Prison riot continues in Venezuela with 55 reported dead

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Crazy Alien Weather: Lightning-Filled Rocket Dust Storms of Mars

Scientists have modeled the internal workings of lightning-filled “rocket dust storms” on Mars that rise at speeds 100 times faster than ordinary storms and inject dust high into the Martian atmosphere.The Red Planet is a very dry and dusty place, with global storms that sometimes obscure the entire surface. Satellites orbiting Mars have seen persistent dust layers reaching very high altitudes,...

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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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Deadly protests roil Egypt on anniversary of revolution

CAIRO — At least five people were killed and hundreds were injured Friday as protests swept across Egypt over the Islamist-led...

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Game|Life Podcast: Nintendo Goes for Broke, THQ and Atari Just Go Broke

Some weeks, there’s not a whole lot to talk about on the ol’ podcast. Not this week! I pretty much sit Wired senior editor Peter Rubin down in the studio, turn the microphones on, pretend he is the internet and start yelling at him for a good hour. He gamely sits through it.Topics of discussion this week: The THQ and Atari bankruptcies and the aftermath of the THQ auction,...

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Brooke Shields signs up for a hitch on Lifetime’s “Army Wives”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Brooke Shields has signed up for the Air Force – or at least the Air Force as it’s portrayed on “Army Wives.”“Pretty Baby” star Shields will join the cast of the Lifetime series for its seventh season, the network said Thursday.Shields will play Katherine “Kat” Young, a brash, brilliant Air Force colonel and crack C-17 pilot who clashes with Gen. Michael Holden (Brian McNamara)...

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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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Court Rejects Recess Appointments to Labor Board

WASHINGTON — In a ruling that called into question nearly two centuries of presidential “recess” appointments that bypass the Senate confirmation process, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that President Obama violated the Constitution when he installed three officials on the National Labor Relations Board a year ago. The ruling was a blow to the administration and a victory for Mr....

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Stock sell-off shows an emotional investment in Apple

A friend of mine, a weatherman for a local TV station, always greets me the same way: "Time to sell my Apple stock?"And I always offer the same response: Do you still like the company?"Yes." Then don't sell it.Investors were wringing their hands Thursday over Apple's prospects, even though the company...

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Architect Designs 3-D Printed, Mobius Strip-Inspired Landscape House

Architects have tossed around the idea of 3-D printing buildings, but Universe Architect’s first one could have a twist.Inspired by the Mobius strip, Janjaap Ruijssenaars’ house design wraps around itself, twisting the interior to the exterior and back. Ruijssenaars and his collaborator, artist and mathematician Rinus Roelofs, call it the Landscape House because landscapes,...

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GLAAD protests Nat Geo’s collaboration with Boy Scouts

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The advocacy group backed a Change.org petition started by Will Oliver, a 20-year-old gay Eagle Scout, that calls on Nat Geo to air a disclaimer clarifying the network’s views before each episode of its new series, “Are You Tougher than a Boy Scout.” It debuts this spring.“That National Geographic would brush aside countless gay teens suffering at the hands of the BSA,...

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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: In Davos, Merkel Presses Leaders to Keep Focus on Economy

DAVOS, Switzerland — Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on Thursday warned her fellow euro zone leaders not to falter in their efforts to reinvigorate their economies now that they face less pressure from financial markets. She gave voice to widespread concern here that a tentative European recovery could be undercut by political complacency.Measures in recent months by the European Central Bank...

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Number of homes entering foreclosure drops 22.1% to six-year low

California's foreclosure crisis eased considerably during the final quarter of last year, with the number of homes entering...

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Google Tells Cops to Get Warrants for User E-Mail, Cloud Data

Google demands probable-cause, court-issued warrants to divulge the contents of Gmail and other cloud-stored documents to authorities in the United States — a startling revelation Wednesday that runs counter to federal law that does not always demand warrants.The development surfaced as Google publicly announced that more than two-thirds of the user data Google forwards to government agencies...

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Adele to perform Bond theme song “Skyfall” live at Oscars

LONDON (Reuters) – British singer Adele will return to the stage next month after a year absence to perform her Oscar-nominated song “Skyfall” at the 85th Academy Awards, the show’s producers said on Wednesday.The theme tune to the latest James Bond movie was written by Adele and Paul Epworth. It is the first Bond theme to be nominated for the original song award at the Oscars since “For Your Eyes...

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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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