Twin explosions strike southern Syrian city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria‘s state-run news agency says two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage.SANA did not immediately give further information or say what the target of Saturday’s explosions was. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights...

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SEC staffers used government computers for personal use: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Several U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staffers responsible for monitoring the markets and exchanges broadly misused computer equipment to download music and failed to properly safeguard sensitive information, a report has found.In a 43-page investigative report that probed the misuse of government resources, SEC Interim...

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Sony Animation preps sequel to hit “Hotel Transylvania”

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Sony Pictures Animation will make a sequel to “Hotel Transylania,” one of the year’s surprise hits, a spokesman for the studio told TheWrap.Tentatively titled “Hotel Transylvania 2,” the film is set for a 2015 release. There is no director attached at the moment. Genndy Tartakovsky, who directed the first one, will be helming Sony...

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Beer after work at the bar: a U.S. tradition is getting stale

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – A tattooed man with a goatee shakes five dice in a black cup, slams it down on the bar and watches as they come to rest among half-full beer bottles and empty shot glasses.“Nothin,” he says in disgust as he quickly slaps down a $ 20 bill to buy another round of drinks, in a U.S. ritual of beer drinking after work that is undergoing...

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FBI probe of Petraeus began with 'suspicious emails'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI investigation that led to the discovery of CIA Director David Petraeus' affair with author Paula Broadwell was sparked by "suspicious emails" that initially did not contain any connection to Petraeus, U.S. law enforcement and security officials told Reuters on Saturday. But the CIA director's name unexpectedly turned up in the course of the investigation,...

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Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Syria‘s main opposition group in exile has elected a Christian Paris-based former geography teacher as its new president.George Sabra said Friday that his election as head of the Syrian National Council is a sign that the opposition is not plagued by sectarian divisions. Sabra says the SNC‘s main demand...

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The Navy SEALs who shared secrets with video-game makers

After consulting on the new Medal of Honor game, the team of SEALs famous for killing Osama bin Laden finds itself in hot water for divulging military informationThe covert operatives who make up Navy SEAL Team 6 may have captured the nation’s imagination when they took down Osama bin Laden, but now a handful of them are getting a pay cut. According...

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Frankfurt gears up for Gangnam Style at MTV awards

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The MTV Europe Music Awards will rock Frankfurt’s Festhalle concert venue on Sunday, with Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna leading the nominations and all eyes on Korean dance sensation Psy.Psy‘s hit “Gangnam Style“, which is up for the Best Video award, has been viewed more than 670 million times and received a record-breaking 4.9...

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Las guías hospitalarias no reducen las reinternaciones: estudio

NUEVA YORK (Reuters Health) – Las guías de procedimientospara garantizarles a los pacientes hospitalarios el acceso a servicios de calidad también apuntan a reducir la necesidad dereinternaciones, pero un nuevo estudio sugiere que esa relacióncasi no existiría.“La idea era que al aumentar la calidad de la atenciónmejorarían...

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CIA chief admits affair, resigns

CIA Director David Petraeus resigned his post on Friday, confessing to having shown "extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair." The former Army general rocketed to global prominence as the man in charge of the "surge" in Iraq and later the commander of American forces in Afghanistan.President Barack Obama said Petraeus had led the Central Intelligence Agency "with characteristic...

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Myanmar says Obama to visit later this month

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — President Barack Obama will make a groundbreaking visit later this month to Myanmar, an official said Thursday, following through with his policy of rapprochement to encourage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.The Myanmar official speaking from the capital, Naypyitaw, said Thursday that security for a visit on Nov. 18 or 19...

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Exclusive: Google Ventures beefs up fund size to $300 million a year

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google will increase the cash it allocates to its venture-capital arm to up to $300 million a year from $200 million, catapulting Google Ventures into the top echelon of corporate venture-capital funds. Access to that sizeable checkbook means Google Ventures will be able to invest in more later-stage financing rounds, which tend to be in the tens of millions...

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“Dancing” co-host Brooke Burke has thyroid cancer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Brooke Burke said on Thursday that she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and will need surgery.The television presenter and model said in a three-minute video posted on the website Modernmom.com that she will need her thyroid removed. “I need to have thyroid...

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UK’s NICE rejects Novartis asthma drug in change of tack

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain‘s health cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE plans to recommend against the use of Novartis‘s severe asthma drug Xolair, or omalizumab, after earlier endorsing it for adults only.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which decides if medicines should be given on the state health service, said on Friday...

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Boehner: Raising tax rates 'unacceptable'

Raising tax rates is "unacceptable" to House Speaker John Boehner as he prepares to open negotiations on the looming "fiscal cliff" with the president and congressional Democrats, he told "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer today in an exclusive interview."Raising tax rates is unacceptable," Boehner, R-Ohio, said in his first broadcast interview since the election Tuesday."Frankly,...

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Merkel says Germany, Britain must work together on EU

LONDON (Reuters) – Germany and Britain must cooperate to work round their differences on the European Union‘s long-term spending plans, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.“Despite differences that we have it is very important for me that the UK and Germany work together,” Merkel said through a translator before a meeting in London with Prime...

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Apple slides to five-month low, uncertainty grows

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Death of the cassette tape much exaggerated

LONDON (Reuters) – The widening gap between the amount of data the world produces and our capacity to store it is giving a new lease of life to the humble cassette tape.Although consumers have abandoned the audio cassette in favor of the ubiquitous iPod, organizations with large amounts of data, from patient records to capacity-hungry video archives, have...

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Organ on a chip? Scientists test drugs on tiny, artificial lung

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. researchers have begun testing drugs using a microchip lined with living cells that replicates many of the features of a human lung, a technology that may one day help improve drug testing and reduce researchers’ dependence on animal studies.In 2010, researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering...

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Latino groups to Obama: You owe us

Voters in a polling place in East Los Angeles on Tuesday (David McNew/Getty Images)In initially off-the-record comments to the Des Moines Register's editors in October, President Barack Obama said that if he won re-election, he would owe it to Latinos."Should I win a second term," Obama said, "a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so...

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Officials: New mass graves found in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Up to 10 new mass graves have been discovered near the site of a July attack on a camp for displaced people, officials said Tuesday, amid allegations that initial casualty totals were downplayed to mask killings carried out by the national army.Rights groups claim summary executions were carried out by the Republican Forces...

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Exclusive - Amazon to win EU e-book pricing tussle with Apple

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union regulators are to end an antitrust probe into e-book prices by accepting an offer by Apple and four publishers to ease price restrictions on Amazon, two sources said on Tuesday. That decision would hand online retailer Amazon a victory in its attempt to sell e-books cheaper than rivals in the fast-growing market publishers hope will boost revenue and...

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