| 'The Interview' is back on Posted: 23 Dec 2014 04:48 PM PST  Sony has reportedly reversed course on pulling the film.
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| U.S. to lift ban on blood donations from gay men Posted: 23 Dec 2014 11:25 AM PST  The US Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will move to ease a lifetime ban on blood donations from homosexual men, allowing them to give after a year of abstaining from sexual activity. The FDA said it made the decision after reviewing scientific evidence in recent years regarding its blood donor policy for homosexual males. "The agency will take the necessary steps to recommend a change to the blood donor deferral period for men who have sex with men from indefinite deferral to one year since the last sexual contact," said a statement from FDA Director Margaret Hamburg. A growing number of medical and legal experts have argued that the existing restrictions are outdated, and that sophisticated tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) exist that can make blood donation by gay men a much safer practice.
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| Rep. Michael Grimm pleads guilty to tax evasion Posted: 23 Dec 2014 12:25 PM PST  A US congressman pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion Tuesday, the latest stain for a lawmaker dogged by controversy but who won re-election last month despite indictment on criminal charges. Michael Grimm, a former FBI agent who represents parts of New York's Staten Island and Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return that underreported wages and sales in 2009. The House Republican, whose federal court trial was due to begin February 2, faces up to 36 months in a federal prison. The charge is linked to his conduct while owner of a Manhattan health food restaurant before he became a member of the House of Representatives in early 2011.
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| Big news for Obamacare Posted: 23 Dec 2014 09:01 AM PST  Healthcare.gov's recent open enrollment period boasts big numbers.
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| Canadian found guilty of murdering, dismembering Chinese student Posted: 23 Dec 2014 10:29 AM PST  By Nelson Wyatt MONTREAL (Reuters) - A Canadian man who killed and dismembered a Chinese student in Montreal in 2012 was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday, with the jury delivering the verdict after more than a week of deliberating the gruesome case. Luka Magnotta, 32, had admitted to killing and dismembering engineering student Jun Lin, 33, but pleaded not guilty on grounds of mental illness. ...
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| 'The Interview' is back on Posted: Sony has reportedly reversed course and the film will come out. |
| Abbas says to cut ties with Israel if UN move fails Posted: 23 Dec 2014 07:36 AM PST  Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned on Tuesday that his administration would "no longer deal" with Israel if a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a final peace deal fails. The Palestinian draft resolution sets a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final peace settlement and the end of 2017 as the timeframe for completing an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories. A final peace deal would pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as a shared capital, according to the text. Speculation has been mounting since the death in December of a Palestinian official who was struck by an Israeli soldier that the Palestinian Authority could suspend security coordination with Israel in the West Bank if the resolution fails to pass.
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| Economy grows at fast 5% annual rate Posted: US economy grew at fast 5 pct. annual rate in Q3 |
| N. Korea's Internet back online after outage Posted: 23 Dec 2014 11:30 AM PST  The hours-long shutdown followed a U.S. vow to respond to a cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
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| New York mayor calls for pause in protests after police killings Posted: 23 Dec 2014 10:38 AM PST  By Jonathan Allen and Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - (This Dec 22 story corrects age of police officer Liu to 32 from 28, paragraph 3) New York Mayor Bill de Blasio implored protesters on Monday to wait until after the funerals of two policemen shot dead in an ambush before resuming rallies that have roiled the city and beyond over the deaths of black men at the hands of police. ...
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| Argentine Orangutan unfazed by right to freedom ruling Posted: 22 Dec 2014 11:32 PM PST  Sandra the orangutan took her newfound fame in stride after an Argentine court upheld her right to be freed from a zoo, munching a melon and putting the rind on her head for the cameras. In a world first, a court ruled that Sandra was entitled to some of the basic rights of a human being and as such was being subjected to unjust confinement at the Buenos Aires Zoo, where she has lived for the past 20 years. Zoo officials said they were still scratching their heads at the court's decision. It's a large space, there are specialists who take care of her diet, monitor her health, and in general she lives in very good conditions," said Adrian Sestelo, chief biologist at the zoo.
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| NY protesters reject plea for hiatus despite police slayings Posted: 23 Dec 2014 04:03 PM PST  By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Bill de Blasio's attempts to soothe a city dismayed by the slaying of two officers were further rebuffed on Tuesday as protesters defied his call to suspend what have become regular demonstrations over excessive police force. De Blasio led a moment of silence at City Hall in the afternoon three days after the attack on the officers before asking his staff to hug those nearby "as a symbol of our belief that we will move forward together. ...
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| Despite Supreme Court order, Florida gay marriage ban back in court Posted: 23 Dec 2014 03:35 PM PST By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - A tiny county in the northern Florida Panhandle, facing the prospect of court-ordered gay marriage going into effect next month, filed an emergency motion on Tuesday asking a federal judge to clarify whether it must marry all gay couples. The request follows statewide confusion over a U.S. Supreme Court order last week declining to extend a stay on a ruling that found the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The order cleared the way for gay marriages to begin on Jan. 6. ... |
| U.S. to pay $3.2 million to contractor freed from Cuba prison Posted: 23 Dec 2014 04:46 PM PST  By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Alan Gross, the contractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail will receive $3.2 million from the U.S. government as part of a settlement with his employer, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced on Tuesday. Gross was employed by Bethesda, Maryland-based DAI as part of a USAID-financed project in Cuba. DAI had sought $7 million for Gross, said a USAID spokesman. "Our understanding is that the money will go to Alan Gross as part of an agreement between the two parties," the USAID spokesman said. ...
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