U.S. economy adds 146,000 jobs in November, rate falls to 7.7 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures. The Labor Department's report Friday offered a mixed picture of the economy. Hiring remained steady during the storm and in the face of looming...

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“Dancing with the Stars” Burke says voice fine after thyroid surgery

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Brooke Burke said on Thursday that her surgery for thyroid cancer had gone well and that she had not lost her voice.“Thank God it’s over. I’m clean, surgery went well & I can talk. Losing my voice was my biggest fear. Thx for all your prayers & light,” Burke said in a Twitter posting.Burke, 41, a former winner of ABC-TV’s popular celebrity...

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South Africa military plane crashes in mountains

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African military aircraft on an unknown mission to an area near the village where former President Nelson Mandela lives crashed in a mountain range, officials said Thursday. It was unclear whether there were any survivors.The Douglas DC-3 Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, had taken off from Pretoria’s Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday night, said Brig. Gen. Xolani...

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Windows 8: A ‘Christmas gift for someone you hate’

Microsoft (MSFT) is no stranger to criticism these days, and the company’s new Windows 8 platform is once again the target of a scathing review from a high-profile user. Well-known Internet entrepreneur and MIT professor Philip Greenspun handed Windows 8 one of its most damning reviews yet earlier this week, calling the new operating system a “Christmas gift for someone you hate.” Greenspun...

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Latest James Bond movie breaks UK box office record

LONDON (Reuters) – “Skyfall“, the 23rd official James Bond movie, has become the most successful film in British box office history, earning 94.3 million pounds ($ 152 million), its producers said on Wednesday.The tally, earned over 40 days, surpasses the previous record of 94.0 million pounds set by 2009 3D adventure film “Avatar” over its 11 month run in UK cinemas, although the figures do not take...

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Tanks surround Egypt's presidential palace

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Republican Guard restored order around the presidential palace on Thursday after fierce overnight clashes killed seven people, but passions ran high in a struggle over the country's future. The Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, criticised by his opponents for his silence in the last few days, was due to address the nation later in the day, state television said. ...

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South Africa military plane crashes in mountains

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African military aircraft on an unknown mission to an area near the village where former President Nelson Mandela lives crashed in a mountain range, officials said Thursday. It was unclear whether there were any survivors.The Douglas DC-3 Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, had taken off from Pretoria’s Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday night, said Brig. Gen. Xolani...

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Apple to return some Mac production to U.S. in 2013: report

(Reuters) – Apple Inc is planning to bring back some of its production of Mac computers to the United States from China next year, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, according to a report published Thursday.The company will spend more than $ 100 million to build the computers in the United States, Cook was cited as saying in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.“This doesn’t mean that Apple will do...

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When Microorganisms Control the Mind

Reported by Dr. Lauren Browne:By the time famed Victorian artist Louis Wain was committed to the pauper ward of Springfield Mental Hospital in South London in 1924, he had painted and sketched thousands of cats.His early works depicted humorous wide-eyed human-like cats, but his later feline creations were abstract figures exploding in fiery kaleidoscopes of geometric shapes, thought to mirror his...

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U.S. and Russia to meet on Syria amid chemical weapons fears

DUBLIN (AP) — The top U.S. and Russian diplomats will hold a surprise meeting Thursday with the United Nations' peace envoy for Syria, signaling fresh hopes of an international breakthrough to end the Arab country's 21-month civil war.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and mediator Lakhdar Brahimi will gather in Dublin on the sidelines of a human...

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