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...

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It's a Girl for Chad Lowe

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 11/17/2012 at 12:20 AM ET Chelsea Lauren/WireImage It’s a girl for Chad Lowe.The Pretty Little Liars star and wife Kim welcomed their second daughter on Thursday, Nov. 15, the actor announced via Twitter.“It’s a girl!!! And she’s as beautiful as her mommy and [3½-year-old]...

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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...

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GOP strategist launches super PAC in L.A. mayor's race

Looking to dramatically tip the scales in the race for Los Angeles' next mayor, a nationally prominent Republican media strategist...

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Israel Prepares Possible Ground Offensive in Gaza

Ronen Zvulun/ReutersIsraeli soldiers near the border with Gaza on Friday. JERUSALEM — After a morning of heavy rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the Israeli military seemed to be edging closer to a ground invasion of Gaza on Friday, saying forces were “on standby” and “ready to enter should it be decided that a ground operation is necessary.” In a statement, the Israeli military said paratrooper...

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Matthew McConaughey Is Dreaming of the Perfect Cheeseburger

By Andrea Billups 11/16/2012 at 09:40 AM EST Matthew McConaughey has dieted himself down to skin and bones for an upcoming movie, but when the five-week shoot is over, he's gunning for one thing: a po boy sandwich.But if that can't be found, McConaughey, 43, says that he'll settle on a perfect cheeseburger,...

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Migration officials say cholera in Haiti on rise

GENEVA (AP) — The world's largest agency that deals with global migration says cholera is again on the rise in Haiti.The International Organization for Migration says Haitian officials have confirmed 3,593 cholera cases and another 837 suspected cases since Hurricane Sandy's passage.IOM spokesman Jumbe Omari Jumbe told reporters Friday in Geneva "the numbers are going up" particularly in camps around...

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Counselor forced girl, 15, into prostitution, DA says

A San Bernardino family counselor responsible for providing services to children and families also coerced a 15-year-old girl into prostitution and sold sexual services on the Internet, the San Bernardino County district attorney's office said Thursday.Daron Lamar Whitworth, 42, worked for EMQ FamiliesFirst, a nonprofit that provides social services, mental-health and foster care for young...

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Attacks Resume After Israeli Assault Kills Hamas Leader

KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel — Israel and Hamas widened their increasingly deadly conflict over Gaza on Thursday, as a militant rocket killed three civilians in an apartment block in this small southern town. The deaths are likely to lead Israel to intensify its military offensive on Gaza, now in its second day of airstrikes. In Gaza, the Palestinian death toll rose to 11 as Israel struck what...

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Guy Fieri Defends Restaurant After New York Times Attack

By Stephen M. Silverman 11/15/2012 at 08:15 AM EST After being fricasseed by The New York Times in a blistering restaurant review that a chef wouldn't wish upon his worst enemy, Guy Fieri says he's not canceling his subscription to the paper.But the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host – the 10th...

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Booze calories nearly equal soda's for US adults

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found.Soda and other sweetened drinks — the focus of obesity-fighting public health campaigns — are the source of about 6 percent of the calories adults consume, on average. Alcoholic beverages account for about...

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California backs a 'fiscal cliff' compromise — sort of, poll says

As America careens toward the year-end "fiscal cliff" with Democrats pressing for tax hikes and Republicans demanding budget...

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Ordering More Airstrikes, Syria Calls French Recognition of Rebels ‘Immoral’

Javier Manzano/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSmoke billowed from burning tires as a Syria rebel fired towards regime forces during clashes in the Al-Amariya district of Aleppo in Syria on Tuesday. PARIS — Syrian authorities ordered airstrikes for a third consecutive day close to the tense Turkish border on Wednesday, and said a French decision to recognize and consider arming a newly formed Syrian...

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James Van Der Beek Exposes What It's Like to Ride a Horse Bottomless

By Andrea Billups 11/14/2012 at 09:50 AM EST The horse didn't seem to mind, but for the actor, climbing aboard and posing naked was a bit awkward."I’m not going to lie. I’ve never ridden bareback on a horse, let alone without pants, so that was new," James Van Der Beek – referring to Tuesday's special Sexiest Man Alive episode of his ABC...

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Ireland probes death of ill abortion-seeker

DUBLIN (AP) — The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed a miscarrying woman suffering from blood poisoning was refused a quick termination of her pregnancy and died in an Irish hospital.Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he was awaiting findings from three investigations into the death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian living in Galway since 2008 who...

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2 LAPD officers guilty of perjury in drug case

Two Los Angeles Police Department officers lied under oath during a drug possession case four years ago, a Los Angeles County...

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Afghan Warlord Ismail Khan’s Call to Arms Rattles Kabul

Bryan Denton for The New York TimesMujahedeen commanders at a gathering in Herat, Afghanistan, to address the threat to security posed by the Taliban. HERAT, Afghanistan — One of the most powerful mujahedeen commanders in Afghanistan, Ismail Khan, is calling on his followers to reorganize and defend the country against the Taliban as Western militaries withdraw, in a public demonstration of faltering...

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Selena Gomez Is All Smiles at Glamour's Women of the Year Awards

By Michelle Ward and Tim Nudd 11/13/2012 at 08:55 AM EST Justin who? Looking stylish and happy, Selena Gomez hardly seemed like someone who's just gone through a breakup as she lit up New York's Carnegie Hall on Monday night at Glamour's 2012 Women of the Year Awards. Bieber, 18, was performing just across the...

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for...

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Secret donation hindered campaigns, GOP advisors say

SACRAMENTO — An $11-million campaign donation that was secretly routed through an obscure Arizona group might have hurt the...

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Syrian Jet Strikes Close to Border With Turkey

Murad Sezer/ReutersSyrians fled from Ras al-Ain after an airstrike by Syrian forces on Monday. GAZIANTEP, Turkey — A Syrian MIG-25 jet bombed the rebel-held town of Ras al-Ain a few yards from the Turkish border on Monday, Syrian witnesses said. Veli Gurgah/Anadolu Agency, via European Pressphoto AgencySmoke rose from Ras al-Ain as it was bombed. Murad Sezer/ReutersSyrians...

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Labels maintain new music spend despite sales slump

LONDON (Reuters) – Record labels say they have maintained high levels of investment in new music despite sweeping changes to their business in the digital age and a decade of falling revenues caused by sliding album sales and online piracy.According to a new study from industry body IFPI published on Monday, record companies invested $ 4.5 billion in...

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Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez: How They Spent the Weekend Apart

By Andrea Billups 11/12/2012 at 09:35 AM EST Selena Gomez and a friend Ken Katz/Startraks Is there a message in the music?One day after PEOPLE confirmed the news that Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber ended their relationship, the singer performed one of pop music's...

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for...

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Moderates could enhance image of state Legislature

SACRAMENTO — The next class of the Legislature will be stocked with a new variety of lawmaker, the product of a new political...

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