U.N. Helicopters Strike Rebel Positions in Congo

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) — United Nations attack helicopters hit rebel positions in eastern Congo on Saturday after insurgents gained ground in heavy fighting, the United Nations said. The situation led the French Mission at the United Nations to call for an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Saturday afternoon. Alain Wandimoyi/European Pressphoto AgencyRefugees...

Read More..

Sarah Michelle Gellar Names Son Rocky

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 11/17/2012 at 07:00 PM ET Claire Greenway/Getty Update: The couple have named their son Rocky James Prinze, a source close to the family confirms to PEOPLE.Originally posted Sept. 24: Hello, little Prinze.Sarah Michelle Gellar ”had a baby boy last week...

Read More..

EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

Read More..

Wall Street Week Ahead: Going off "cliff" with a bungee cord

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The 1987 crash. The Y2K bug. The debt ceiling debacle of 2011. All these events, in the end, turned out to be buying opportunities for stocks. So will the "fiscal cliff," some investors say as they watch favorite stocks tumble during the political give-and-take happening in Washington. The first round of talks aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff" caused...

Read More..

Israel Sticks to Tough Approach in Conflict With Hamas

TEL AVIV — With rockets landing on the outskirts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Friday and the Egyptian prime minister making a solidarity visit to Gaza, the accelerating conflict between Israel and Hamas — reminiscent in many ways of so many previous battles — has the makings of a new kind of Israeli-Palestinian face-off. The combination of longer-range and far deadlier rockets in the hands...

Read More..

News Summary: UK court overturns Facebook demotion

PUNISHED: Britain‘s High Court ruled Friday that a man had been unfairly stripped of a management position and demoted for saying in a Facebook post that he was opposed to gay marriage.COURT RULING: The court said the Trafford Housing Trust breached Adrian Smith‘s contract and a judge added that Smith had not done anything wrong. Smith had written on Facebook...

Read More..

Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom Will Be Apart for Thanksgiving

TV Watch The X Factor By Andrea Billups 11/16/2012 at 10:35 PM EST Lamar Odom and Khloé Kardashian Denise Truscello/Wireimage As most Americans sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, he'll be on the court with the Los Angeles Clippers in New York and she'll be on the...

Read More..

EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

Read More..

Wall Street Week Ahead: Going off "cliff" with a bungee cord

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The 1987 crash. The Y2K bug. The debt ceiling debacle of 2011. All these events, in the end, turned out to be buying opportunities for stocks. So will the "fiscal cliff," some investors say as they watch favorite stocks tumble during the political give-and-take happening in Washington. The first round of talks aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff" caused...

Read More..

Havana Journal: Cuba Debates Carlos Acosta’s Dream Project

Jose Goitia for The New York TimesCarlos Acosta, a Cuban-born ballet star, wants to turn this abandoned dance school in Havana into an international dance center. HAVANA — It has the ring of a modern Cuban fairy tale: A handsome ballet star returns to his native land and discovers an abandoned dance school, which he vows to restore to life. Yet Carlos Acosta’s dream of founding a dance center...

Read More..

Cesar Millan Reveals: I Attempted Suicide

People Pets 11/15/2012 at 06:30 PM EST Cesar Millan with dog Daddy Meredith Jenks It seemed Cesar Millan had been on top of the world, but then it all came crashing down. In 2010, the trainer and television personality known as the Dog Whisperer was working with...

Read More..

Diabetes rates rocket in Oklahoma, South

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and the biggest jump over 15 years was in Oklahoma, according to a new federal report issued Thursday.The diabetes rate in Oklahoma more than tripled, and Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama also saw dramatic increases since 1995, the study showed.The South's growing weight problem is the main explanation, said Linda Geiss, lead author of the...

Read More..

Wall Street ends flat as wary investors stay defensive

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Thursday as the prospect of a drawn-out battle over impending tax and spending changes made investors wary of getting into the water, while retailer Wal-Mart tumbled after disappointing sales. The S&P 500 is down nearly 2 percent for the week, adding to last week's selloff and eroding more of the market's gains for the year. ...

Read More..

Changing of the Guard: Corruption in China Military Poses Test

Sim Chi Yin for The New York TimesHostesses posed outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday as the Communist Party Congress closed. BEIJING — An insider critique of corruption in China’s military, circulating just as new leadership is about to take over the armed forces, warns that graft and wide-scale abuses pose as much of a threat to the nation’s security as the United States....

Read More..

Hope Solo Weds Jerramy Stevens Amid Assault Allegations?

By Dahvi Shira 11/14/2012 at 06:35 PM EST Jerramy Stevens and Hope Solo NFL/Getty; Jeff Vinnick/Getty One day after former Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his fiancée, U.S. women's soccer team goalkeeper Hope...

Read More..

New gene triples risk for Alzheimer's disease

Scientists have identified a new gene variant that seems to strongly raise the risk for Alzheimer's disease, giving a fresh target for research into treatments for the mind-robbing disorder.The problem gene is not common — less than 1 percent of people are thought to have it — but it roughly triples the chances of developing Alzheimer's compared to people with the normal version of the gene. It also...

Read More..

Wall Street drops on deficit, Middle East concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slid on Wednesday with declines accelerating after President Barack Obama set up a drawn-out fight over the fiscal cliff when he stuck to his pledge to raise taxes on the wealthy, and as violence increased in the Middle East. Obama, in his first press conference since re-election, held to his position that marginal tax rates will have to rise to tackle the...

Read More..

France Declares Its Recognition of New Syria Rebel Group

Osman Orsal/ReutersThe Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, bordering Turkey, was bombed for a second day on Tuesday. PARIS — France announced Tuesday that it was recognizing the newly formed Syrian rebel coalition and would consider arming the group, seeking to inject momentum into a broad Western and Arab effort to build a viable and effective opposition that would hasten the end of a stalemated civil war...

Read More..

RIM to release new BlackBerrys soon after Jan. 30

TORONTO (AP) — Research In Motion Ltd. will release its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones “not too long” after a launch event on Jan. 30, a senior executive said Tuesday.Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear said the company is still fine-tuning the new phones. The new phones are seen as critical to RIM‘s survival...

Read More..

The Voice Sends Two Contestants Home

TV Watch The Voice By Julia Haskins 11/13/2012 at 10:20 PM EST Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera Christopher Polk/Getty It was a great night for Teams Cee Lo and Adam on The Voice Tuesday. And though not everyone got good news on elimination night, there were plenty...

Read More..

Report: FDA wanted to close Mass pharmacy in 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a decade ago, federal health inspectors wanted to shut down the pharmacy linked to a recent deadly meningitis outbreak until it cleaned up its operations, according to congressional investigators.About 440 people have been sickened by contaminated steroid shots distributed by New England Compounding Center, and more than 32 deaths have been reported since the outbreak began...

Read More..

Microsoft leads Wall Street lower, but retailers gain

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sold off late in the session on Tuesday, led by a slide in Microsoft shares, though retailers were a notable bright spot after Home Depot raised its outlook. Microsoft Corp was the most actively traded on Nasdaq, weighing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite after the surprising departure of a key executive. The stock fell 3.2 percent to $27.09. ...

Read More..