After 'final assault' in Algeria, details are slow to emerge

CAIRO — It was a bloody ordeal with tick-tock drama and a watching world.The hostages at a gas refinery in the Sahara desert...

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Wired Science Space Photo of the Day: Sunset on Mars

On May 19th, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera (Pancam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover's 489th martian day, or sol. Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter just before sunset. This small panorama of...

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Paul Dano Playing Beach Boys Legend Brian Wilson

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Paul Dano will play Brian Wilson in a new biopic about the gifted, but troubled Beach Boys leader.Entitled “Love & Mercy,” the film will be directed by Bill Pohlad, who produced “The Tree of Life” and is also the son of billionaire Carl Pohlad, the owner of baseball’s Minnesota Twins. Oren Moverman, who earned an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for “The Messenger”...

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Personal Health: That Loving Feeling Takes a Lot of Work

When people fall in love and decide to marry, the expectation is nearly always that love and marriage and the happiness they bring will last; as the vows say, till death do us part. Only the most cynical among us would think, walking down the aisle, that if things don’t work out, “We can always split.”But the divorce rate in the United States is half the marriage rate, and that does not bode well...

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The Boss: New Leaders Inc. C.E.O. on Giving Children a Chance

I AM the youngest of 10 children in my family, and the only one born in the United States. My father was a municipal judge who fled Haiti during the Duvalier regime. He and my mother settled in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, but could not initially afford to bring over my four brothers and five sisters, who stayed in Haiti with relatives. Jean S. Desravines is the chief executive...

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At least one American dead in Algeria chaos

CAIRO — One American was dead and dozens of foreign hostages were unaccounted for Friday after a military raid in the Sahara...

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Nokia Releases Files for 3-D Printing Your Own Phone Case

Nokia has opened its arms to 3-D printing with the release of printable design files and instructions for making your own Nokia phone case — and customizing it however you wish.The mobile phone giant announced the new endeavor today, which gives Creative Commons-licensed access to the printable files for the Lumia 820′s shell. It’s the largest affirmation of 3-D printing by a major corporation...

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Karl Rove re-ups With Fox News channel

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Karl Rove’s election-night brouhaha is apparently water under the bridge at Fox News. Rove, the former senior advisor to President George W. Bush, has extended his run as a contributor with Fox, the network’s CEO, Roger Ailes, said Thursday.The new deal will keep Rove on through the 2016 presidential election.Under the extension, Rove will also continue to contribute to...

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Well: A Great Grain Adventure

This week, the Recipes for Health columnist Martha Rose Shulman asks readers to go beyond wild rice and get adventurous with their grains. She offers new recipes with some unusual grains you may not have ever cooked or eaten. Her recipes this week include:Millet: Millet can be used in bird seed and animal feed, but the grain is enjoying a renaissance in the United States right now as a great source...

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The Lede: Inside the Fed's 2007 Deliberations

On Friday the Federal Reserve released the transcripts of its discussions in 2007, the year the housing market, the financial markets, and the broader economy began to unravel. Focusing on the crucial period from August to December, reporters from The Times shared their findings on what the transcripts reveal in the blog entries and tweets below.This post has been revised to reflect the following...

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Mali moves to keep militants out of another town; EU mission OKd

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Malian government forces Thursday reportedly pressed to keep Al Qaeda-linked militants out of the...

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Facebook Could Bury Video-Calling Partner Skype With a Tiny App Update

Facebook assembled the press Tuesday to announce the launch of its Graph Search. It was big news, but what the company should have announced is the initial launch of a VoIP service to one of the largest customer bases in the world.On Wednesday, Facebook added a free voice calling feature to its iOS Messenger app in the United States. The feature is iOS-only, and Facebook offered no additional...

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“Dear Abby” advice columnist Pauline Phillips dead at 94

(Reuters) – Pauline Phillips, the “Dear Abby” newspaper columnist who dished out advice to millions of confused, troubled and lovesick readers in America and around the world, has died at the age of 94, her daughter said on Thursday.Phillips, whose twin sister Esther wrote the rival “Ask Ann Landers” column, died in Minneapolis on Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.“I have lost...

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Life, Interrupted: Brotherly Love

Life, InterruptedSuleika Jaouad writes about her experiences as a young adult with cancer.There are a lot of things about having cancer in your 20s that feel absurd. One of those instances was when I found myself calling my brother Adam on Skype while he was studying abroad in Argentina to tell him that I had just been diagnosed with leukemia and that — no pressure — he was my only hope for a cure.Today,...

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An Insurer, UnitedHealth, Reports a Slight Drop in Income

The UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, reported a slight drop in its fourth-quarter net income on Thursday as medical costs rose, but its revenue increased more than 11 percent, helped by growth in its Medicare, care management, technology and international businesses. The company also outlined its plans to participate in the new health exchanges that will be established...

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Kaspersky Lab reports major malware discovery

MOSCOW — In what is being called a new hunt for Red October, a Russian cyber-security company says it has discovered a major...

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When Time Is Short, Go Aerobic to Slim Down

It’s the time of year when we promise ourselves that we’re going to eat better (and less), exercise more and drop some weight. Turns out you might want to skip the weight bench and hit the treadmill if you want to keep that last resolution but don’t have a lot of time to work out.Researchers at Duke University have examined the impact of aerobic and resistance training on body and fat mass...

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Fox hires Dennis Kucinich as analyst

NEW YORK (AP) — Days before President Barack Obama‘s inauguration for a second term in office, Fox News Channel has signed Dennis Kucinich, one of his former opponents, to be a regular contributor.Kucinich, a presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008 who ended 16 years in Congress two weeks ago, will make his debut as a Fox contributor on Thursday’s edition of “The O’Reilly Factor,” the network said...

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Study Confirms Benefits of Flu Vaccine for Pregnant Women

While everyone is being urged to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible, some pregnant women avoid it in the belief that it may harm their babies. A large new study confirms that they should be much more afraid of the flu than the vaccine. Norwegian researchers studied fetal death among 113,331 women pregnant during the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009-2010. Some 54,065 women were unvaccinated,...

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F.A.A. Orders Grounding of U.S.-Operated Boeing 787s

Kyodo News, via ReutersAn All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner made an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport in western Japan on Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it was temporarily grounding all Boeing 787s operated by United States carriers after several incidents in recent weeks, including a battery fire, and after an All Nippon Airways flight in Japan was...

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Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf ordered arrested

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Tahirul Qadri, the fiery Islamic cleric leading a large antigovernment protest in the heart of the capital,...

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Reports of the iPhone 5's Waning Popularity Are Overstated

Recent reports that Apple is cutting orders for the components needed to assemble its flagship handset likely have more to do with seasonal buying patterns and iPhone production ramp up than iPhone fever fading.The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to Apple, reported that Apple cut orders for iPhone 5 parts following weaker-than-projected demand. But a bevy of analysts have chimed...

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Singer Jessica Simpson to star in TV comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop singer Jessica Simpson is set to star in a television pilot in development for NBC that is loosely based on her life, executive producer Ben Silverman said on Tuesday.The comedy could be Simpson‘s first step back into a major acting role in more than five years.The former teen pop star is best known for her reality TV shows, including MTV’s “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,”...

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Well: How to Go Vegan

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.At the grocery store, I stocked up on vegan foods, including almond milk (that was the presidential recommendation), and faux turkey and cheese to replicate my daughter’s...

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