Hillary Clinton Suffers a Concussion After Fainting

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suffered a concussion early last week after fainting and striking her head, the State Department disclosed on Saturday. As a result, Mrs. Clinton will not testify as scheduled on Thursday before Congressional committees investigating the September attack on the American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. The fainting episode...

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Huge Wave of Google App Updates Hits iOS, Android

Google just brought iPhone and Android phone users a holiday gift. Google Maps has returned to the iPhone, this time in the form of its own separate app, while Google Currents — the company’s Flipboard-style online magazine app for Android — received a substantial update as well.Besides the two big updates, about a half-dozen other apps for Android and Google TV received bug fixes and new features,...

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As Conn. story unfolds, media struggle with facts

NEW YORK (AP) — The scope and senselessness of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting challenged journalists' ability to do much more than lend, or impose, their presence on the scene.Pressed with the awful urgency of the story, television, along with other media, fell prey to reporting "facts" that were often in conflict or wrong.How many people were killed? Which Lanza brother was the shooter: Adam...

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School Yoga Class Draws Religious Protest From Christians

T. Lynne Pixley for The New York TimesMiriam Ruiz during a yoga class last week at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif. A few dozen parents are protesting that the program amounts to religious indoctrination. More Photos »ENCINITAS, Calif. — By 9:30 a.m. at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, tiny feet were shifting from downward dog pose to chair pose to warrior pose in surprisingly...

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Gunman Kills 20 Schoolchildren in Connecticut

A gunman killed 26 people, 20 of them children between ages 5 and 10, in a shooting on Friday morning at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., about 65 miles northeast of New York City, the authorities said. The gunman, believed to be 20, walked into a classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where his mother was a teacher. He shot and killed her and then fatally shot 20 students, most...

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Owner of Rivera plane being investigated by DEA

PHOENIX (AP) — The company that owns a luxury jet that crashed and killed Latin music star Jenni Rivera is under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the agency seized two of its planes earlier this year as part of the ongoing probe.DEA spokeswoman Lisa Webb Johnson confirmed Thursday the planes owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management were seized in Texas and Arizona,...

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Life Expectancy Rises Around World, Study Finds

A sharp decline in deaths from malnutrition and infectious diseases like measles and tuberculosis has caused a shift in global mortality patterns over the past 20 years, according to a report published on Thursday, with far more of the world’s population now living into old age and dying from diseases mostly associated with rich countries, like cancer and heart disease. Tony Karumba/Agence...

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News Analysis: U.S., Walking Out in a Huff, Makes Its Point

Kamran Jebreili/Associated PressThe U.S. delegation, led by Terry Kramer, right, said the pact could encourage censorship and undermine the hands-off approach to Internet oversight. At the global treaty conference on telecommunications here, the United States got most of what it wanted. But then it refused to sign the document and left in a huff. What was...

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Rice Drops Bid for Secretary of State, Citing Opposition

WASHINGTON — Susan E. Rice, the Obama administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, has withdrawn her name from consideration for secretary of state, in the face of relentless opposition from Republicans in Congress over her role in the aftermath of the deadly attack on the American Mission in Benghazi, Libya. In a letter to President Obama, Ms. Rice said she concluded that “the confirmation...

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iPhone 5 hits China as Apple market share slips

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The China release of its iPhone 5 on Friday should win Apple Inc some respite from a recent slide in its share of what is likely already the world’s biggest smartphone market, but its longer-term hopes may depend on new technology being tested by China‘s top telecoms carrier.Cupertino, California-based Apple has been in talks about a tie-up with China Mobile for four years. A...

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Documents: Prisoner plotted to kill Justin Bieber

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An imprisoned man whose infatuation with Justin Bieber included a tattoo of the pop star on his leg has told investigators in New Mexico he hatched a plot to kill the singer, according to documents recently filed in a New Mexico court.An affidavit filed in Las Cruces said Dana Martin told investigators he persuaded a man he met in prison and the man's nephew to kill Bieber,...

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World’s Population Living Longer, New Report Suggests

A sharp decline in deaths from malnutrition and diseases like measles and tuberculosis has caused a shift in global mortality patterns over the past 20 years, according to a new report, with far more of the world’s population now living into old age and dying from diseases more associated with rich countries, like cancer and heart disease. The shift reflects improvements in sanitation, medical...

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S.&P. Streak Comes to an End on Fiscal Worries

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended its six-day winning streak Thursday, retreating as worries intensified that Washington’s fiscal negotiations were dragging on with little progress. Anxiety about the talks between Democrats and Republicans was enough to offset encouraging data on retail sales and jobless claims. Investors are concerned that tax increases and spending...

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Climate Change Threatens Ski Industry’s Livelihood

Caleb Kenna for The New York TimesA ski lift at Mount Sunapee in Newbury, N.H., where a burst of cold weather in late November allowed the resort to open shortly after Thanksgiving. NEWBURY, N.H. — Helena Williams had a great day of skiing here at Mount Sunapee shortly after the resort opened at the end of November, but when she came back the next day, the temperatures had warmed and turned patches...

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‘The Hobbit’: Like One Bad Video Game

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Peter Jackson‘s landmark, blockbuster Lord of the Rings films was that they made fans, through a combination of stunning landscapes and intricate special effects and soaring music and dramatic spectacle, feel as though we were seeing an almost impossible elevation of the potential size and scope of movies. Here was a rich, dense, sprawling series of films that...

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Shhhh! A new law says TV ads can't blare anymore

NEW YORK (AP) — TV viewing could soon sound a little calmer. The CALM Act, which limits the volume of TV commercials, goes into effect on Thursday.CALM stands for Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation. The act is designed to prevent TV commercials from blaring at louder volumes than the program content they accompany. The rules govern broadcasters as well as cable and satellite operators.The...

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At Least 1 Dead in Portland-Area Mall Shooting

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A gunman opened fire Tuesday in a Portland, Ore., area shopping mall Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding an unknown number of others, sheriff's deputies said. "We believe there's at least one deceased and maybe more," said Clackamas County sheriff's Lt. James Rhodes. Rhodes said he was still trying to get more details about the situation at the Clackamas...

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'Evita' to close in January when Big 3 leave

NEW YORK (AP) — The Broadway revival of "Evita" — faced with trying to replace Ricky Martin, Elena Roger and Michael Cerveris — will instead close when the Big Three leave early next year.Producers of the Tony Award-nominated revival of Tim Rice's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's landmark musical said Tuesday night they have decided against plans for an open-ended run after Martin, Roger and Cerveris leave...

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