Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: "Cliff" worries may drive tax selling

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the "fiscal cliff" - and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 - may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by December 31. The $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the beginning of next year includes higher rates for capital...

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Google launches Snapseed photo editor on Android, makes iOS version free

After acquiring the makers of Snapseed in September, Google (GOOG) on Thursday released the popular photo application for Android smartphones and tablets. Google also updated the iOS version of the app to add Google+ integration and some new filters, and it cut the price of the original app from $ 4.99 to free. Snapseed is a simple yet powerful photo editor from Nik Software that allows users to enhance...

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Weekend Holiday Movie Guide: Watch This, Not That

By PEOPLE Movie Critic Alynda Wheat 12/08/2012 at 02:15 PM EST Daniel Day-Lewis and Bill Murray Twentieth Century FOX; Nicola Dove/Focus Features The hectic holidays are almost upon us, which means it's the perfect time of year to head to the movies – provided...

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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...

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Solid jobs data spurs little buying, Apple falls again

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eked out only a slight gain on Friday as weak consumer sentiment data offset enthusiasm from a better-than-expected jobs report, while the Nasdaq slipped after some investors resumed a sell-off of Apple shares. Wall Street opened higher after the U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payrolls added 146,000 jobs in November. However, the gains faded,...

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‘Post-PC’ is more than just marketing buzz for Apple CEO Tim Cook

Apple (AAPL) is no stranger to ditching technologies when it deems them to no longer be useful. The company dropped the floppy disk for a CD-ROM drive on the first iMac and most recently has shifted to building MacBooks and iMacs without any physical disc drives. In his first televised interview on NBC’s Rockcenter with Brian Williams, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that he has “ditched physical...

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Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen to Headline 12-12-12 Sandy Relief Concert

By Andrea Billups 12/07/2012 at 02:20 PM EST Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen INF; Mark J.Terrill/AP A benefit concert to help the victims of Superstorm Sandy will showcase both hometown talent, such as Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen, and stars from abroad, including...

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans...

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Wall Street flat, Apple helps techs to rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks drifted near the unchanged mark on Thursday as investors postponed big bets before the November employment report on Friday, but technology stocks rose on gains in Apple and Broadcom. Monthly payroll numbers, to be released by the Labor Department, are expected to show a sharp slowdown in jobs growth because of superstorm Sandy. Broadcom boosted...

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Wider Chaos Feared as Syrian Rebels and Kurds Clash

Lynsey Addario for The New York TimesSyrian Kurds in Ras al-Ain are seeking refuge across the border in Ceylanpinar, Turkey. CEYLANPINAR, Turkey — In plain view of the patrons at an outdoor cafe here in this border town, the convoy of gun trucks waving the flag of the Syrian rebels whizzed through the Syrian village of Ras al-Ain. They had not come to fight their primary enemy, the soldiers of Bashar...

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Apple and Samsung return to court to battle over $1 billion verdict

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Meet PEOPLE's 2012 Heroes of the Year

Heroes Among Us By Kristen Mascia 12/06/2012 at 02:25 PM EST They stepped up to help people in need, often putting themselves in harm's way.One thing PEOPLE's incredible 2012 Heroes of the Year award winners all have in common: selflessness and compassion. This week, PEOPLE profiles individuals whose extraordinary...

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Longer tamoxifen use cuts breast cancer deaths

Breast cancer patients taking the drug tamoxifen can cut their chances of having the disease come back or kill them if they stay on the pills for 10 years instead of five years as doctors recommend now, a major study finds.The results could change treatment, especially for younger women. The findings are a surprise because earlier research suggested that taking the hormone-blocking drug for longer...

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Dow, S&P rebound on banks, but Nasdaq sours with Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks mostly rose on Wednesday, boosted by a rally in bank shares, though a steep drop in Apple limited the advance and kept the Nasdaq in negative territory. Trading was volatile, with the S&P 500 dropping into negative territory at one point and the Nasdaq falling more than 1 percent before rebounding. The Dow, which doesn't contain Apple Inc as a component,...

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Cheering U.N. Palestine Vote, New York Synagogue Tests Its Members

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, a large synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is known for its charismatic rabbis, its energetic and highly musical worship, and its liberal stances on social causes. But on Friday, when its rabbis and lay leaders sent out an e-mail enthusiastically supporting the vote by the United Nations to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state, the statement...

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Facebook’s Instagram cuts support for key Twitter integration

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s recently acquired photo-sharing service, Instagram, removed a key element of its integration with Twitter, signaling a deepening rift between two of the Web’s dominant social media companies.Instagram’s Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said Wednesday his company turned off support for Twitter “cards” in order to drive Twitter users to Instagram’s own website....

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All About Bachelorette Ashley & J.P. Rosenbaum’s Wedding Rings!

Stylewatch Style News Now 12/05/2012 at 09:00 AM ET Courtesy Neil Lane (4); Victor Chavez/GettyNeil Lane wants to make one thing clear about newlyweds Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum: “Seriously, J.P. and Ashley are so in love,”...

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CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one.Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly."It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell,"...

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Wall Street flat on lack of "fiscal cliff" progress

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fluctuated between small gains and losses on Tuesday after remarks by President Barack Obama on budget talks dented optimism a solution could be found to prevent the economy from falling into recession. Obama rejected a Republican proposal to resolve a looming fiscal crisis as "still out of balance" and said any deal must include a rise in income tax rates...

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U.S. Navy Denies Iranian Claim to Have Captured Drone

TEHRAN — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps naval forces have captured an American drone that it said entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf, state television reported on Tuesday. The claim was quickly denied by the United States Navy. Iranian state media said the aircraft was a ScanEagle built by Boeing, which, according to the company’s Web site, can be launched and operated from...

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China goes crazy for iPhone 5: Preorders hit 100,000 units in under 24 hours

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Anderson Cooper Is Temporarily Blinded

TV Watch By Julia Haskins 12/04/2012 at 02:30 PM EST Anderson Cooper can see once again after a temporary – and painful – bout of blindness.Cooper posted a picture of himself on Instagram Tuesday sporting a white gauze patch over his right eye. "Temporarily blinded last week while on assignment," he said. "UV...

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Fossil fuel subsidies in focus at climate talks

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Hassan al-Kubaisi considers it a gift from above that drivers in oil- and gas-rich Qatar only have to pay $1 per gallon at the pump."Thank God that our country is an oil producer and the price of gasoline is one of the lowest," al-Kubaisi said, filling up his Toyota Land Cruiser at a gas station in Doha. "God has given us a blessing."To those looking for a global response to climate...

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Wall Street slips after weak factory data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq erasing early gains as disappointing U.S. factory numbers curbed optimism spurred by positive data on China's economy. Manufacturing in the United States surprisingly contracted in November, according to the Institute for Supply Management, dropping to its lowest level in more than three years. Economic data has...

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