Canadian October home sales dip, latest sign of cooling

TORONTO (Reuters) – Sales of existing homes in Canada fell in October from September and year-over-year sales were down as well, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Thursday in the latest signal that the housing market is slowing.The industry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales were down 0.1 percent in October from September. Actual...

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At Washington’s James Bond exhibit, villains are forever

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fans of fictional super spy James Bond rely on the durable film franchise for must-have elements, such as jaw-dropping stunts, great clothes, sultry women – and villains who are drop-dead evil.An exhibition that opened on Friday makes clear that the nasty types that 007 has battled for five decades have changed but one constant remains....

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Tulsa Town Hall: Nutrition a valuable tool in health care

Weil spoke as part of the Tulsa Town Hall series of speakers. The United States has an expensive health-care system that doesn’t produce good results, he said.“Something is very wrong with this picture,” he said. “We’re spending more and more and we have less and less to show for it.”Changes in diet can be an effective...

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Israel launches scores of airstrikes into Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early Saturday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels.The new attacks, which Gaza officials say left 10 dead, followed an unprecedented rocket strike aimed at...

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Jamaica to abolish slavery-era flogging law

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica is preparing to abolish a slavery-era law allowing flogging and whipping as means of punishing prisoners, the Caribbean country’s justice ministry said Thursday.The ministry said the punishment hasn’t been ordered by a court since 2004 but the statutes remain in the island’s penal code. It was administered with strokes...

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After Garbo, Leigh, no defining “Anna Karenina”: Knightley

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Film adaptations of “Anna Karenina” have featured the likes of Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh, but Keira Knightley isn’t fazed about measuring up to such silver screen luminaries with a new cinematic take on Leo Tolstoy‘s classic novel.The British actress’s turn in the title role in the timeless story about a beautiful married socialite...

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Exclusive: U.S. drug testing firm probed for alleged fraud, intimidation

(Reuters) – A federal grand jury in Boston is investigating Millennium Laboratories of San Diego, a fast-growing private company selling urine drug testing services to pain clinics across the United States.The company not only is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations of health care fraud but also for intimidating former employees,...

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Petraeus testifies on Benghazi attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-uhs) has told Congress that references to militant groups Ansar al-Shariah and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb were removed from the agency's draft talking points of what sparked the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya.A congressional staffer says Petraeus testified in a closed-door hearing Friday that the CIA's talking points...

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Canada’s Carney says rate hikes “less imminent”

TORONTO (Reuters) – Interest rate hikes have become less imminent than the Bank of Canada once expected, although rates are still likely to rise, central bank Governor Mark Carney said in an interview published on Saturday.“Over time, rates are likely to increase somewhat, but over time, so a less imminent timing relative to our expectation,” Carney said...

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In UK, Twitter, Facebook rants land some in jail

LONDON (AP) — One teenager made offensive comments about a murdered child on Twitter. Another young man wrote on Facebook that British soldiers should “go to hell.” A third posted a picture of a burning paper poppy, symbol of remembrance of war dead.All were arrested, two convicted, and one jailed — and they’re not the only ones. In Britain, hundreds of...

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With TV and film production heading overseas, should Uncle Sam get into showbiz?

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Is it time for Uncle Sam to go Hollywood?With the exodus of film and TV production to foreign shores – and with the states’ incentives plans frequently out-gunned by countries outside the U.S. – there is some thought that it may be time for the federal government to step in. The idea of the...

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Brain Lesions Linked to Women Who Suffer From Migraines

Dutch researchers studying headaches have linked a higher-than-normal incidence of brain lesions to women who suffer from migraines. However, they found no relationship between the severity, frequency, or number of migraines and the progression of the lesions.Scientists from the Leiden University Medical Center followed subjects — patients who had migraines...

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More to Petraeus story than meets the eye

It's the soap opera that shocked official Washington and ensnared a previously squeaky clean CIA director at a time when he was supposed to play a role in the accounting for a possible security misstep in Libya.We don't know all the facts of why the FBI started investigating David Petraeus' biographer and how it ultimately led to his resignation.But a growing number of conservative commentators contend...

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Beating tax cheats key to Italy’s recovery plan

ROME (AP) — Good plumbers may be worth their weight in gold, but when one was spotted zipping around in a bright red Ferrari, Italian tax police were fast on his trail.Stamping out entrenched tax evasion is crucial to Premier Mario Monti‘s quest to keep Italy from succumbing to the European debt crisis, and it is critical to fellow eurozone members in...

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Facebook stock up as lock-up expires on largest block of shares

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of Facebook Inc jumped 10 percent in early trading on Wednesday, even as the biggest block of shares held by insiders became eligible for sale for the first time since the social media company’s disappointing debut in May.In heavy morning trading, Facebook gained $ 2.02 to $ 21.89. “While...

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Actor Channing Tatum dubbed People’s sexiest man alive

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Channing Tatum, who set female hearts fluttering in the summer movie hit “Magic Mike”, was named the sexiest man alive by People magazine on Wednesday.“My first thought was, ‘Y’all are messing with me,” Tatum told the magazine after hearing the news. The 32-year-old actor, who is married to...

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Ireland probes death of ill abortion-seeker

DUBLIN (AP) — The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed that a miscarrying woman suffering from blood poisoning was refused a quick termination of her pregnancy and died in an Irish hospital.Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he was awaiting findings from three investigations into the death of Savita Halappanavar,...

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FBI finds classified docs in Petraeus' lover's house

Paula Broadwell, the author who allegedly had an affair with former CIA Director David Petraeus, is suspected of storing significant amounts of military documents, including classified material, at her home, potentially in violation of federal law.A source familiar with case told ABC News that Broadwell admitted to the FBI she took the documents from secure government buildings. The government demanded...

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