Swallowing Rain Forest, Brazilian Cities Surge in Amazon

Lalo de Almeida for The New York TimesThe torrid growth is visible in places like Parauapebas. On the outskirts, slums stretch to the horizon and houses continue to go up. More Photos »PARAUAPEBAS, Brazil — The Amazon has been viewed for ages as a vast quilt of rain forest interspersed by remote river outposts. But the surging population growth of cities in the jungle is turning that rural vision...

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6 ways to tweet yourself out of a job

Hate your job? Want to leave without giving two weeks notice? Thanks to Twitter, it’s never been easier to get fired, says Rob Lammie at Mental FlossStep 1: Drunk tweetAs any Spring Break partier knows, drinking impairs your judgment. It seems to have also impaired the judgment of Major League pitcher-turned-sports-radio-host Mike Bacsik, who put on quite a show during a San Antonio Spurs and Dallas...

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Which Star Was Best Dressed This Week?

Stylewatch Style News Now 11/24/2012 at 12:00 PM ET JB Lacroix/WireImageHer outfits aren’t always spot-on, but this week, Katy Perry really hit the mark: The star earned the title of best dressed on People.com, thanks to your more...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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Husband cooked wife on kitchen stove, police say

A 68-year-old Oceanside man is accused of killing and dismembering his 73-year-old wife. He pleaded not guilty this week.Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Flaherty told Vista Superior Court Judge J. Marshall Hockett that police found hunks of meat cooking on the stove at the family home and a severed head in the freezer.Hockett ordered Frederick Joseph Hengl kept in jail on $5-million bail.Police...

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Israeli Troops Kill a Palestinian in Shooting That Tests Cease-Fire

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — In the 12 years that he has lived here in the Abassam neighborhood adjacent to Gaza’s eastern border, Eyad Qudaih said, he had never ventured more than 20 yards east of his white stucco home because Israel said the entire area was off limits. But Friday morning, emboldened by the new cease-fire agreement, he took his four young daughters 300 yards east, to the small plot of...

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Beverley Mitchell Debuts Baby Bump

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 11/23/2012 at 11:00 AM ET There’s not just turkey in there!An expectant Beverley Mitchell debuted her baby bump on Twitter Thursday“Happy Thanksgiving! Here is my first belly pic! 21 weeks,” the actress writes. “Watch out! The belly is getting bigger!”Mitchell,...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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Husband killed wife, cooked her on stove, police say

A 68-year-old Oceanside man is accused of killing and dismembering his 73-year-old wife. He pleaded not guilty this week.Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Flaherty told Vista Superior Court Judge J. Marshall Hockett that police found hunks of meat cooking on the stove at the family home and a severed head in the freezer.Hockett ordered Frederick Joseph Hengl kept in jail on $5-million bail.Police...

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With Cease-Fire Joy in Gaza, Palestinian Factions Revive Unity Pledges

GAZA — A cease-fire that halted eight days of lethal conflict between Israel and Hamas brought widespread jubilation to Gaza on Thursday as thousands of flag-waving residents poured into the streets and competing Palestinian factions sought to use the moment to revive their repeated efforts to unify, while in Israel, the mood was more cynical and subdued. The cease-fire agreement, which took...

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Scott Macaulay Gives Strangers Free Thanksgiving Dinner - and Family for a Day

Heroes Among Us By Alicia Dennis 11/22/2012 at 01:00 PM EST When the turkey, potatoes and stuffing get passed around at Scott Macaulay's Thanksgiving dinner table, there's really no telling whether he'll know his fellow diners. For 27 years, Macaulay, 51, has cooked and served Thanksgiving to groups of strangers...

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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.It's the most detailed look yet at...

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Girlfriend helped actor killed 2 college students, police say

The former fiancee of a community theater actor charged in the double slaying of an Orange Coast College student and his tutor has been arrested by Costa Mesa police. Rachel Buffett, 25, of Long Beach was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of being an accessory to murder after the fact and is being held on $1-million bail, according to police. Police said Buffett remained a suspect during the...

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Israel and Hamas Agree to Cease-Fire

CAIRO — Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire on Wednesday, the eighth day of lethal fighting over the Gaza Strip, the United States and Egypt said after intensive negotiations in Cairo. The cease-fire, to take effect at 9 p.m. local time (2 p.m. E.S.T.), was formally announced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr of Egypt at a news conference here....

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Harley Pasternak: 5 Ways to Avoid Blowing Your Diet on Thanksgiving

Only on People.com By Harley Pasternak 11/21/2012 at 01:10 PM EST Harley Pasternak and Jessica Simpson John Sciulli/BEImages Celebrity trainer and PEOPLE.com blogger Harley Pasternak give his top 5 tips for a healthy, happy Thanksgiving. Plus, he shares some holiday...

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US abortions fall 5 pct, biggest drop in a decade

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both...

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Pasadena clears way for talks on NFL team

Pasadena officials have cleared the way to begin negotiations with the NFL for bringing a professional football team to the...

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Truce in Gaza Is Close, Egyptian Officials Say

JERUSALEM — Diplomatic efforts accelerated on Tuesday to end the deadly confrontation between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, as the United States sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East and Egypt’s president and his senior aides expressed confidence that a cease-fire was close. The diplomatic moves to end the nearly week-old crisis came on a day of some...

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Giuliana and Bill Rancic Share Baby Edward's First Feeding

TV Watch TV News By Aaron Parsley 11/20/2012 at 01:15 PM EST "He eats like a horse." That's proud dad Bill Rancic describing his baby boy's appetite on the Today show Tuesday morning. But it wasn't long ago that Rancic and his wife Giuliana had no idea how their son Edward Duke, who was born via gestational surrogate...

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make...

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Man's elaborate plot to kill girlfriend in dark alley revealed by prosecutors

An Orange County man was charged Monday with stabbing his former girlfriend to death in a Santa Ana alleyway, prosecutors said.Luis Antonio Garcia Morales, 24, faces one felony count of special circumstances murder by lying in wait, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office.If convicted, Morales could be sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility...

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Hamas Leader Dares Israel to Invade Amid Gaza Airstrikes

GAZA CITY — The top leader of Hamas dared Israel on Monday to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian enclave, including a second hit on a 15-story building that houses media outlets. A volley of rockets fired from Gaza into southern...

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In Mark Cuban’s Humble Opinion, Facebook Still Kinda Sucks

Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban has confirmed reports from last week, in a post on his personal blog today, that he has a serious beef with Facebook. But before getting into all the reasons he no longer loves the social network, he clarifies one small point: “First, I’m not recommending to any of my companies that we leave facebook,”...

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