Venezuela, Despite Myriad Problems, Seizes On a Hat

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/ReutersVice President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela wore a patriotic cap to a parade Monday in Caracas. CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela seems to lurch from one crisis to another. President Hugo Chávez has virtually disappeared since going to Cuba for cancer surgery more than eight weeks ago. Last month, 58 people were killed in a prison when inmates clashed with soldiers. Inflation...

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Anne Hathaway's Channeling Audrey Hepburn In Your Favorite Dress This Week

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/09/2013 at 12:00 PM ET Kevin Winter/GettyWe’ve always said that StyleWatch readers appreciate the power of the perfect little black dress. The two most loved star looks this week weren’t jaw-dropping...

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Stocks end higher for sixth straight week, tech leads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures. The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August. The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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European Union Leaders Agree to Slimmer Budget

BRUSSELS — As European Union leaders began their 14th hour of budget negotiations after a sleepless night, Valdis Dombrovskis, the prime minister of Latvia, took the floor early Friday to address what, for his Baltic nation of around just two million people, is a vital question: Why should a Latvian cow deserve less money than a French, Dutch and even Romanian one? In a system that requires...

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Olympian Amanda Beard Expecting Second Child

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/08/2013 at 04:48 PM ET Sacha Brown Amanda Beard is set to welcome a new addition to the pool.The seven-time Olympic medalist and her husband, photographer Sacha Brown, are expecting their second child in July, Beard confirms to PEOPLE exclusively.“We are so excited...

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Optimism about economy sends stocks to multiyear highs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high as stronger U.S. and international trade data lifted stocks on optimism about the economy. The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August. Data showed Chinese exports grew more than expected, while another report...

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Health officials: Worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again last week, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, spiking first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia...

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IHT Rendezvous: Baron Von Fancy Goes to Paris

PARIS—Baron Von Fancy’s name may belong in an 18th-century German royal court, but he is very much a 20th-century child. He’s a multimedia artist who lives in New York and surfs on the vintage-is-cool wave, using social media as his manager, agent and public relations firm.His latest exhibition, “A Thing Called Love,” opened on Monday at the Paris Colette shop, a European mecca of all things fashionable,...

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Prison Inmates Save Three Boys from Drowning

By Janine Rayford 02/07/2013 at 04:45 PM EST Nelson Pettis, Larry Bohn and Jon Fowler KPTV When three inmates were assigned to clean up a park near their Yacolt, Wash. minimum security corrections facility, they had no idea how important that day's community service...

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.Blacks were five times more likely than whites...

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Wall Street ends lower on renewed euro zone fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks declined on Thursday, taking a step back from their recent advance, prompted by comments by the ECB president on the euro and Europe's outlook. The euro currency dropped against the safe-haven dollar and yen, spurring a retreat from risky assets such as stocks, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the exchange rate was important to growth...

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IHT Special: Syria's Kurds Try to Balance Security and Alliances

ERBIL, IRAQ — Syria’s Kurds have mostly escaped prolonged bouts of direct conflict in the country’s civil war, but with rebel units pushing east toward the resource-rich Kurdish heartland, Kurdish militias proliferating and calls for greater autonomy growing, this may not remain the case. Last summer, the Democratic Union Party, known by its Kurdish-language acronym P.Y.D., seized control...

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Miley Cyrus: Why I'll 'Never' Have Long Hair Again

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/06/2013 at 03:45 PM ET Getty; WireImage (2)Hope you weren’t too attached to Miley Cyrus‘s long hair, because she has a message for you: “I could never see myself having long, long hair again.”“I’m feeling...

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Wall Street ends flat as investors pull back

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks ended mostly flat on Wednesday, taking another pause in the recent rally that has driven the S&P 500 to five-year highs, as transportation and technology shares lost ground. Transportation stocks were among the worst performers. Shares of CH Robinson Worldwide fell 9.7 percent to $60.50 and the stock was the biggest percentage loser on the Nasdaq 100 after...

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The Lede Blog: North Korean Propaganda Video Uses 'Call of Duty' and 'We Are the World' to Imagine a Brighter World, Without Manhattan

Last Updated, 3:52 p.m. When aliens strike, the climate goes berserk, the Russians invade, an asteroid threatens the Earth, New York City is often the first place to be destroyed. Hollywood has long used the city’s skyline to demonstrate what destruction looks like in action movies and video games. It seems as if North Korea, in seeking to show how an assault on America would play out, also has Manhattan...

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Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway & More Share Oscar Dress Hints

By Alex Apatoff 02/05/2013 at 04:30 PM EST Clockwise from top left: Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Amy Adams Splash News Online; PR Photos; Getty; WireImage The countdown to the Academy Awards has officially begun, and so has the buzz around what the nominees will be...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until...

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Wall Street bounces back after sell-off; results a boost

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks climbed on Tuesday, recovering a day after the market's biggest sell-off since November, as stronger-than-expected earnings brightened the profit picture. Dell Inc's stock rose after the world's No. 3 computer maker agreed to be taken private in a $24.4 billion deal, the largest leveraged buyout since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The stock gained 1.1 percent...

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The Lede Blog: Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Girl Shot by Taliban Militants, Speaks in New Videos

Last Updated, 4:54 p.m. Speaking on camera for the first time since she survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban last year, the young activist Malala Yousafzai began with the words, “Today you can see that I’m alive.” The 15-year-old, who was shot in the head as she left school in Pakistan’s Swat Valley four months ago, promised that she would continue to be an outspoken advocate...

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Second-generation iPad mini could pack a display with 324 pixels per inch

Apple (AAPL) may be about to make up for delivering a disappointingly low resolution for its first-generation iPad mini display. BrightWire reports that supply chain sources have told Chinese website My Drivers that the next-generation iPad mini will indeed feature a 7.9-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, or 324 pixels per inch. For comparison, consider...

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Spice Girl Emma Bunton Searches for Dog Lost on Daily Walk

People Pets By Amy Jamieson 02/04/2013 at 04:30 PM EST Emma Bunton's dog is missing – and she needs more than just Girl Power to get her back."My gorgeous brown Labrador went missing on daily walk," the Spice Girl Tweeted on Monday. "She will be so scared please look out around East Barnet, Hadley Wood, Trent...

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S&P 500 posts worst day since November; McGraw-Hill shares sink

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slid on Monday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since November, as renewed worries about the euro zone crisis caused the market to pull back from recent gains. Shares of McGraw-Hill shed 13.8 percent to $50.30, their worst daily percentage decline since the October 1987 market crash, after news the U.S. Justice Department plans to sue Standard & Poor's,...

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Kirkuk Suicide Bomber Kills Dozesn

BAGHDAD — A suicide car bomber attacked a provincial police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday morning, the police and the city’s civil defense director said, killing at least 36 people and wounding 105. Three other suicide attackers who tried to enter the police headquarters after the blast were killed by the police. Security forces cordoned off the site and closed...

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BlackBerry searching high and low in India, Indonesia

NEW DELHI/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Research in Motion Ltd must chart a tough course in its two key emerging markets of India and Indonesia: quickly launch cheaper handsets to woo lower-end subscribers while restoring its tattered brand among the countries’ status-conscious.The company, which is rebranding itself BlackBerry after its best-known smartphone, has won millions of followers in these two Asian...

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Harry Styles Celebrates 19th Birthday with a Stripper

By Alison Schwartz 02/03/2013 at 04:35 PM EST Harry Styles Weir Photos/Splash News Online It was just more than a month ago that Harry Styles was helping then-girlfriend Taylor Swift celebrate her birthday with a quiet trip to rural northern England.But now that...

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New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out...

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