Syrians Face a Bread Shortage in Aleppo and Elsewhere

Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesA bakery in Aleppo. The price has shot up from 25 Syrian pounds, about 35 cents, for a bag of about eight flat, pitalike loaves to more than 200 pounds, nearly $3. GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Jalal al-Khanji, the closest thing the Syrian city of Aleppo has to a mayor, hopes to organize elections there within two weeks, but he fears that residents with empty stomachs are in no...

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Connecticut Shooting: Bodies Removed from School, Positively Identified

By Mike Fleeman 12/15/2012 at 10:25 AM EST Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance Mary Altaffer/AP A horrific day turned to a night of unspeakable grief as parents received formal notifications that their children were killed in the Connecticut school massacre.The last of the dozens of...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Holiday "on standby" as clock ticks on cliff

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The last two weeks of December are traditionally quiet for stocks, but traders accustomed to a bit of time off are staying close to their mobile devices, thanks to the "fiscal cliff." Last-minute negotiations in Washington on the so-called fiscal cliff - nearly $600 billion of tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in January that could cause a sharp slowdown...

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Rome Journal: As Mario Monti Prepares to Step Down, Italians Express Disappointment

ROME — As Prime Minister Mario Monti prepares to exit the stage, he has burnished Italy’s image — and his own — abroad, but he is less beloved at home. Italians are irate about higher taxes, while critics say that Mr. Monti failed to carry out the basic structural changes he said were needed, leaving a legacy more of austerity than growth. While Mr. Monti passed tax increases, introduced...

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Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 might not launch until 2014

Nintendo (NTDOY) says its kickstarted the next generation of video game consoles with the Wii U. But considering its graphics and processing power are comparable to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3, hardcore gamers are holding out for the next Xbox, tentatively dubbed “Xbox 720,” and next-generation PlayStation, tentatively called...

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Dozens Reported Dead in Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

Breaking News By Stephen M. Silverman UPDATED 12/14/2012 at 01:55 PM EST • Originally published 12/14/2012 at 01:00 PM EST State police personnel lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee/Reuters/Landov A...

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APNewsBreak: Texas cancer probe draws NCI scrutiny

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The National Cancer Institute confirmed Friday that federal officials are taking a closer look at a troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas that is under a criminal investigation over a lucrative taxpayer-funded grant awarded by the state agency.The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has coveted status as an NCI-approved funding entity — an exclusive...

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Selling flak jackets in the cyberwars

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When the Israeli army and Hamas trade virtual blows in cyberspace, or when hacker groups like Anonymous rise from the digital ether, or when WikiLeaks dumps a trove of classified documents, some see a lawless Internet.But Matthew Prince, chief executive at CloudFlare, a little-known Internet start-up that serves some of the Web’s most controversial characters, sees a business...

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American Idol: Has Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey's Feud Fizzled?

TV Watch American Idol 12/13/2012 at 02:45 PM EST Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey Frank Micelotta/FOX (2) Fans hoping to see new American Idol judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj battle it out in an epic feud may be disappointed. The new panelists, along with host...

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Study: People worldwide living longer, but sicker

LONDON (AP) — Nearly everywhere around the world, people are living longer and fewer children are dying. But increasingly, people are grappling with the diseases and disabilities of modern life, according to the most expansive global look so far at life expectancy and the biggest health threats.The last comprehensive study was in 1990 and the top health problem then was the death of children under...

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Nasdaq falls more than 1 percent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite index fell more than 1 percent and the Dow and S&P 500 added to losses on Thursday, with energy and technology shares leading the way lower on the S&P 500. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 88.80 points, or 0.67 percent, at 13,156.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 12.08 points, or 0.85 percent,...

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Most Googled in 2012: Whitney, PSY, Sandy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world’s attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, millions of people searched the Web to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.Whitney Houston was the “top trending” search of the year, according to Google Inc.’s year-end “zeitgeist” report. Google‘s 12th annual roundup is “an in-depth look at the...

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Miranda Lambert Gets Kissed by a Llama

People Pets 12/12/2012 at 02:30 PM EST Miranda Lambert at the San Diego Zoo Courtesy Miranda Lambert Miranda Lambert is feeling the love – and not just from husband Blake Shelton."Llama kisses!" she Tweeted on Friday, sharing a photo of her up-close-and-personal...

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Stocks extend gains after Fed unveils stimulus plan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose to seven-week highs on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced a new stimulus plan, its latest attempt to boost the country's struggling economy. The new plan will replace a more modest program due to expire with a fresh round of Treasury purchases that will increase its balance sheet, as was widely expected. The S&P 500 ticked up...

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Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major...

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Afghan Law Offering Abused Women Redress Makes Slow Gains

KABUL, Afghanistan — Women who suffer violence in Afghanistan are often afraid to report abuses to government authorities and rarely see their cases taken to trial, though prosecutors regularly obtain convictions when cases do go forward, according to a report released on Tuesday by the United Nations office here. The detailed study of the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act, enacted...

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Web host Go Daddy appoints former Yahoo executive as CEO

(Reuters) – Go Daddy, one of the world’s biggest Internet hosting firms, appointed Yahoo Inc‘s former Chief Product Officer Blake Irving as chief executive.He will take over from interim CEO Scott Wagner on January 7. Irving left Yahoo, where he headed a centralized products group that straddled several client types, on April 27.“Blake Irving’s deep technology experience and his history of developing...

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Man Builds Full-Scale Replica of Noah's Ark

People Pets By Stephen M. Silverman 12/11/2012 at 02:15 PM EST Johan Huibers and his ark Peter Dejong/AP He may have trouble finding two animals of every kind, but Johan Huibers of the Netherlands isn't one to be dissuaded.After 20 years, the professional builder...

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Tech titans, "cliff" hopes push indexes up

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rising shares in technology companies helped push major stock indexes up around 1 percent on Tuesday, as the S&P 500 reached its best levels since mid-October, recouping its post-election selloff. A 3.1 percent gain in Apple Inc's stock lifted the Nasdaq, as the largest U.S. company by market value rebounded from a week in which investors took profits before...

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed...

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Morsi Spokesman Tries to Clarify Military Order

Petr David Josek/Associated PressDemonstrators camping out in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Monday. CAIRO — A day after President Mohamed Morsi formally directed the military to help keep public order and authorized soldiers to arrest civilians, a spokesman on Monday sought to draw distinctions between the order and the forms of martial law that the Egyptian Army had previously imposed. The spokesman,...

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China party chief stresses reform, censors relax grasp on internet

BEIJING (Reuters) – China must deepen reforms to perfect its market economy and strengthen rule of law, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said in southern Guangdong, echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping in the same province 20 years ago.Xi’s call for reform was reported on Monday, coinciding with an apparent easing of Internet search restrictions that the party has...

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Pink Offers Sympathy for Kate's Pregnancy Woes

By Andrea Billups 12/10/2012 at 02:30 PM EST Pink and Willow Sage Hart NPG She's tiny, athletic and so fit she can sing while hanging upside down performing Cirque du Soleil-style moves. But Pink says she was just like many other women when she was pregnant last...

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed...

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Wall Street edges up, led by McDonald's and tech

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks advanced slightly on Monday, helped by gains in McDonald's after the fast-food giant posted strong sales results, and a move up in technology shares. Technology stocks were the S&P 500's best-performing sector as Hewlett-Packard Co climbed 2.5 percent to $14.14 on rumors that activist investor Carl Icahn is building a stake in the PC maker. The stock is...

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