C. African Republic leader faces rebel threat

DAMARA, Central African Republic (AP) — More than 30 truckloads of troops from Chad line the two-lane highway just outside of Damara, supporting Central African Republic government forces who want to block a new rebel coalition from reaching the capital.In a display of force, the turbaned fighters hold their rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons they threaten to use if the rebels seeking to...

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Microsoft acquires start-up id8: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp bought start-up id8 Group R2 Studios Inc as it looks to expand further in technology focused on the home and entertainment, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.id8 Group R2 Studios was started in 2011 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian. It recently launched a Google Android application to allow users to control home...

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Putin grants Depardieu Russian citizenship

MOSCOW (AP) — Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who has been sparring with his native country over taxes, has been granted Russian citizenship.A brief announcement on the Kremlin website said President Vladimir Putin signed the citizenship grant on Thursday.Depardieu is angered by French President Francois Hollande‘s attempt to raise taxes on the mega-rich to 75 percent. Russia has a flat income...

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Get Fit for 2013: Trainer Harley Pasternak Answers ‘GMA’ Viewers’ Questions

It’s a new year and many people have made resolutions to get fit.Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak ( @harleypasternak) has trained celebrities including Rihanna and Katy Perry and this morning he appeared on “Good Morning America” to show specific exercise moves to get you an all-star body.Work the Body PartsFor Great LegsDo sumo squats. You have to stand with your legs wide apart and toes turned...

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Sandy Hook kids return to school for first time since attack

NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Hundreds of the children who escaped the harrowing attack on their elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, last month head back to classes on Thursday for the first time since a gunman killed 20 of their schoolmates and six staff members. School officials are preparing for droves of anxious parents to join the fleet of buses carting children to a disused...

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Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank

TAMOUN, West Bank (AP) — An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, residents said, leaving at 10 Palestinians wounded.Israeli army raids into Palestinian areas to seize activists and militants are fairly common. The raids are normally coordinated with Palestinian security forces, and suspects are usually...

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Barack Obama’s AMA is Reddit’s Top Post of 2012

Do you remember that Barack Obama AMA on Reddit this past August? The one that started with “Hi, I’m Barack Obama, President of the United States. Ask me anything.”That was Reddit’s top post of 2012 with 5,598,171 page views. Reddit compiled a list of it’s top posts of the year we just said farewell to.[More from Mashable: This Is 2012 Summed Up in One Image]The site also handed out some “best of”...

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LA photographer killed while shooting Bieber’s car

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say a paparazzo was hit by a car and killed after taking photos of Justin Bieber‘s white Ferrari on a Los Angeles street.Los Angeles police Officer James Stoughton says the photographer, who was not identified, died at a hospital shortly after the crash Tuesday evening. Stoughton says Bieber was not in the Ferrari at the time.The sports car was parked on the side of Sepulveda...

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Women Lose Half Their Weight: How They Did It

At 25 years old and 288 pounds, Ashley Donahoo was depressed.“I was unhappy with my job, I was unhappy with the direction my life was going, and I had a hard time enjoying the little things that my kids wanted to do,” the 27-year-old mother of two from Pace, Fla., said. “My health was failing. My doctor told me that he didn’t think I was going to make it to 30 if I kept on [this way]. … It kept getting...

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Tax deal passes, averts the fiscal cliff

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, with Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, head into a closed-door …Updated 11:38 pm ETThe House of Representatives late Tuesday easily approved emergency bipartisan legislation sparing all but a sliver of America’s richest from sharp income tax hikes -- while setting up another “fiscal cliff” confrontation in a matter of weeks.Lawmakers voted...

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