Chávez Is Optimistic, Says Venezuelan Vice President

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez is experiencing the “best moment” yet of his recovery from cancer surgery, Vice President Nicolás Maduro said Saturday. He emphatically added that Mr. Chávez would return to Venezuela take charge of the government again. Mr. Maduro spoke on his return from Cuba, where Mr. Chávez had surgery on Dec. 11. “The commander is in the best...

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How to Share Vine Videos on Tumblr

When Twitter launched Vine Thursday it omitted one important social network from its sharing options: Tumblr. Looped GIF images are extremely popular on Tumblr, so the audience there for Vine videos is potentially huge.Just because there’s no native way to share Vines on Tumblr, doesn’t mean you can’t share your creations on the site. Here are few different ways you can include Vine videos in your...

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Kutcher takes on tech idol Steve Jobs in 'jOBS'

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Ashton Kutcher says playing Steve Jobs on screen "was honestly one of the most terrifying things I've ever tried to do in my life."The 34-year-old actor helped premiere the biopic "jOBS" Friday, which was the closing-night film at the Sundance Film Festival.Kutcher plays the Apple Inc. founder from the company's humble origins in the 1970s until the launch of the first iPod...

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Religious Groups and Employers Battle Contraception Mandate

Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto AgencyPresident Obama, with his health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, offering a compromise on the contraception mandate last year. In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom...

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7 Die in Fire At Factory In Bangladesh

A.M. Ahad/Associated PressFirefighters and volunteers worked to extinguish the fire at a small garment factory in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday. DHAKA, Bangladesh — In the latest blow to Bangladesh’s garment industry, seven workers died Saturday after a fire swept through a factory here not long after seamstresses had returned from a lunch break. Workers said supervisors had locked one of the factory...

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A Staff Shake-Up at the White House

WASHINGTON — As he heads into a second term with sweeping ambition in an era of gridlock, President Obama is assembling a new White House team that looks much like the old one, choosing familiarity over freshness even at the risk of insularity. Mr. Obama installed his longtime aide Denis R. McDonough on Friday as his fifth White House chief of staff and announced a host of other selections...

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Spanish newspaper sorry for “false photo” of Venezuela’s Chavez

MADRID/CARACAS (Reuters) – Spain‘s influential El Pais newspaper apologized on Thursday for splashing a “false photo” of Venezuela‘s cancer-stricken leader Hugo Chavez on its front page, prompting a furious response from the government in Caracas, which vowed to take legal action.Within minutes of posting the image online as a global exclusive, El Pais said it had discovered from social media that...

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Dr. Phil to interview alleged girlfriend hoaxer

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Phil McGraw has booked the first on-camera interview with the man who allegedly concocted the girlfriend hoax that ensnared Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o.A "Dr. Phil Show" spokesperson confirmed on Friday the interview with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo (roh-NY-ah too-ee-AH'-so-SO'-poh), the man accused of creating an online persona of a nonexistent woman who Te'o said he fell for without...

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40 Years After Roe v. Wade, Thousands March to Oppose Abortion

Drew Angerer/The New York TimesPro-life activists made their way down Constitution Avenue toward the Supreme Court during the March for Life in Washington on Friday. WASHINGTON — Three days after the 40th anniversary of the decision in Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, tens of thousands of abortion opponents from around the country came to the National Mall on Friday...

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Johnson & Johnson Hid Flaw in Artificial Hip, Documents Show

Johnson & Johnson executives knew years before they recalled a troubled artificial hip in 2010 that it had a critical design flaw, but the company concealed that information from physicians and patients, according to internal company documents disclosed Friday during a trial over the device’s failure. The medical device giant had received complaints from doctors about the device, the...

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DealBook: S.E.C. Pick Is Ex-Prosecutor, in Signal to Wall Street

3:30 p.m. | Updated President Obama announced Thursday his nomination of Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor turned white-collar defense lawyer, to be the next chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.In a short ceremony at the White House, Mr. Obama also said he was renominating Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a post Mr. Cordray has held...

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Nintendo Reaches into Wii U Grab Bag, Pulls Out Some Vague, Some Fascinating Promises

It’s been a ho-hum 2013 for Nintendo’s Wii U so far: some carry-over posturing about scads of “launch window” titles, but less than a handful of games with bankable release dates. When I checked the hopper for January, February and March, I counted four, maybe five Wii U titles with firm dates, all of them least a month or two off.That’s not how you move systems, and Nintendo ran damage control Wednesday...

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Reports: JJ Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another universe of sci-fi fans has been put in the hands of J.J. Abrams.According to multiple trade reports, Abrams, 46, is set to direct the next installment of "Star Wars," which Disney has said will be "Episode 7" and due out in 2015. Disney bought "Star Wars" maker Lucasfilm last month for $4.06 billion.The Emmy-award-winning director of the TV show "Lost" also captained the...

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The New Old Age Blog: Grief Over New Depression Diagnosis

When the American Psychiatric Association unveils a proposed new version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bible of psychiatric diagnoses, it expects controversy. Illnesses get added or deleted, acquire new definitions or lists of symptoms. Everyone from advocacy groups to insurance companies to litigators — all have an interest in what’s defined as mental illness —...

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DealBook: S.E.C. Pick Is Ex-Prosecutor, in Signal to Wall Street

3:30 p.m. | Updated President Obama announced Thursday his nomination of Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor turned white-collar defense lawyer, to be the next chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.In a short ceremony at the White House, Mr. Obama also said he was renominating Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a post Mr. Cordray has held...

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Union Membership Drops Despite Job Growth

Max Whittaker for The New York TimesFirefighters protested a law curbing collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin in 2011. Union membership fell by 13 percent in the state last year. The long, slow decline in the number of American workers belonging to labor unions accelerated sharply last year, according to data reported on Wednesday, sending the unionization rate to its lowest level in a century....

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Let’s Welcome Back Hockey with This ESPN Commercial

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  RELATED: Cookie Monster Batman and the Dog You Wish You HadHockey, schmockey. As a whole, the Atlantic...

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Voice actor for Charlie Brown arrested in Calif.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The man who was the voice of Charlie Brown on many "Peanuts" television shows has been charged with stalking and threatening his former girlfriend and a plastic surgeon who gave her a breast enhancement he apparently didn't like.Peter Robbins pleaded not guilty Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court.Robbins was arrested Sunday at the San Ysidro Port of Entry after authorities doing...

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Well: Long Term Effects on Life Expectancy From Smoking

It is often said that smoking takes years off your life, and now a new study shows just how many: Longtime smokers can expect to lose about 10 years of life expectancy.But amid those grim findings was some good news for former smokers. Those who quit before they turn 35 can gain most if not all of that decade back, and even those who wait until middle age to kick the habit can add about five years...

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