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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Katzenberg, Spielberg attend Governors Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stars such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are arriving at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Los Angeles to pay homage to four industry heavyweights.The film academy’s fourth annual Governors Awards are being presented Saturday to honorary Oscar winners Jeffrey Katzenberg, stuntman Hal Needham, documentarian D.A. Pennebaker and American Film Institute founding director George...

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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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Yahoo ‘ordered to pay $2.7bn’

30 November 2012 Last updated at 17:36 ETInternet group Yahoo says it has been ordered to pay $ 2.7bn (£1.68bn) by a Mexican court.The reported ruling follows a lawsuit stemming from allegations of breach of contract and lost profits related to a yellow pages listing service.Yahoo said it “believes the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and will vigorously pursue all appeals”.The lawsuit had been...

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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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Dr. Dre ranks as Forbes’ highest-paid musician, at $100 million

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – You may be singing “Call Me Maybe” or dancing “Gangnam Style” to this year’s music, but it was veteran hip-hop artist Dr. Dre who topped Forbes‘ list of the 25 highest-paid musicians in 2012, released on Thursday.California native Dre, 47, became one of the leading names in hip-hop and rap in the early 1990s and has worked with artists including Eminem and Snoop Dogg.Along...

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Obama aides seek to counter Republican charges on ‘fiscal cliff’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration sought to counter Republican charges on Friday that President Barack Obama‘s plan to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff” is light on spending cuts and too reliant on tax increases.Administration officials said the overall plan, offered to Republicans on Thursday and quickly rejected by them, would achieve $ 4.5 trillion in savings to the government. This...

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Boeing, engineers tentatively agree to resume talks

(Reuters) – Boeing Co and the union that represents its 23,000 engineers tentatively agreed to resume labor talks on Tuesday, after their negotiations on a new contract ended abruptly on Thursday.But tension rose as the two sides sparred over efforts to engage a federal mediator to help them reach a new labor contract.Boeing said late on Friday that the union had declined its offer to attend meetings...

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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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Attorneys say Halle Berry, ex settle dispute

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorneys for Halle Berry and her ex-boyfriend have settled court issues that arose after a Thanksgiving Day fight at the actress’ home.The fisticuffs involved Berry’s ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry and her fiance, actor Olivier Martinez. Aubry was arrested after the fight, which left him with a black eye, a broken rib and other injuries.Aubry obtained a temporary restraining order...

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Ranbaxy halts generic Lipitor production after recall: FDA

(Reuters) – Indian generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories will stop manufacturing its version of Pfizer Inc‘s cholesterol fighter, Lipitor, while it gets to the bottom of the cause of a recent recall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on its website.Earlier this month, Ranbaxy recalled certain lots of the widely used cholesterol lowering medicine known generically as atorvastatin at doses...

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The Curious Case of Samsung’s Missing TVs

In August, workers at Samsung Electronics (005930) in the South Korean city of Suwon swathed 60 next-generation televisions in bubble wrap and nailed them into wooden crates. Two weeks later, when the boxes were opened at a Berlin trade show, two TVs were missing. The 55-inch prototypes—each costing $ 10,000 and weighing about 43 pounds—featured breakthrough technology known as organic light-emitting...

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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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Samsung takes aim at Japanese rivals with Android camera

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co is taking aim at its Japanese rivals with an Android-powered digital camera that allows users to swiftly and wirelessly upload pictures to social networking sites.The Galaxy camera lets users connect to a mobile network or Wi-Fi to share photographs and video without having to hook up the camera to a computer.While it’s...

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Cate Blanchett in negotiations for evil stepmother in Disney’s Cinderella film

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Cate Blanchett is in negotiations to play the evil stepmother in Disney‘s re-imagining of the classic fairytale Cinderella, the “Untitled Cinderella Story,” an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.Blanchett would be the first to be cast in the live-action film. It is being directed by Mark Romanek for the studio based on a script by Chris Weitz.The film...

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Arizona declines to set up state-based health insurance exchange

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said on Wednesday she was rejecting a major provision of President Barack Obama‘s healthcare reform law that calls for creating state-based health insurance markets where consumers can purchase private, federally subsidized coverage.Citing lingering questions about the plan and operating costs she said would be passed on to families and small businesses,...

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Report: Economy boosted entrepreneurship in 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — The slow improvement in the economy gave a huge boost to entrepreneurship in the U.S. last year, according to a study released Thursday.More than 29 million people were starting or running new businesses in 2011, the study by Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., and Baruch College in New York shows. That was a 60 percent gain from 2010, when entrepreneurship was hurt by uncertainty...

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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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Robbie Williams aims to seal solo legacy with tour

LONDON (Reuters) – Still famous as the in-again/out-again member of chart-topping boyband Take That, British singer Robbie Williams says it is time to get serious as a solo artist and prove his place at the top of the pop pile.Williams told reporters on Monday he planned a 15-date European stadium tour kicking off in Manchester on June 19, 2013 and concluding in Tallinn, Estonia on August 20.“I’m...

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Flu Symptoms Drove Boston Mayor to Hospital

When Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ended his vacation in Italy short this fall and checked into a Boston hospital complaining of a respiratory infection, it led doctors to find and treat a blood clot in his leg, a fracture in his back, an infection around the fracture and type 2 diabetes.Cold and flu symptoms from respiratory infections can be a hassle, but sometimes that fever and cough can be good...

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China ‘not currency manipulator’

27 November 2012 Last updated at 16:41 ETThe US has decided not to declare China as having manipulated its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage.But the Treasury did say that China’s currency, the yuan, remains “significantly undervalued” and urged China to make further progress.In its semi-annual report, it said Beijing did not meet the criteria to be called a currency manipulator, which could...

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Dog days in Cuba: from shih tzus to schnauzers

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban capital has played host to political summits and art festivals, ballet tributes and international baseball competitions. Now dog lovers are getting their chance to take center stage.Hundreds of people from all over Cuba and several other countries came to a scruffy field near Revolution Plaza this past week to preen and fuss over the shih tzus, beagles, schnauzers and cocker...

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Man accused of stealing Tim Allen’s Chevy Impala

DENVER (AP) — A man suspected of stealing one of Tim Allen‘s custom cars says the comedian left the keys so he could drive it to Denver.Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Monday that 34-year-old Faustino Ibarra is being held without bond while awaiting extradition to California after his arrest on Saturday.In a jailhouse interview with KDVR-TV (http://bit.ly/TpJirK ), Ibarra claimed Allen...

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Medications for Treating a Common Infection Are Losing Effectiveness

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics continues to be a vexing problem in the United States, particularly in the southeastern part of the country, according to a new report that tracks antibiotic resistance patterns.The survey found a decline in the number of MRSA infections—methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus—a potentially dangerous skin infection. However, more antibiotics are becoming resistant...

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Asian shares, euro rise on Greek debt deal

TOKYO (Reuters) – The euro hit a one-month high and Asian shares climbed for a seventh consecutive day on Tuesday while commodities rose and the dollar eased after a deal on new debt targets for Greece and a political agreement on disbursing the next installment of aid.After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece’s international lenders agreed on a package of measures to...

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Israel successfully tests missile defense system

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel successfully tested its newest missile defense system Sunday, the military said, a step toward making the third leg of what Israel calls its “multilayer missile defense” operational.The “David’s Sling” system is designed to stop mid-range missiles. It successfully passed its test, shooting down its first missile in a drill Sunday in southern Israel, the military said.The system...

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