India’s Prime Minister says to speed up sale of stakes in state firms

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will speed up the sale of stakes in state companies to revive the stock market and will push ahead with reforms aimed at spurring an investment recovery in the flagging economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.Selling equity in large public industries is a central plank of the government‘s plan to bring down a wide fiscal deficit, a major weakness in Asia’s...

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NKorea rocket launch shows young leader as gambler

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — A triumphant North Korea staged a mass rally of soldiers and civilians Friday to glorify the country’s young ruler, who took a big gamble this week in sending a satellite into orbit in defiance of international warnings.Wednesday’s rocket launch came just eight months after a similar attempt ended in an embarrassing public failure, and just under a year after Kim Jong...

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One Direction, Rihanna, Adele lead Billboard 2012 charts

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Newcomer British boy band One Direction joined R&B diva Rihanna and British singer Adele to top Billboard‘s year-end music charts, released on Friday.One Direction, who topped the Billboard 200 album chart twice this year with their debut, “Up All Night” in March and their sophomore album “Take Me Home” in November, were named Billboard‘s top new artist/group, rounding...

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How to talk to your children about a school shooting

(Reuters) – When parents ask how they can comfort and reassure their children after a tragedy that receives extensive news coverage, the usual advice is to be supportive and reassuring but don’t offer false assurance, experts say.“Children want to know they’re safe and will stay safe. Parents can convey that by what they say and how they behave,” said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent...

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Euro factory output pain eases

14 December 2012 Last updated at 05:43 ETPlease turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Markit’s senior economist Rob Dobson: “There’s some sign of light at the end of the tunnel”The decline in the eurozone’s manufacturing sector has eased, a closely watched survey indicates, in a rare spot of good news for the region.Markit’s eurozone manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to...

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Cuban lawmakers meet to consider economy, budget

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban lawmakers are holding the second of their twice-annual sessions with a year-end report expected on the state of the country’s economy.Legislators are also to approve next year’s budget.Cuban leaders have sometimes used the parliamentary gatherings to make important announcements or policy statements.Observers will be watching for word on the progress of President Raul Castro‘s...

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Microsoft plots living room domination with 43 new entertainment apps for Xbox 360

Game consoles are no longer simply for video games, as evidenced by last week’s announcement that the PlayStation 3 is the top Netflix (NFLX) streaming device of the year. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s (MSFT) chief marketing officer for its Interactive Entertainment Division, said this past March that Xbox 360 owners were spending more hours watching online entertainment...

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Politico financier Joe L. Allbritton dies at 87

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Joe L. Allbritton, the millionaire founder of Politico‘s parent company, died Wednesday of heart ailments in a Houston hospital. He was 87.The founder of Allbritton Communications, which launched Politico and owns several television stations, built the Washington, D.C.-based media empire after controversy-fraught years as the chief of Riggs National Bank.Born in Mississippi...

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Blood Clots Are Ready for Their Close-Up [Slide Show]

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India Debates Facebook and Free Speech

It started with a comment on Facebook (FB). On Nov. 17, Bal Thackeray, leader of the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena, died in Mumbai. The party’s members often clash with Muslims and are known for their street brawling. When their leader died, party stalwarts told Mumbai’s merchants to shut their stores the next day out of respect for Thackeray. At 7 p.m. on Nov. 18, Shaheen Dhada,...

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