Manitoba Tories to oust youth president over social media comments

WINNIPEG – An official with Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party is being ousted over social media comments about aboriginals.Brayden Mazurkiewich, the president of the party’s youth wing, is being asked to resign over a post on his Facebook page today.The post concerns a planned urban reserve on a former Winnipeg military base, and says the land was designed for — quote — “hard-working men and...

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As Conn. story unfolds, media struggle with facts

NEW YORK (AP) — The scope and senselessness of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting challenged television journalists’ ability to do much more than lend, or impose, their presence on the scene.Pressed with the awful urgency of the story, TV, along with other media, fell prey to reporting “facts” that were often in conflict or wrong.How many people were killed? Which Lanza brother was the shooter: Adam...

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School murders silence “cliff” rhetoric as deadline nears

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mass murder in Connecticut silenced “fiscal cliff” talk on Saturday as the White House and Congress quietly got ready for a final scramble to avert the tax hikes and spending cuts set for the New Year, with sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives now scheduled just days before Christmas.President Barack Obama canceled a trip he had planned to make next Wednesday to Portland,...

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US prices fall on cheaper petrol

14 December 2012 Last updated at 10:02 ETUS consumers prices fell in November due to a sharp drop in petrol prices, according to official figures, as inflation in the economy remained weak.The consumer price index fell 0.3% from October, the first decline since May, the US Labor Department said.The gasoline index fell 7.4% in November, which more than offset gains in prices elsewhere.Stripping out...

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Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 might not launch until 2014

Nintendo (NTDOY) says its kickstarted the next generation of video game consoles with the Wii U. But considering its graphics and processing power are comparable to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3, hardcore gamers are holding out for the next Xbox, tentatively dubbed “Xbox 720,” and next-generation PlayStation, tentatively called...

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“X Factor” judge L.A. Reid quitting TV talent show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – L.A. Reid, “The X Factor” judge, says he is leaving the TV talent show next season after two years on the panel.Reid, 56, chairman and chief executive of Epic Records, told “Access Hollywood,” the television program and website, he has decided to leave the Fox reality singing show to return to the record label full time.“I have decided that I will not return to ‘The X Factor’...

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U.S. to finalize stricter soot standards on Friday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration will finalize stronger limits on harmful soot pollution from power plants and diesel engines on Friday, two health groups said.The new standards, which the Environmental Protection Agency was under court order to finalize, will limit annual average soot emissions to about 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air from the standard of 15 micrograms set in...

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Fiat CEO: plan to buy Chrysler shares

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Italian carmaker Fiat SpA fully intends to acquire the 41.5 percent of Chrysler Group shares that it does not now own, but wrangling over the price could continue for a while, Fiat-Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne said on Friday.Fiat is in arbitration proceedings with the owner of the shares, a United Auto Workers trust fund that pays medical benefits to retired workers. The trust...

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Selling flak jackets in the cyberwars

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When the Israeli army and Hamas trade virtual blows in cyberspace, or when hacker groups like Anonymous rise from the digital ether, or when WikiLeaks dumps a trove of classified documents, some see a lawless Internet.But Matthew Prince, chief executive at CloudFlare, a little-known Internet start-up that serves some of the Web’s most controversial characters, sees a business...

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“Lincoln” leads Golden Globe movie nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Lincoln,” the tale of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s battle to end slavery, ruled at the Golden Globe nominations on Thursday, while a very different movie take on slavery – “Django Unchained” – got a big boost in Hollywood’s crowded awards season.Steven Spielberg’s portrayal of one of America’s most revered presidents won a leading seven nominations, including best drama,...

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In challenge to personalized cancer care, DNA isn’t all-powerful

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The cancer cells were not behaving the way the textbooks say they should. Some of the cells in colonies that were started with colorectal tumor cells were propagating like mad; others were hardly multiplying. Some were dropping dead from chemotherapy and others were no more slowed by the drug than is a tsunami by a tissue. Yet the cells in each “clone” all had identical genomes,...

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Aides: Chavez in tough fight, may miss swearing-in

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Somber confidants of President Hugo Chavez say he is going through a difficult recovery after cancer surgery in Cuba, and one close ally is warning Venezuelans that their leader may not make it back for his swearing-in next month.Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Wednesday night that Chavez was in “stable condition” and was with close relatives in Havana. Reading...

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Most Googled in 2012: Whitney, PSY, Sandy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world’s attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, millions of people searched the Web to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.Whitney Houston was the “top trending” search of the year, according to Google Inc.’s year-end “zeitgeist” report. Google‘s 12th annual roundup is “an in-depth look at the...

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Why Netflix’s future is in “House of Cards,” “Arrested Development” – not Disney

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Netflix hailed as a “game-changer” its landmark deal last week to bring Disney movies to the streaming service. But while that deal may be significant, it pales in importance next to another looming development – the February debut of its original series “House of Cards.”The economic benefits of the Disney deal, which gives the company streaming rights to much...

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“Dancing with the Stars” Brooke Burke says she is cancer free

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Brooke Burke said on Wednesday that medical tests indicate she is free of thyroid cancer.“I just got the results back from all of my tests and great news – the thyroid cancer has been removed from my body and all my lymph nodes are clear,” Burke, 41, said in her blog on the website Modernmom.com.“So I’m hoping that this is the end of the story....

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Fed sends clearer signal on keeping rates low

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve sent its clearest signal to date Wednesday that it will keep interest rates super-low to boost the U.S. economy even after the job market has improved significantly.The Fed says it plans to keep its key short-term rate near zero at least until the unemployment rate drops below 6.5 percent — as long as expected inflation remains no more than 2.5 percent. Unemployment...

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North Korea’s new leader burnishes credentials with rocket

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to its opponents.The rocket, which North Korea says put a weather satellite into orbit, has been labeled by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a test of technology that could one day deliver a nuclear...

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Web host Go Daddy appoints former Yahoo executive as CEO

(Reuters) – Go Daddy, one of the world’s biggest Internet hosting firms, appointed Yahoo Inc‘s former Chief Product Officer Blake Irving as chief executive.He will take over from interim CEO Scott Wagner on January 7. Irving left Yahoo, where he headed a centralized products group that straddled several client types, on April 27.“Blake Irving’s deep technology experience and his history of developing...

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FX orders “Tyrant” from “Homeland” producers

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – FX has ordered the Middle Eastern drama pilot “Tyrant” from “Homeland” producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff, as well as “Six Feet Under” and “Lost” producer Craig Wright.The pilot follows an American family drawn into the troubles of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. The series, written and created by Raff, was developed by Gordon and Wright. The pilot comes from Gordon’s...

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Flu Web Searches Predict Disease Outbreaks

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Petrol strike threatens to cause chaos and hit economy in Italy

ROME (Reuters) – Italian petrol stations began a 60-hour strike late on Tuesday to protest against rising costs and falling profits, causing long queues as drivers rushed to fill up before pumps closed.Hitting at the peak shopping period before Christmas, the strike comes at unwelcome time for retailers. Weak consumer spending has been a key factor in Italy‘s sluggish economy, which has been dipping...

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China party chief stresses reform, censors relax grasp on internet

BEIJING (Reuters) – China must deepen reforms to perfect its market economy and strengthen rule of law, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said in southern Guangdong, echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping in the same province 20 years ago.Xi’s call for reform was reported on Monday, coinciding with an apparent easing of Internet search restrictions that the party has...

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Seeing Through the Fog of ‘Chemo-Brain’

Two weeks ago, Diem Brown, contestant of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge, shared on her PEOPLE.com blog her frustration with her chemo-brain, after having received chemotherapy over the Thanksgiving holiday for recently diagnosed ovarian cancer.She writes, “Stressed out, overwhelmed and soooo annoyed that your mind isn’t working as it should. This, my friends, is an example of chemo brain!”Unfortunately,...

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