Egypt’s Mursi calls referendum as Islamists march

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt‘s President Mohamed Mursi called a December 15 referendum on a draft constitution on Saturday as at least 200,000 Islamists demonstrated in Cairo to back him after opposition fury over his newly expanded powers.Speaking after receiving the final draft of the constitution from the Islamist-dominated assembly, Mursi urged a national dialogue as the country nears the end of the...

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Facebook Cover Photos Are Disappearing

In the scope of a couple of days, several people — including Mashable staffers — have seen their Facebook cover photos disappear without explanation. The issue appears to be a move by Facebook to aggressively crack down on images that are considered promotional.[More from Mashable: 500,000 Facebook Users Chase Fake $ 1 Million From Powerball ‘Winner’]I first encountered the issue yesterday when Facebook...

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“Hobbit” may bring a Hollywood ending to 2012 box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took more than a decade, two directors and a lawsuit before “The Hobbit” made it to the big screen. Hollywood executives are crossing their fingers that the culmination of that journey will help smash movie box office records this year.The film, which opens on December 14, is expected to contribute to the first annual box office increase in North America in three years,...

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Asperger’s dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term “Asperger‘s disorder” is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But “dyslexia” and other learning disorders remain.The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation’s psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.Full details...

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Police: Kansas City Chiefs player kills girlfriend, takes own life

Chiefs and Panthers will play at regularly scheduled time on Sunday: The Kansas City Chiefs announced that Sund... http://t.co/Ah1nF...

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Oliver Stone, Benicio del Toro visit Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Benicio Del Toro didn’t wait long to collect on a favor that Oliver Stone owed him for working extra hours on the set of his most recent movie, “Savages”, released this year.The favor? A trip to Del Toro‘s native Puerto Rico, which Stone hadn’t visited since the early 1960s.“I told him, you owe me one,” Del Toro said with a smile as he recalled the conversation during...

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Act of kindness turns New York cop into media darling

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. national media just got the perfect holiday gift: a feel-good tale about a young police officer who dug into his own pocket to put boots on a barefoot panhandler on a freezing city sidewalk.Even better was the way the story of New York City Police Officer Larry DePrimo‘s kindness unfolded.Thanks to a blurry Facebook photo snapped on a cell phone by a tourist who happened...

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Pelosi vows to force tax rate vote

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)WASHINGTON—House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will try to force a vote on the House floor to extend current tax rates for the middle class next week if Republicans do not act, the California Democrat announced on Friday.During a press conference on Capitol Hill, Pelosi called on House Republicans, who control the chamber, to hold another...

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Noisy city: Cacophony in Caracas sparks complaints

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — This metropolis of 6 million people may be one of the world’s most intense, overwhelming cities, with tremendous levels of crime, traffic and social strife. The sounds of Caracas‘ streets live up to its reputation.Stand on any downtown corner, and the cacophony can be overpowering: Deafening horns blast from oncoming buses, traffic police shrilly blow their whistles and sirens...

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Zynga slides after updated agreement with Facebook

NEW YORK (AP) — Zynga shares tumbled nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading Thursday after the online game company and Facebook disclosed that they changed their relationship status to become less attached to each other.Zynga Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will no longer have to display Facebook ads or use Facebook payments on its own properties — such as Zynga.com. In addition...

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“Homeland” in, “Boardwalk Empire” out in PGA TV nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Emmy-winning dramas “Homeland”, “Mad Men” and British period piece “Downton Abbey” will compete for the annual Producers Guild Awards for the top shows on U.S. television, organizers announced on Wednesday.But last year’s winner – HBO’s lavish Prohibition-era gangster drama “Boardwalk Empire” – failed to make the cut this year with the Producers Guild of America, one of the...

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Drug, alcohol abuse tied to early-life strokes

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Younger adults who suffered a stroke were often smokers or had abused drugs or alcohol, in a new study from Ohio and Kentucky.Although strokes are often thought of as a condition of the elderly, researchers said long-term changes in the heart, arteries and blood as a result of drug abuse or heavy drinking may put users at higher-than-average risk earlier in life.It’s also...

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U.N. upgrades Palestine to 'state,' U.S. objects

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians and an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the U.N. was approved by a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions, in the 193-member world body.A Palestinian flag...

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Rapper PSY wants Tom Cruise to go ‘Gangnam Style’

BANGKOK (AP) — The South Korean rapper behind YouTube’s most-viewed video ever has set what might be a “Mission: Impossible” for himself.Asked which celebrity he would like to see go “Gangnam Style,” the singer PSY told The Associated Press: “Tom Cruise!”Surrounded by screaming fans, he then chuckled at the idea of the American movie star doing his now famous horse-riding dance.PSY’s comments Wednesday...

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Wii U Sells 400,000 Units in First Week

Nintendo‘s Wii U sold 400,000 units during its first week of sales, and Nintendo’s president has said the console is “virtually sold out” at retailers.[More from Mashable: YouTube-Exclusive ‘Halo’ Miniseries Nets 26 Million Views]The Wii U, Nintendo’s next-generation console that features a touch screen as a controller centerpiece, was released on Nov. 18 across the United States. Despite large crowds...

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Former boxing champ Mike Tyson to take one-man show on the road

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson plans to take his one-man theater show on the road across the United States early next year.Tyson, 45, made the announcement on ABC’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday.“Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth” is an autobiographical monologue performed by Tyson in which he reflects upon his tough childhood in Brooklyn, the absence...

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Researchers Warn: Don’t Mix Grapefruit, Some Prescriptions

Before you toss that gorgeous grapefruit into your grocery cart, think twice. Canadian researchers say that grapefruit plus some prescription medications can be deadly, or at least cause severe side effects.Researchers from Ontario’s Lawson Health Research Institute first studied interactions between the fruit and certain prescription medications two decades ago. According to Medical News Today, the...

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'We had the best crop in years': Residents feel pinch after FDA shutters plant

PORTALES, N.M. (AP) — Farmers in a revered peanut-growing region along the New Mexico-Texas border should be celebrating one of the best harvests in recent memory.Instead, millions of pounds of their prized sweet Valencia peanuts sit in barns at a peanut butter plant shuttered for two months amid a salmonella outbreak that sickened 41 people in 20 states.Farmers are worried about getting paid for...

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Rugby-England add flyhalf Burns to squad for All Blacks’ test

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – England called up uncapped Gloucester flyhalf Freddie Burns on Tuesday to their squad for Saturday’s test against New Zealand in place of the injured Toby Flood.Flood sustained ligament damage to a big toe during the 16-15 loss to South Africa at Twickenham last Saturday.Owen Farrell, whose last start was in the first test in South Africa this year, is set to replace Flood...

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The Wii U sells out in its first week: Evidence of a Nintendo comeback?

The latest console from the videogame pioneer is flying off the shelves. But are the kids really still into Mario and Zelda?Earlier this year, Nintendo posted its first annual loss in three decades, a grim omen for the pathbreaking videogame maker that introduced the world to classic characters like Mario, Donkey Kong, and Link. The Japanese company has struggled amidst an industry-wide decline in...

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Turkish PM fumes over steamy Ottoman soap opera

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A hit TV show about the Ottoman Empire‘s longest-reigning Sultan has raised a political storm in Turkey, with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urging legal action over historical inaccuracies and the opposition accusing him of artistic tyranny.Erdogan tore into the weekly soap opera “Magnificent Century”, which attracts an audience of up to 150 million people in Turkey as well as...

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Former presidential nominee Dole in hospital: media reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole has been admitted to Washington’s Walter Reed Army medical center for what an aide called a “routine procedure,” media reports said on Tuesday.Dole, 89, “self-checked into the hospital for a routine procedure and will be discharged tomorrow,” an aide told NBC News. “He’s doing very well.”According to Politico, Senate Majority Leader...

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W.H. blasts GOP 'obsession' with Rice

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee—flanked by fellow committee …The White House sharply escalated its attacks Tuesday on Republicans trying to stop Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice from succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. Press secretary Jay Carney described GOP lawmakers as being gripped by a politically fueled...

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HP hit with civil securities lawsuit over Autonomy deal

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co was sued on Monday by an investor who claimed the company knew statements about its Autonomy acquisition were misleading and led the stock to fall, according to lawyers representing the plaintiff.The proposed class action lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco federal court.HP dropped a bombshell last Tuesday with an $ 8.8 billion write-down on its acquisition...

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Actor: CBS comedy ‘Two and a Half Men’ is ‘filth’

NEW YORK (AP) — The teenage actor who plays the half in the hit CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men” says it’s “filth” and through a video posted by a Christian church has urged viewers not to watch it.Nineteen-year-old Angus T. Jones has been on the show since he was 10 but says he doesn’t want to be on it. He says, “Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth.”The video was posted...

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FDA flexes new muscles, shuts down plant

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration halted operations of the country's largest organic peanut butter processor Monday, cracking down on salmonella poisoning for the first time with the new enforcement authority the agency gained in a 2011 food safety law.FDA officials found salmonella all over Sunland Inc.'s New Mexico processing plant after 41 people in 20 states, most of them children,...

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