Plenty of Theories, and Enemies, in Killing of 3 Kurds in Paris

Joel Saget/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe brother of Sakine Cansiz (on poster), one of three Kurdish activists found shot on Thursday, said his family was convinced that it was a professional assassination. PARIS — With her signature long hennaed hair, fiery resolve and olive-green military fatigues, Sakine Cansiz was a feminist, guerrilla fighter and former political prisoner as adept at...

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December video game retail sales drop 22 percent

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. retail sales of video games and gaming systems fell 22 percent in December, capping a year of declining sales for the industry.Research firm NPD Group said Thursday that overall sales fell to $ 3.21 billion from $ 4.1 billion in December 2011. NPD estimates that sales of new game hardware, software and accessories account for about half of what consumers spend on gaming.Sales...

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Inside Story: Life Without Lauren Spierer

By Kristen Mascia and Jeff Truesdell 01/12/2013 at 06:30 PM EST Lauren Spierer Jeremy Hogan/Bloomington Herald-Times/Polaris It's the little things, say Robert and Charlene Spierer, that hurt the most. For Robert it's the flash of a blonde ponytail on a city street...

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Q&A: Scramble for vaccine as flu season heats up

WASHINGTON (AP) — Missed flu-shot day at the office last fall? And all those "get vaccinated" ads? A scramble for shots is under way as late-comers seek protection from a miserable flu strain already spreading through much of the country.Federal health officials said Friday that there is still some flu vaccine available and it's not too late to benefit from it. But people may have to call around to...

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Robbers at Nordstrom raped hostage, made women take off clothes, police say

This post has been updated.One female hostage held overnight at the Nordstrom Rack in Westchester was sexually assaulted and another was stabbed, Los Angeles police said Friday.The two were among 14 hostages held by two robbers at the clothing store. About a half hour into the ordeal, which began at 11 p.m. Thursday, the hostages were led into a bathroom, said sources familiar with the investigation.The...

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Sri Lankan Parliament Impeaches Chief Justice

NEW DELHI — Defying a court order, Sri Lanka’s Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to impeach the nation’s chief justice, a significant step in a worsening showdown between the legislature and the judiciary that has alarmed democracy advocates and many foreign governments. President Mahinda Rajapaksa must now decide whether he is willing to take the last step in the impeachment process...

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Canada natives block Harper’s office, threaten unrest

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Aboriginal protesters blocked the main entrance to a building where Canada’s prime minister was preparing to meet some native leaders on Friday, highlighting a deep divide within the country’s First Nations on how to push Ottawa to heed their demands.The noisy blockade, which lasted about an hour, ended just before Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his aides met with about 20 native...

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Nicole Kidman Would Love for Sunday to Be a Singer

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 01/11/2013 at 02:00 PM ET From the land down under to the deep south, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban‘s daughters have become the perfect blend of southern belle – complete with Aussie accents.With their native Australian parents settling in the south — the...

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Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says."If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes...

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Blacks share their painful stories of bias in Orange County

It was a reign of terror that reeked of rednecks and white hoods.Tires were slashed, rocks hurled through windows and acid pellets fired at the car of a black family, who finally fled their neighborhood in November after months of attacks and racial taunts.They were the sort of family you might like to have as neighbors: The husband and wife are...

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The Lede Blog: Winter Brings Misery to Syria Refugees

For Syrian refugees in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, winter has brought bitter new hardship and at least one death.More than 50,000 people are estimated to live in Zaatari camp, roughly one third of the nearly 150,000 Syrians who have sought refuge in Jordan from the 22-month long conflict gripping their country. As my colleagues have Rick Gladstone and Nick Cumming-Bruce reported, wind and rainy...

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A Tale of 2 Strategies: The Twitter Genius of Chuck Grassley and Cory Booker

If you’re on Twitter and not following Sen. Chuck Grassley, you’re not using Twitter correctly.The Iowa Republican is known for his colorful and personal Twitter feed. Take a gander: He personally tweets about everything from the History Channel to “Obamacare” to an incident in which he hit a deer with his car  (“assume dead”). Grassley’s tweets take us along for a ride, one that’s often...

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Diem Brown Blogs About Learning to Be Open to Therapy

In her PEOPLE.com blog, Diem Brown, the Real World/Road Rules Challenge contestant diagnosed with ovarian cancer for the second time, opens up about her desire for a child and the ups and downs of cancer and fertility procedures.I grew up an Army brat and lived in Germany from when I was six years old until I was about 10. During those years, my mom wanted to make sure we absorbed as much "culture"...

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Irvine City Council overhauls oversight, spending on Great Park

Capping a raucous eight-hour-plus meeting, the Irvine City Council early Wednesday voted to overhaul the oversight and spending...

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Venezuelan Court: Chávez Swearing-In Can Be Postponed

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's foreign minister is hosting a meeting with leaders from 19 Latin American and Caribbean nations. Nicolas Maduro plans to discuss issues related to Petrocaribe, a pact that has boosted the South American nation's influence in the region. Venezuela created Petrocaribe in 2005 to sell fuel to member countries at preferential terms and help finance...

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Go Ahead, Keep Being Mean to Celebrities on Twitter

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  RELATED: The Honey Boo Boo Nature Special; Everyone’s Favorite Sleepwalking MomWe usually don’t condone...

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Jillian Michaels: Why I Decided to Come Back to The Biggest Loser

Jillian Michaels is back with a vengeance! The personal trainer, 38, is eager for people to watch her return to reality TV on The Biggest Loser's 14th season on NBC, focusing her attention on the show's overweight youth. "There were a lot of reasons for why I decided to come back," Michaels told PEOPLE on Wednesday in Pasadena, Calif., during the Television Critics Association's winter tour,...

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Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in...

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Judge weeps at "Dating Game" serial killer's 'horrific acts'

California serial killer Rodney Alcala was sentenced to additional prison time in New York for the murders of two more women, a case that brought a veteran judge to tears during the hearing.Alcala, who is already on death row in California for the murders of four women and a girl, pleaded guilty in December to the 1971 murder of Cornelia Crilley and the 1977 murder of Ellen Hover, both in...

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Venezuelan Government: Hugo Chávez to Miss Scheduled Swearing-In

Ramon Espinosa/Associated PressVenezuelan embassy workers hold up a framed image of ailing President Hugo Chávez. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will miss Thursday's scheduled swearing-in ceremony for his third term due to health problems, the government said in a letter to Congress read out on Tuesday. Chavez has not been heard from since undergoing his fourth cancer...

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James Franco Does His Best Justin Bieber

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  RELATED: All We Want for Christmas Is Jimmy Fallon and Mariah Carey Singing to UsRemember when Justin...

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Real Housewives of O.C.'s Heather Dubrow Guest Stars on Hot in Cleveland

TV Watch Photo Exclusive By Dahvi Shira 01/08/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Heather Dubrow, Wendie Malick and Alan Dale Michael Yarish Heather Dubrow is heating up Hot in Cleveland!The Real Housewives of Orange County star makes a guest appearance on the Jan. 23 episode...

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer."There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer...

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Serial killer stalked, killed 3 young mothers at bars, LAPD says

Authorities on Monday announced the arrest of a 72-year-old man who they allege is a serial killer responsible for the slayings of at least three women in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Officials would not elaborate on the backgrounds of the victims but said all three had children.Los Angeles Police Department detectives allege that Samuel Little preyed on women in downtown and Central L.A.,...

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Official to Leave Panel Overseeing Delayed Berlin Airport

BERLIN — The seemingly endless series of delays and debacles entangling the new Berlin airport claimed its first political victim on Monday, after the project’s planned opening was pushed back yet again. The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, who helped build the city’s reputation as an affordable, bohemian metropolis, told reporters that he would quit as head of the board overseeing construction...

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