India Executes Man Tied to 2001 Attack on Parliament

MUMBAI — India on Saturday hanged a man who was convicted of a 2001 attack on India’s Parliament that killed nine people. The hanging of Afzal Guru, a 43-year-old militant with the group Jaish-e-Mohammad, came more than a decade after the Dec. 13, 2001, suicide attack on India’s Parliament in which five gunmen opened fire, killing nine people, including security officials and a journalist....

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Minka Kelly: 'I'm Not Worthy' of Acting with Oprah

By Jennifer Cress 02/08/2013 at 07:40 PM EST Minka Kelly as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Pacific Coast News It's intimidating enough to play Jackie O, but Minka Kelly felt even more pressure to perform when she found out who was joining the cast of her latest film,...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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Stocks end higher for sixth straight week, tech leads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures. The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August. The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index...

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India Ink: Power Outage at Delhi Airport Affects Flights

An electrical power failure at the Indian capital’s main airport disrupted the radar system on Friday, delaying some flights.“There was a power failure,” which was rectified quickly, said Harbhajan Singh, the public relations officer of the Airports Authority of India.He explained that the Indira Gandhi International Airport has a three-tier system for electricity so when the power went out, the airport...

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American Idol: Early Favorites Eliminated in Hollywood

TV Watch American Idol By Steve Helling 02/07/2013 at 10:30 PM EST From left: Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ryan Seacrest, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban Michael Becker/FOX. At the beginning of Thursday's American Idol, there were 43 men left in the competition. The...

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.Blacks were five times more likely than whites...

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Euro near two-week low, shares up on rekindled rate cut hopes

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares rose and the euro hovered near a two-week low on Friday after the European Central Bank rekindled expectations that it could cut interest rates again. Strong Chinese trade data also helped lift optimism about global growth prospects, boosting oil, copper and Asian shares, while the yen rose sharply after Japan's finance minister said the currency's recent...

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India Ink: Economic Growth in India to Fall to Five Percent

India’s Gross Domestic Product is expected to drop significantly to 5 percent for the fiscal year ending in March 2013, according to advance estimates released by India’s Central Statistics Office on Thursday, declining from 6.2 percent growth rate seen in 2011-2012.The estimate by the Central Statistics Office represents a marked drop from earlier growth projections issued by the government for this...

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Bethenny Frankel's 'Happy' Night Out in N.Y.C.

Caught in the Act 02/07/2013 at 06:00 AM EST Bethenny Frankel Justin Steffman/Splash News Online It's business as usual for Bethenny Frankel.The reality TV star stepped out for dinner at Indochine in New York on Monday night. Dressed all in black, the "very chic"-looking...

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland."It's quite intriguing....

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Weaker yen helps keep Sony on course for profit target

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp stuck with its full-year profit forecast as a weaker yen and asset sales underpinned earnings, offsetting weaker demand for its televisions, game consoles and other devices. Sony, which is doubling down on consumer electronics in a bid to revive the company, joined domestic rivals Sharp and Panasonic in reporting a quarterly operating profit, although analysts...

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Ipswich Journal: Paul Mason Is One-Third the Man He Used to Be

Paul Nixon PhotographyPaul Mason in 2012, two years after gastric bypass surgery stripped him of the unofficial title of “the world’s fattest man.” IPSWICH, England — Who knows what the worst moment was for Paul Mason — there were so many awful milestones, as he grew fatter and fatter — but a good bet might be when he became too vast to leave his room. To get him to the hospital for a hernia operation,...

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Snoop Dogg Gets the Party Started with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lawrence

Caught in the Act 02/06/2013 at 06:00 AM EST Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lawrence, inset: Snoop Lion (Dogg) Valerie Goodloe/PictureGroup; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Guess the "O" in "O.G." stands for Oscar.Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lawrence both attended the Hollywood...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until...

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Stock index futures point to slightly higher Wall Street open

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.1 percent at 5.06 a.m EST. * Dow Jones futures added 0.3 percent while contracts on the Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2 percent. * Visa , the world's largest credit and debit card network, is expected to report earnings per share of $1.79...

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India Ink: The Mumbai/New York Photo Project: Meet the 'Wallas'

While much has changed in New York and Mumbai over the past 50 years, the bazaar, or the marketplace, is still the center of commercial activity for both these cities.In both these cities, the commercial capitals of their respective nations, you can get almost anything you want, at any time, day or night – as long as you know the right person to procure it, or “walla” in India. And in both cities,...

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Eva Longoria Reveals Valentine's Day (and Upcoming Birthday!) Plans

Caught in the Act 02/05/2013 at 06:00 AM EST Eva Longoria Denise Truscello/WireImage Eva Longoria already knows what she'll be doing on Valentine's Day.The actress visited the new restaurant and nightclub, She by Morton's, in Las Vegas – in which she is a part...

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the...

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U.S. stock index futures signal higher Wall Street open

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 rising 0.2 to 0.3 percent. U.S. stocks slid on Monday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since November, as renewed worries about the euro zone crisis caused the market to pull back from recent gains. Europe's main markets...

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India Ink: Five Questions For: Author Jamil Ahmad

Jamil Ahmad is the author of “The Wandering Falcon,” a novel that delves into the lives of the tribal population living in the border region of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. This is the debut novel of the former Pakistani bureaucrat, now in his 80s. He has spent more than 20 years in the Balochistan and Frontier provinces in Pakistan during his service.The novel was shortlisted for the Man Asian...

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Estonian pleads guilty in U.S. court to Internet advertising scam

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Estonian man pleaded guilty on Friday in U.S. federal court for his role in a massive Internet scam that targeted well-known websites such as iTunes, Netflix and The Wall Street Journal.The scheme infected at least four million computers in more than 100 countries, including 500,000 in the United States, with malicious software, or malware, according to the indictment. It included...

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What Football Game? Beyoncé Rocks the Superdome in Leather & Lace

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/03/2013 at 09:06 PM ET One thing was certain going into Super Bowl XLVII: Beyoncé was going to put on a killer halftime show, and she was going to look amazing doing it. And if she practiced until...

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the...

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European political worries halt risk asset rally

London (Reuters) - Stronger U.S. and Chinese economic data supported world equity markets on Monday, while the euro dipped and Spanish bond yields rose as growing political uncertainty in southern Europe worried investors. The global economic outlook brightened substantially last week when data showed U.S. factory activity quickened in January and hiring increased, and a euro zone business...

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IHT Rendezvous: In Villages, Praying for the Souls of Tibetan Self-Immolators

BEIJING — Since November, when cold winter began in the high Tibetan Plateau, thousands of Tibetan villagers have been gathering daily to pray for the souls of the nearly 100 Tibetans who have burned themselves to death in protest over Chinese rule, in a show of widespread support for the self-immolators among ordinary people, according to witness testimony from a person recently returned from the...

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