Dec
28

Russian Acquittal Escalates Human Rights Feud With U.S.

MOSCOW — A judge issued an acquittal on Friday of the only official to have gone to trial in Russia in the case of Sergei L. Magnitsky, a lawyer whose death in prison three years ago inspired the United States Congress to pass a law addressing human rights abuses in Russia. The official, Dr. Dmitry Kratov, the former head of the medical service at Butyrka Prison, where Mr. Magnitsky had been...
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The Boy Genius Report: The Wii U is the Nintendo’s last console

I remember it still — people flipped out about the Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii. Yes, its name was mocked for a while, but there was genuine excitement around what Nintendo was doing with motion and the entire gameplay experience. While the original Nintendo Wii was almost an Apple (AAPL)-like product — Nintendo focused on the gameplay and not on specs; the company didn’t even have HD graphics when every...
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Shark Tank Bursts in Mall in China, Caught on Video

People Pets 12/28/2012 at 01:55 PM EST A 33-ton tank housing sharks, turtles and fish shattered in a Shanghai shopping mall, sending a torrent of water that injured more than a dozen shoppers and employees in a dramatic moment caught on video. The tank burst Dec. 19 at the Orient Shopping Center, hurtling huge...
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Dec
27

Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...
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Wall Street falls for fourth day over "fiscal" fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell for a fourth day in a row on Thursday and a measure of investor anxiety hit its highest in five months after the top Senate Democrat warned a deal to avoid fiscal austerity measures may not be reached by the December 31 deadline. The comments by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just days before the hefty tax hikes and spending cuts go into effect pushed...
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IHT Rendezvous: Monitoring Mandela, and With Him the Soul of a Nation

PLETTENBERG BAY, South Africa – After almost three weeks of treatment for a recurrent lung infection, Nelson Mandela, the 94-year-old icon of South Africa’s triumph over apartheid, was discharged from hospital late Wednesday. But a terse statement from his physicians saying he would not return immediately to his remote, rural home at Qunu in the Eastern Cape region raised fresh questions that his...
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Apple CEO’s pay takes big hit vs. record 2011 package

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook’s 2012 compensation package of just over $ 4 million is a huge cut on paper for the top executive of the most valuable U.S. corporation, after a 2011 package fattened by more than $ 376 million in long-term stock awards.Cook received the largest single pay package awarded to a company CEO in about a decade when he replaced Apple‘s legendary co-founder, Steve...
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What Did Neve Campbell Name Her Son?

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 12/27/2012 at 02:00 PM ET Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagicNeve Campbell is no stranger in the sea of unusual names.So when it came to her now 5-month-old son, the actress, wanting him to follow in her footsteps, skipped the mundane monikers.“We looked through a lot of books...
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Dec
26

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...
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Retailers lead Wall Street lower, "cliff" still a concern

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Wednesday, dragged lower by retail stocks after a report showed consumers were less enthusiastic about the holiday shopping season than last year. Many investors said concerns about the "fiscal cliff" kept shoppers away from stores, suggesting markets may struggle to make any ground until next year. Holiday-related sales rose 0.7 percent...
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