Protests Erupt After Egypt’s Leader Seizes New Power

Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York TimesEgyptians in central Cairo ran from tear gas during clashes with the police on Friday. Protesters took to the streets in several cities. More Photos »CAIRO — Protests erupted across Egypt on Friday, as opponents of President Mohamed Morsi clashed with his supporters over a presidential edict that gave him unchecked authority and polarized an already divided...

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Secret message found with carrier pigeon may never be deciphered

British man finds carrier pigeon skeleton in his fireplace with unbreakable secret code (Reuters)Before military forces had secure cell phones and satellite communications, they used carrier pigeons. The highly trained birds delivered sensitive information from one location to another during  World War II. Often, the birds found the intended recipient. But not always.A dead pigeon was recently...

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Larry Hagman Dies

TV Watch TV News By Aaron Parsley 11/24/2012 at 12:00 AM EST Larry Hagman has died. The actor, who famously played J.R. Ewing on the hit primetime soap Dallas, was 81. "When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones," his family said in a statement released to the Dallas Morning News on Friday. "It was a peaceful...

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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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Military Analysis: For Israel, Gaza Conflict Is Test for an Iran Confrontation

Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAn Israeli missile is launched from a battery. Officials said their antimissile system shot down 88 percent of all assigned targets. WASHINGTON — The conflict that ended, for now, in a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel seemed like the latest episode in a periodic showdown. But there was a second, strategic agenda unfolding, according to American...

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Stock index futures signal flat to higher open

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a flat to higher open on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 staying flat, the Dow Jones futures up 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq 100 futures rising 0.3 percent. The market opens for a half-day business on Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Shoppers took advantage of retailers offering a Thursday night start...

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Egypt Leader and Obama Forge Link in Gaza Deal

Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated PressIsraelis in the town of Sderot watched a Palestinian missile on Wednesday, before a cease-fire. WASHINGTON — President Obama skipped dessert at a long summit meeting dinner in Cambodia on Monday to rush back to his hotel suite. It was after 11:30 p.m., and his mind was on rockets in Gaza rather than Asian diplomacy. He picked up the telephone to call the Egyptian...

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Mayim Bialik and Michael Stone Divorcing

By Mike Fleeman 11/21/2012 at 05:00 PM EST After "much consideration and soul-searching," Mayim Bialik announced Wednesday that she and husband Michael Stone are divorcing after nine years of marriage.The Big Bang Theory star, who has sons Miles, 7, and Fred, 4, with Stone, cites "irreconcilable differences"...

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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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European shares lifted by China, U.S. factory data

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares extended a week-long rally on Thursday as manufacturing surveys in China and the United States boosted confidence over the global economic recovery. However, analysts said similar surveys for euro area activity due later are expected to show the region stuck in recession, which could sour sentiment, though trading is likely to be subdued with Wall Street...

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Cease-Fire Deal Elusive in Gaza Conflict as U.S. Widens Its Role

JERUSALEM — Efforts to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas were set to continue Wednesday but the struggle to achieve even a brief pause in the fighting emphasized the obstacles to finding any lasting solution. Overnight, as the conflict entered its eighth day, the Israeli military said in Twitter feeds that “more than 100 terror sites were targeted, of which approximately 50...

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The Voice: Top Eight Contestants Revealed

TV Watch By Julia Haskins 11/20/2012 at 10:05 PM EST From left: Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and host Carson Daly Mark Seliger/NBC Following what Blake Shelton called the "best episode of The Voice we've ever had", spirited group...

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OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription...

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European shares, euro fall on uncertainty over Greek bailout

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro fell on Wednesday after Greece's international lenders failed to reached a deal to reduce the country's debt and release the next payment from its bailout. The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.2752, while the region's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index <.stoxx50e> ended two days of gains built on expectations of a Greek deal to fall 0.3...

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Clinton to Visit Israel in Effort to Defuse Gaza Conflict

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — President Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday to try to defuse the conflict in Gaza, the White House announced. Jason Reed/ReutersSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Obama in Phnom Penh on Monday. Mrs. Clinton, who accompanied Mr. Obama on his three-country Asia trip,...

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Dancing with the Stars: Couples Perform Crazy Combinations in Semi-Finals

TV Watch Dancing With the Stars By Aaron Parsley 11/19/2012 at 11:05 PM EST Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough Craig Sjodin/ABC It's the semi-finals!The remaining five couples on Dancing with the Stars faced two rounds of competition on Monday. First, the pairs performed...

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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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Stock index futures signal lower start

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 down 0.2 percent, and Dow Jones contracts down 0.1 percent at 0905 GMT. Japan's Nikkei <.n225> ended a four-day winning run on Tuesday as investors took profits in exporters, which had rallied on hopes Japan's main opposition party would win next...

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Gaza Clash Escalates With Deadliest Israeli Strike

Bernat Armangue/Associated PressSmoke rose over Gaza City on Sunday, as Israel widened its range of targets to include buildings used by the news media. CAIRO — Emboldened by the rising power of Islamists around the region, the Palestinian militant group Hamas demanded new Israeli concessions to its security and autonomy before it halts its rocket attacks on Israel, even as the conflict took an increasing...

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Justin Bieber Brings His Mom to the American Music Awards

By Maggie Coughlan 11/18/2012 at 09:35 PM EST Pattie Mallette and Justin Bieber Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters/Landov Mother knows best!Despite his recent split from Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber still had a date for the 40th American Music Awards on Sunday: his mother,...

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

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Global shares rally on U.S. fiscal hopes

LONDON (Reuters) - World shares rose and German government bond prices fell on Monday as investors were encouraged by an improving outlook for talks to resolve an imminent fiscal crunch in the United States. U.S. lawmakers expressed confidence on Sunday that they could reach a deal to avert the $600 billion "fiscal cliff", which threatened to send the giant economy back into recession....

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Israel Bombs Government and Media Sites in Wider Attack

Mohammed Saber/European Pressphoto AgencyTwo children look through the rubble of their house after an airstrike in Beit Lahiya, Gaza, on Sunday. GAZA CITY — Israel pressed its assault on the Gaza Strip early Sunday, deploying warplanes and naval vessels to pummel the coastal enclave as Israeli forces widened the onslaught from mostly military targets to media offices and centers of government infrastructure...

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