Jan
01

US Senate approves key tax deal

1 January 2013 Last updated at 05:47 ETPlease turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. President Obama said a larger deal could be accomplished “in several steps”The US Senate has approved a deal to avert general tax hikes and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff”.The bill, which raises taxes for the wealthy, came after lengthy talks between Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans.The...
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Dec
31

Canadian job creation seen sharply lower in December

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada‘s job market is expected to slow markedly in December to reflect the sluggish economy and employers’ fears about the U.S. fiscal crisis following outsized gains of over 50,000 jobs in two of the previous three months.The median forecast in a Reuters poll is for the economy to add just 5,000 jobs in the month, with forecasts ranging from a loss of 20,000 positions to a gain...
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Top 5 Kids Apps: Best Games

1. Bugs and BubblesAges 3-up Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars Why we like it: Fun, fast and good for building emerging math skills, Bugs and Bubbles contains 18 leveled sorting, classification games set in Uncle Bob’s Bubble Factory. The goal is to collect stickers by harvesting bubbles, requiring kids to apply skills of counting, sorting and remembering patterns in an elegant fashion. Need to know:...
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Kanye West, Kim Kardashian expecting 1st child

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A kid for Kimye: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are expecting their first child.The rapper announced at a concert Sunday night that his girlfriend is pregnant. He told the crowd of more than 5,000 at Revel Resort‘s Ovation Hall in song form: “Now you having my baby.”The crowd roared. And so did people on the Internet.The news instantly went viral on Twitter and Facebook,...
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Recess ‘Crucial’ for Kids, Pediatricians’ Group Says

Kids aren’t getting enough recess at school, the country’s top pediatricians‘ group said in a new policy statement released Monday.The statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics is the latest salvo in the long-running debate over how much of a young child’s time at school should be devoted to academics — and how much should go to free, unstructured playtime.The authors of the policy statement...
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US ‘fiscal cliff’ talks go to wire

31 December 2012 Last updated at 03:27 ETUS Congressional leaders have one more day to stop steep tax rises and spending cuts, known as the “fiscal cliff”, after talks ended with no deal.Senators will continue to seek a compromise deal on Monday to send to the House of Representatives.Failure to reach agreement by 1 January could push the US back into recession.President Barack Obama has blamed Republicans...
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Dec
30

Suspected US drone kills 3 al-Qaida men in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Three al-Qaida militants were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen, Yemeni security officials said, the fourth such attack this week and a sign attacks from unmanned aircraft are on the upswing in the country.The officials said the three men were hit as they were riding in a Land Cruiser in el-Manaseh village on the outskirts of Radda in Bayda province. Dozens...
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Hot spots draw believers, but not doomsday

As the sun rose from time zone to time zone across the world on Friday, there was still no sign of the world’s end — but that didn’t stop those convinced that a 5,125-year Mayan calendar predicts the apocalypse from gathering at some of the world’s purported survival hot spots.Many of the esoterically inclined expected a new age of consciousness — others wanted a party. But, in some places said to...
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Michigan hospital blazes trail in fight against fungal meningitis

CHICAGO (Reuters) – After his first day working at St Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor hospital’s newly created Fungal Outbreak Clinic, Dr David Vandenberg struggled to describe to his boss the enormity of what lay ahead. He settled on a line from the movie Jaws.“We’re going to need a bigger boat,” Vandenberg told Dr Lakshmi Halasyamani, chief medical officer of the Michigan hospital, echoing the film’s local...
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Most ‘spent less on Christmas’

30 December 2012 Last updated at 02:16 ETA majority of consumers spent less on their Christmas shopping this year than they did in 2011, according to a survey by the consumers’ association Which?Nearly half used credit cards, overdrafts and other borrowing to help fund their purchases, the survey of 2,100 people across the UK suggests.Nine out of 10 agreed that they felt under pressure to spend too...
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