Dec
20

Grammy nominee Bobby Sanabria feels like a winner

NEW YORK (AP) — Bobby Sanabria already feels like a winner.The Latin jazz musician, who led the protest against the Recording Academy when it downsized from 109 to 78 categories last year, is nominated for best Latin jazz album — one of the awards that had been eliminated but returns at the awards show next year."We're very proud," Sanabria said in a recent interview. "It just places emphasis on the...
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Dec
19

Obama to Give Congress Plan on Gun Control Within Weeks

WASHINGTON — President Obama declared Wednesday that he would make gun control a “central issue” as he opens a second term, submitting broad new gun control proposals to Congress no later than January and committing the power of his office to overcoming political opposition in the wake of last week’s school massacre. The president’s pledge came as House Republicans restated their firm opposition...
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Strong software sales push Oracle shares to 19-month high

(Reuters) - Shares of Oracle Corp, the world's No. 3 software maker, rose 4 percent to their highest in 19 months on Wednesday after it forecast strong sales for next year, prompting several brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock. The company's results often set the tone for smaller software makers, and analysts said the 17 percent jump in its quarterly software sales boded...
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Adele voted AP Entertainer of the Year

NEW YORK (AP) — Though Adele didn't have a new album or a worldwide tour in 2012, she's still rolling. After a year of Grammy glory and James Bond soundtracking, Adele has been voted The Associated Press Entertainer of the Year.In 132 ballots submitted by members and subscribers of the AP, Adele easily outpaced other vote-getters like Taylor Swift, "Fifty Shades of Grey" author E.L. James, the South...
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Global Update: African Children Still at Risk of Pneumonia Despite Ceramic Stoves

Small ceramic indoor stoves, such as those sold by women in AIDS self-help groups in Africa, do save fuel and cut down on eye-irritating smoke, a new study has found — but they do not save children from pneumonia. The study, published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, compared 168 households in rural Kenya that used either “upesi jiko” stoves or traditional three-stone...
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Dec
18

Backing Off Deal, Boehner Invokes ‘Plan B’ on Taxes

Joshua Roberts/Reuters John Boehner winced while talking to a reporter on the way to a closed-door meeting with House Republicans today. WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, pivoting to hardball tactics just days before a deadline in the fiscal impasse, promised to bring a bill to the House floor this week that would raise tax rates only on income over $1 million and leave in place across-the-board...
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Samsung drops attempt to ban Apple sales in Europe

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Korea's Samsung Electronics on Tuesday said it would drop law suits aimed at banning the sale of Apple Inc. products in Europe just a day after scoring a victory in a battle in the United States with the maker of iPhones. Samsung and Apple, the world's top two smartphone makers, have been locked in patent disputes in at least 10 countries over the last 18 months...
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Who was Gossip Girl? The series finale told all

NEW YORK (AP) — "Gossip Girl" ended its six-season run with a major reveal: The identity of its tattle-tale blogger.Known only as Gossip Girl and given narrative voice by actress Kristen Bell, she turned out to be a he. The Monday night finale revealed Gossip Girl was secretly the work of character Dan Humphrey.Dan, played by Penn Badgley, was a budding poet and a student at Manhattan's posh St. Jude's...
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Mind: A Misguided Focus on Mental Illness in Gun Control Debate

The gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, has been described as a loner who was intelligent and socially awkward. And while no official diagnosis has been made public, armchair diagnosticians have been quick to assert that keeping guns from getting into the hands of people with mental illness would help solve the problem of gun homicides. Arguing against stricter gun-control measures, Representative Mike...
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Advertising: Finding a Documentary Audience, for a Cause

DOCUMENTARY films are notoriously difficult to finance, with filmmakers often spending more time scrounging up money to make a film than actually producing it. Unlike big Hollywood films, where having the presence of a marquee name can attract dollars, documentary filmmakers often must try to explain how a niche idea can succeed at the box office. The director and backers of “Girl Rising,”...
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