Explosion in Crowded Market Kills Dozens in Pakistan

Banaras Khan/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesPakistani paramedics on Saturday examined the bodies of bombing victims at a hospital in the western city of Quetta. KARACHI, Pakistan — A devastating explosion ripped through a crowded market in the western city of Quetta on Saturday, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 200, the police said. The attack occurred in a neighborhood...

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Facebook says it was a target of sophisticated hacking

SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Friday hackers had infiltrated some of its employees' laptops in recent weeks, making the world's No.1 social network the latest victim of a wave of cyber attacks, many of which have been traced to China. It said none of its users' data was compromised in the attack, which occurred after a handful of employees visited a website...

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Judge sets May trial date for Kardashian divorce

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kim Kardashian has a due date for her baby and now a trial date for her divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries.A judge on Friday set a May 6 trial for the reality TV star who wants to end her marriage before July, when her child with Kanye West is due.Kardashian filed for divorce on Oct. 31, 2011, after she and Humphries had been married just 72 days. Their lavish, star-studded...

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Livestrong Tattoos as Reminder of Personal Connections, Not Tarnished Brand

As Jax Mariash went under the tattoo needle to have “Livestrong” emblazoned on her wrist in bold black letters, she did not think about Lance Armstrong or doping allegations, but rather the 10 people affected by cancer she wanted to commemorate in ink. It was Jan. 22, 2010, exactly a year since the disease had taken the life of her stepfather. After years of wearing yellow Livestrong wristbands, she...

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Group of 20 Pledges to Let Markets Set Currency Values

MOSCOW — In a concerted move to quiet fears of a so-called currency war, finance officials from the world’s largest industrial and emerging economies expressed their commitment on Saturday to “market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility.” In a statement issued at the conclusion of a conference here of the Group of 20, the finance ministers from the Group of 20...

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Venezuela Releases First Pictures of Chávez

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan government on Friday released photographs of President Hugo Chávez for the first time since he had surgery in Cuba more than nine weeks ago. Venezuelan Ministry of Information, via Reuters.President Hugo Chávez smiles with his daughters, Rosa Virginia, right, and María Gabriela, while recovering from cancer surgery in Havana, in this photograph...

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Big hedge funds fueled fourth-quarter dive in Apple shares

BOSTON (Reuters) - Some of the biggest hedge funds that helped make Apple Inc a stock market darling lost faith and dumped their stakes in the fourth quarter, fueling the massive drop in the iPhone maker's share price. Noted stock pickers including Leon Cooperman, Eric Mindich and Thomas Steyer unloaded billions of dollars of Apple shares between September 30 and December 31, according...

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Charlie Sheen pays for injured teen's therapy dog

MILWAUKEE (AP) — MILWAUKEE (AP) — There's a 15-year-old Florida girl who didn't really know much about Charlie Sheen before this week — but does now.The actor wired $10,000 to Teagan Marti and her family on Thursday for a therapy dog to help in her rehabilitation from injuries sustained when she plummeted 100 feet from a Wisconsin amusement park ride in 2010."I think he's a very kind person for helping...

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Fat Dad: Baking for Love

Fat DadDawn Lerman writes about growing up with a fat dad.My grandmother Beauty always told me that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, and by the look of pure delight on my dad’s face when he ate a piece of warm, homemade chocolate cake, or bit into a just-baked crispy cookie, I grew to believe this was true. I had no doubt that when the time came, and I liked a boy, that a batch of...

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DealBook: Confidence on Upswing, Mergers Make Comeback

The mega-merger is back.For the corporate takeover business, the last half-decade was a fallow period. Wall Street deal makers and chief executives, brought low by the global financial crisis, lacked the confidence to strike the audacious multibillion-dollar acquisitions that had defined previous market booms.Cycles, however, turn, and in the opening weeks of 2013, merger activity has suddenly roared...

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City Room: Live Video: Mayor Bloomberg's Final State of the City Address

Watch Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg deliver his final State of the City address from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.Also, New Yorkers, we are interested in the State of Your Block. Please tell us how your block has been doing, or tweet at us using the hashtag #NYCblock.Below: Twitter highlights from the mayor’s speech: “The strike is a lost cause” @MikeBloomberg on bus driver strike— Michael Paulson...

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Egyptian regulator appeals against court's YouTube ban

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities appealed on Thursday against a court order banning the video file-sharing site YouTube for a month over an amateur video that denigrates the Prophet Mohammad, saying the ruling was unenforceable. "The National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority has presented an appeal to halt implementation of the verdict," said a statement from the Ministry...

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Maggie Smith: I haven't seen 'Downton'

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people have watched Maggie Smith on "Downton Abbey." But she's not one of them.The 78-year-old actress, who portrays Lady Grantham in the popular PBS series, told "60 Minutes" that she hasn't watched the drama because doing so would only make her agonize over her performance. She said she may watch it someday.Smith told Steve Kroft, in an interview to be televised Sunday,...

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Life, Interrupted: Crazy, Unsexy Cancer Tips

Life, InterruptedSuleika Jaouad writes about her experiences as a young adult with cancer.Every few weeks I host a “girls’ night” at my apartment in Lower Manhattan with a group of friends who are at various stages in their cancer treatments. Everyone brings something to eat and drink, and we sit around my living room talking to one another about subjects both heavy and light, ranging from post-chemo...

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Tech Companies and Immigrant Advocates Press for Broad Changes in Law

SAN FRANCISCO — What do computer programmers and illegal immigrants have to do with each other? When it comes to the sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws that Congress is considering this year, the answer is everything. Silicon Valley executives, who have long pressed the government to provide more visas for foreign-born math and science brains, are joining forces with...

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High stakes if Apple e-books antitrust case goes to trial

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As the only remaining defendant in the U.S. government's e-books antitrust case, Apple Inc appears headed for a high-stakes trial that could significantly increase the personal computer company's liability in related litigation. Apple faces a June 3 trial date over civil allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that it conspired with five publishers to raise...

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Eric Church leads ACM Awards nominations with 7

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — They don't call him Chief for nothing: Eric Church is the top nominee at this year's Academy of Country Music Awards.The rising country music star has seven nominations for the April 7 awards show in Las Vegas. Hunter Hayes is next with six, followed by Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert at five apiece.Swift and Lambert are up for the academy's top honor — entertainer of the...

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Well: Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia

At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term “conversation” loosely. I couldn’t hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.A senior moment? Maybe. (I’m 65.) But for me, it’s complicated...

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DealBook: Switzerland to Require Banks to Hold More Capital to Offset Mortgages

LONDON – Switzerland said on Wednesday that Swiss banks would be required to hold additional capital for residential mortgages amid concerns that the country’s booming property market was overheating.The country, which already has more stringent capital rules for its banks than other European nations, said lenders would be required to hold an additional 1 percent of risk-weighted assets to make the...

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Marriott Marquis Deal Could Cost Taxpayers $344.9 Million, Audit Says

The Marriott Marquis, the 50-story convention hotel in Times Square, sits atop some of the most valuable land in all of New York City, if not the world. But because of a lease signed by the Giuliani administration in 1998, Marriott can buy the property from the city for only $19.9 million, one-tenth of its current $193 million value, according to a new audit by the city comptroller, John...

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