered at the bottom of one of four cisterns on the roof of the historic hotel near...

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Lack of immigration reform threatens California farmers

SACRAMENTO — Except for illegal immigrants, no group has more at stake in the national fight over immigration reform than California farmers."It doesn't pay to plant a product if you can't harvest it," notes Mark Teixeira of Santa Maria, who says he had to let 22 acres of vegetables rot last year because he couldn't find enough field hands to gather...

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Afghans Arrest a Pakistani Taliban Leader

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghanistan authorities have captured a senior member of the Pakistan Taliban in a stretch of mountains near the frontier between the two countries, Afghan and Pakistani officials said on Tuesday. One Afghan official said the militant, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, had been arrested after American airstrikes, some carried out via drones, had flushed him out of a more remote haven....

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What's Next for Mindy McCready's Two Young Boys?

By Steve Helling 02/19/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Mindy McCready's apparent suicide on Sunday has left her two young sons in custodial limbo.The boys – Zander, 6, and Zayne, 10 months – had been in state custody since Feb. 7, when McCready called police to ask for help in making her father and stepmother leave her...

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Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines."The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed...

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Appeals court revives women inmates' bid for Wiccan chaplain

At the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, shown, inmates are contending in a lawsuit that California prison policy favors...

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Briefs | Middle East: Iran: Rivals Forced to Apologize to Supreme Leader

Rival politicians apologized to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the weekend for having been embroiled in an unusually public feud involving secret tapes and a tit-for-tat impeachment. On Sunday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; the Parliament speaker, Ali Larijani; his brother, Sadegh Larijani; the chief of Iran’s judiciary; and all members of Parliament sent letters expressing sorrow and promising renewed...

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Mindy McCready: Under Police Scrutiny at Time of Suicide?

By Steve Helling and Mike Fleeman 02/18/2013 at 06:00 PM EST Mindy McCready and David Wilson Courtesy Mindy McCready When Mindy McCready talked to police in recent weeks, her account of how her boyfriend came to be found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head...

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Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models...

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