NRA, video game makers to meet with Biden gun task force this week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, is slated to meet with Vice President Joe Biden as he considers recommendations on how to respond to a mass shooting last month in Newtown, Connecticut, the White House said on Tuesday.After the Newtown school shooting, which President Barack Obama called the worst day of his presidency, he asked Biden to come up with a...

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Activistss Convicted in Vietnam Crackdown on Dissent

BANGKOK — A Vietnamese court on Wednesday convicted 14 democracy activists of plotting to overthrow the government and sentenced them to jail terms ranging from 3 to 13 years in what human rights groups said was the largest subversion case brought in Vietnam in years. The defendants are bloggers, writers and political and social activists who have been accused of links to a banned United...

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Brrr! Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds Bundle Up for N.Y.C. Date Night

Caught in the Act 01/09/2013 at 06:00 AM EST Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively Splash News Online Baby, it's cold outside!Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds bundled up for dinner out at New York's Nobu 57 on Monday evening. The couple – who live just outside the city...

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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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Global shares buoyed by Alcoa earnings, dollar gains on yen

LONDON (Reuters) - World shares staged a modest recovery from two days of losses on Wednesday after aluminum giant Alcoa opened the U.S. earnings season with an optimistic outlook for world demand. However, with European and British central banks due to hold policy meetings on Thursday, the same day Spain will test demand for its debt and China releases its latest trade data, investors...

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Galaxy phones power Samsung to record $8.3 billion profit

SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics, the world leader in mobiles and memory chips, said it likely earned a quarterly profit of $ 8.3 billion, as it sold close to 500 handsets a minute and as demand picked up for the flat screens it makes for mobile devices, including those for rival Apple Inc products.That run of five straight record quarters may end in January-March on weaker seasonal demand, though...

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Chemical Weapons Showdown With Syria Led to Rare Accord

Muzaffar Salman/ReutersThe violence in Syria continued on Monday. Above, Syrians went to the aid of a man who was wounded when a missile hit the al-Mashhad district of Aleppo. WASHINGTON — In the last days of November, Israel’s top military commanders called the Pentagon to discuss troubling intelligence that was showing up on satellite imagery: Syrian troops appeared to be mixing chemicals at two...

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Justin Bartha Is Dating Trainer Lia Smith

01/07/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Lia and Justin in Hawaii New Years Day Pacific Coast News Justin Bartha's "mystery woman" is in fact his girlfriend, trainer Lia Smith, a source reveals to PEOPLE. The pair recently enjoyed a cozy trip to Smith's native Hawaii and...

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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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Stock index futures signal lower Wall Street open

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower Wall Street open on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.1 to 0.3 percent. Alcoa and Monsanto are two of the first large companies to report quarterly results as the earnings season begins. Wall Street expects both the companies to show improved profit from a year ago....

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