Cease-Fire Deal Elusive in Gaza Conflict as U.S. Widens Its Role

JERUSALEM — To a backdrop of air strikes and mounting casualties, American efforts to negotiate a cease-fire in the latest Gaza fighting between Israel and Hamas continued onWednesday but the struggle to achieve even a brief pause in the fighting emphasized the obstacles to finding any lasting solution. Israeli airstrikes overnight continued into Wednesday morning, hitting government buildings,...

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The Voice: Top Eight Contestants Revealed

TV Watch By Julia Haskins 11/20/2012 at 10:05 PM EST From left: Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and host Carson Daly Mark Seliger/NBC Following what Blake Shelton called the "best episode of The Voice we've ever had", spirited group...

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OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription...

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Global shares, euro fall as Greek deal proves elusive

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro fell on Wednesday after Greece's international lenders failed to reached an agreement needed to provide it with emergency aid, though some of the losses were recouped on talk that a deal was close. Euro zone finance ministers, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank will gather again on Monday after nearly 12 hours...

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So What if Oprah Used an iPad to Tweet About Microsoft Surface?

Oprah Winfrey recently gave Microsoft‘s Surface her seal of approval when the gadget made her annual “Favorite Things” list. Oprah has been using Twitter and hashtag #FavoriteThings to endorse the Surface.On Monday, however, criticism began bubbling up on blogs and social sites because it appears Oprah is typing her tweets on Apple‘s iPad (see screenshot...

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Clinton to Visit Israel in Effort to Defuse Gaza Conflict

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — President Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday to try to defuse the conflict in Gaza, the White House announced. Jason Reed/ReutersSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Obama in Phnom Penh on Monday. Mrs. Clinton, who accompanied Mr. Obama on his three-country Asia trip,...

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Dancing with the Stars: Couples Perform Crazy Combinations in Semi-Finals

TV Watch Dancing With the Stars By Aaron Parsley 11/19/2012 at 11:05 PM EST Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough Craig Sjodin/ABC It's the semi-finals!The remaining five couples on Dancing with the Stars faced two rounds of competition on Monday. First, the pairs performed...

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make...

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Stock index futures signal lower start

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 down 0.2 percent, and Dow Jones contracts down 0.1 percent at 0905 GMT. Japan's Nikkei <.n225> ended a four-day winning run on Tuesday as investors took profits in exporters, which had rallied on hopes Japan's main opposition party would win next...

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Online gaming firms urge EU to open up markets

LONDON (Reuters) – Online gaming companies have accused Belgium and Greece of keeping them out of their markets illegally and urged European competition authorities to take action.A long-running dispute over licenses in Belgium made headlines last week when Belgian authorities questioned one of the co-chief executives of bwin.party, the world’s largest...

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