Ruling over bumper-car injury supports amusement park

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court, protecting providers of risky recreational activities from lawsuits, decided Monday...

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Ruthless Smuggling Rings Put Rhinos in the Cross Hairs

Joao Silva/The New York TimesA veterinary team removed the horns from a white rhino at a ranch outside Johannesburg, in an attempt to prevent poaching. Rhino horn is valued at nearly $30,000 a pound. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa — They definitely did not look like ordinary big-game hunters, the stream of slender young Thai women who showed up on the veld wearing tight blue jeans and sneakers....

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Can Samsung survive without Android?

Samsung (005930) is the world’s top Android smartphone vendor by a staggering margin. Aside from LG (066570), which managed a small $ 20 million profit from its mobile division last quarter, no other global Android vendor can figure out how to make money selling Android phones. Meanwhile, Samsung posted a $ 6 billion profit on $ 47.6 billion in sales in the third quarter, thanks largely to record...

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Kim Kardashian: From Divorce Drama to Baby Mama in 5 Clicks

Follow her odyssey from her messy split with Kris Humphries to her great expectation with Kanye West Credit: Prahl/Winslow/Splash News Online Updated: Monday Dec 31, 2012 | 11:45 AM EST Subscribe Now ...

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FDA approves 1st new tuberculosis drug in 40 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis drug that is the first new medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than four decades.The agency approved J&J's pill, Sirturo, for use with older drugs to fight a hard-to-treat strain of tuberculosis that has not responded to other medications. However, the agency cautioned that the...

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Charlie Sheen apologizes for homophobic slur

Actor Charlie Sheen has issued an apology after making a homophobic slur Friday night during the opening of rooftop bar at a seaside hotel in Mexico.“I meant no ill will and intended to hurt no one and I apologize if I offended anyone,” Sheen said in the statement. The slur was caught on tape.“How we doing?” Sheen says to the crowd as he takes the stage to introduce some musical acts,...

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To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms

ARCHER’S POST, Kenya — Julius Lokinyi was one of the most notorious poachers in this part of Kenya, accused of single-handedly killing as many as 100 elephants and selling the tusks by the side of the road in the dead of night, pumping vast amounts of ivory into a shadowy global underground trade. But after being hounded, shamed, browbeaten and finally persuaded by his elders, he recently...

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NASA Sets Record with Ion Thrusters Test

NASA has completed a 43,000 hour stress test — a record for ion thrusters — on a new rocket propulsion system that could extend future space travel to farther reaches of the solar system.Developed by NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster Project, the 7-kilowatt ion thruster can burn 10-12 times longer than the conventional chemical thrusters used today. Though not practical for manned-spaceflight, the...

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Ashlee Simpson Flaunts Her Hot Bikini Body in Hawaii

By Maggie Coughlan 12/30/2012 at 11:30 AM EST Ashlee Simpson is sending 2012 off with a bang!The 28-year-old showed off her svelte figure in a tiny bikini as she splashed along the shores of Oahu, Hawaii on Saturday. The singer and son Bronx (with Pete Wentz) joined pregnant big sister Jessica, her fiancé Eric...

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Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

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