DA investigating Texas' troubled $3B cancer agency

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Turmoil surrounding an unprecedented $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas worsened Tuesday when its executive director offered his resignation and the state's chief public corruption prosecutor announced an investigation into the beleaguered agency.No specific criminal allegations are driving the latest probe into the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, said...

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Shares, euro supported by hopes for Fed easing

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro edged higher on Wednesday supported by expectations of more monetary stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve when it ends its two-day policy meeting later in the day. Oil, copper and gold prices were also underpinned by the talk as well as by recent positive economic data from Europe and the United States, while the dollar hovered near multi-month...

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India Ink: A Rare View Inside Delhi's Royal Court

With her thinly arched eyebrows, flowing mane of black hair and polished English, the journalist Tavleen Singh looks very much the part of the upper-class New Delhi socialite, a set into which she was born and in which she moves with ease.Yet unlike most members of this fast-fading network of genteel affluence, who abide by a strict code of discretion, Ms. Singh has broken ranks by writing a memoir,...

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Hayden Panettiere Splits with Scotty McKnight

12/10/2012 at 07:50 PM EST Hayden Panettiere and Scotty McKnight Splash News Online Is there a tear in her beer?Nashville star Hayden Panettiere has broken up with her boyfriend of more than a year, New York Jets wide receiver Scotty McKnight, a source confirms...

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New tests could hamper food outbreak detection

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's about to get faster and easier to diagnose food poisoning, but that progress for individual patients comes with a downside: It could hurt the nation's ability to spot and solve dangerous outbreaks.Next-generation tests that promise to shave a few days off the time needed to tell whether E. coli, salmonella or other foodborne bacteria caused a patient's illness could reach medical...

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European shares dip, euro steady ahead of ZEW, Fed

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and Italian bonds edged lower on Tuesday as political turmoil in Italy weighed on confidence, but moves were subdued as investors waited for German confidence data later and the U.S. Federal Reserve's end of year meeting. Following some disappointing euro zone data this month, the ZEW survey of German business sentiment will be released at 1000 GMT (5...

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Damascus Is Tested as Clashes Draw Near

Muzaffar Salman/ReutersA member of Syria's symphony orchestra ahead of a concert in Damascus in November. DAMASCUS, Syria — Business has been terrible for Abu Tareq, a taxi driver, so last week, without telling his wife, he agreed to drive a man to the Damascus airport for 10 times the usual rate. But, he said later, he will not be doing that again. On the airport road, he could hear the...

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Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Kick Off Special Series of Las Vegas Shows

By Mark Gray 12/09/2012 at 05:00 PM EST Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Denise Truscello/WireImage Tim McGraw and Faith Hill looked at each other, their hands on each others knees and shared a passionate kiss just after midnight Sunday morning. The moment was a long...

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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...

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Stock index futures signal lower Wall Street open

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 falling 0.1 to 0.3 percent. President Barack Obama met with Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner on Sunday at the White House to negotiate ways to avoid the "fiscal cliff," according to White House officials...

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