Karzai Implicates Pakistan in Attack on Afghan Spy Chief

KABUL, Afghanistan — The suicide bomber who tried to assassinate Afghanistan’s powerful new intelligence chief came from Pakistan and the attack was organized with the help of a sophisticated foreign intelligence service, President Hamid Karzai said Saturday. Mr. Karzai said he would ask for clarification from Pakistan’s president, when the two men meet later this month, on whether Pakistan’s...

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Megan Fox Shows Off Sexy Figure on First Red Carpet Since Baby

Caught in the Act 12/08/2012 at 01:10 PM EST Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green John Shearer/Invision/AP She welcomed son Noah Shannon Green in September, and sultry Megan Fox was sexy as ever on her first red carpet since giving birth. The new mom, in a fitted...

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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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Graphic details of Notorious B.I.G. murder revealed

The night rapper Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down in one of L.A.'s most famous unsolved homicides he had no drugs or alcohol in his system, according to a Los Angeles County coroner's report unsealed Friday.A coroner's medical examiner ran toxicology screens for alcohol, cocaine, codeine, morphine and methamphetamine with negative results for all.The autopsy report has been on a security...

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World Briefing | Africa: South Sudan: Journalist Killed

A South Sudanese online journalist was shot and killed late Wednesday outside his home in the capital, Juba, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The journalist, Diing Chan Awuol, who wrote for a number of online news outlets in South Sudan, had published articles critical of the government, its policy toward Sudan and its ties to Sudanese rebel groups. Other journalists said Mr. Chan...

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Crowdfunding websites clamor for clearer regulation

LONDON (Reuters) – A new breed of internet-based financiers are calling for action to end regulatory uncertainty they say is preventing them from getting money to the small and medium-sized businesses that need it.The so-called crowdfunding sector raises cash from members of the public to fund lending and investment. Regulators, however, have proved resistant to pleas for adjustments to rules that...

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Sofia Vergara Wears Lingerie on Set of Fading Gigolo

Sofia Vergara 12/07/2012 at 01:40 PM EST Sofia Vergara on the set of Fading Gigolo Cam Griffith CRI/Splash News Online On the set of her new film with Sharon Stone, Fading Gigolo, curvaceous Sofia Vergara busts a move in black lace lingerie.Vergara, the Modern...

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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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Soccer coach who molested boys 'a vulture,' judge says

This post has been corrected. See note at bottom for details.An Anaheim man who worked as a soccer coach and martial arts instructor was sentenced to 298 years in prison Thursday for sexually assaulting 11 of his young students, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Luis Alberto Pineda, 31, was convicted last month of committing forcible sodomy and other lewd...

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Bombers Strike Pakistani Military Base in South Waziristan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Suicide bombers in an explosives-laden car struck a Pakistani military base in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday, killing three soldiers, according to a senior security official in Peshawar. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the vehicle was spotted by guards in a security tower at the walled Javed Sultan Shaheed Camp, a...

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Windows 8: A ‘Christmas gift for someone you hate’

Microsoft (MSFT) is no stranger to criticism these days, and the company’s new Windows 8 platform is once again the target of a scathing review from a high-profile user. Well-known Internet entrepreneur and MIT professor Philip Greenspun handed Windows 8 one of its most damning reviews yet earlier this week, calling the new operating system a “Christmas gift for someone you hate.” Greenspun...

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Prince Charles Is 'Thrilled' to Become a Grandfather

12/06/2012 at 01:45 PM EST Prince Charles Allpix/Splash News Online Prince Charles's royal title can't compare to one he will earn next year – grandfather – now that Kate and his son Prince William are expecting their first child. "I'm thrilled," he told reporters Thursday as he was boarding...

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans...

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Church volunteer had sex with kids he met at church school, police allege

A well-known Orange County church has been roiled by allegations that a volunteer sexually assaulted children.A Sunday school volunteer at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa allegedly formed relationships with children in his church and went on to sexually abuse at least one of them multiple times between November 2009 and November 2011, according to church leaders and court documents.Two...

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The Lede Blog: Clashes in Cairo After Morsi Supporters Attack Palace Sit-In

Last Updated, 1:58 p.m. Supporters of and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt engaged in street battles Wednesday night in Cairo, after Islamists attacked protesters camped outside the gates of the presidential palace, according to journalists and activists who witnessed the raid.Morsi supporters reportedly attempted to stifle coverage by attacking journalists and bloggers, but activists...

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Dave Brubeck, Jazz Icon, Dies at 91

By Kevin O'Donnell 12/05/2012 at 01:30 PM EST Dave Brubeck, the pianist, composer and leader of the iconic Dave Brubeck Quartet, died Wednesday at age 91 in Connecticut, according to the AP. The cause was heart failure.Brubeck, whose music helped define the style of West Coast Jazz in the '50s, is best known...

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Longer tamoxifen use cuts breast cancer deaths

Breast cancer patients taking the drug tamoxifen can cut their chances of having the disease come back or kill them if they stay on the pills for 10 years instead of five years as doctors recommend now, a major study finds.The results could change treatment, especially for younger women. The findings are a surprise because earlier research suggested that taking the hormone-blocking drug for longer...

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Man lived with dead girlfriend for months, faced murder charges

A jury is being selected in Stockton to hear the murder case against a man accused of living for months with his girlfriend's dead body.Devon Epps was evicted from his apartment in December 2011. The next day, when the apartment manager stopped by, they found a dead body in the bathroom.The body had been there for some time, authorities said.Epps was arrested and then arraigned a few days...

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5 Nations Summon Israeli Envoys to Protest Settlement Plans

JERUSALEM — Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries on Monday to protest Israel’s plans for increased settlement construction, an unusually sharp diplomatic step that reflected the growing frustration abroad with Israel’s policies on the Palestinian issue. After the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly last week to upgrade the status...

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Is the iPad Mini as Good as the iPad?

The iPad Mini‘s screen doesn’t have the same “resolutionary” Retina display as its bigger brother, but don’t worry: the Apple snobs appear to have gotten over that. After spending time with his new baby-tablet, The New York Times‘s Nick Bilton gave in, calling the gadget his new “Desert Island Device.” (It replaced his iPhone, by the way.) The inferior screen had worried Bilton like it...

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Holly Madison: I Want Six Kids

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 12/03/2012 at 01:00 PM ET AKM-GSIWith a daughter on the way in March, Holly Madison switched it up by wearing blue to Saturday’s Animal Foundation Happy Anniversary Hour, held at the House of Blues Foundation Room in Las Vegas.It was a welcome change for the...

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CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one.Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly."It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell,"...

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Decapitated body of man found at hospital

About L.A. NowL.A. Now is the Los Angeles Times’ breaking news section for Southern California. It is produced by more than 80 reporters and editors in The Times’ Metro section, reporting from the paper’s downtown Los Angeles headquarters as well as bureaus in Costa Mesa, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Riverside, Ventura and West Los Angeles.Have a story tip for L.A. Now?Can I call...

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David Oliver Relin, Co-Author of ‘Three Cups of Tea,’ Dies at 49

David Oliver Relin, a journalist and adventurer who achieved acclaim as co-author of the best seller “Three Cups of Tea” (2006) and then suffered emotionally and financially as basic facts in the book were called into question, died Nov. 15 in Multnomah County, Ore. He was 49. David Oliver Relin was a co-author of “Three Cups of Tea.” Some readers questioned...

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Nokia Siemens to sell optical networks unit

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Mobile telecoms equipment joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks, which is focusing on its core business, is to sell its optical fiber unit to Marlin Equity Partners for an undisclosed sum.Up to 1,900 employees, mainly in Germany and Portugal, will be transferred to the new company, NSN said on Monday.The company, owned by Nokia and Siemens, has sold a number of product lines since...

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Alison Eastwood Is Engaged

12/03/2012 at 01:45 PM EST Stacy Poitras and Alison Eastwood Vivien Killilea/FilmMagic There's more excitement for Clint Eastwood!Fresh off the heels of Friday's news that his daughter Francesca Eastwood was named Miss Golden Globe 2013, one of his other daughters,...

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US flu season starts early, could be bad, CDC says

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say flu season is off to its earliest start in nearly 10 years — and it could be a bad one.The primary strain circulating is one that tends to cause more severe illness, especially in the elderly.But officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the nation seems to be fairly well prepared. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and...

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Girl, 12, held as sex slave, forced into prostitution by couple, police allege

An Oceanside couple are scheduled to be in court Monday to face accusations that they kept an underage Mexican immigrant as a sex slave, forcing her into prostitution and beating her severely.Marcial Garcia Hernandez, 45, and Inez Martinez Garcia, 43, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of 13 felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under age 14.The girl had been smuggled...

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Taliban Bombers Attack Air Base in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban forces attacked a large coalition airfield in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, detonating three car bombs near the entrance and engaging in a two-hour gun battle that killed nine insurgents, four Afghan guards and at least four civilians whose vehicle was caught in the cross-fire, Afghan officials and witnesses said. Noorullah Shirzada/Agence France-Presse...

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