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...

Read More..

Wall Street flat, volatile; fiscal talks, Apple in focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed in choppy morning trading on Thursday as upbeat guidance from Broadcom partially offset weakness in Apple shares, while traders kept an eye on fiscal negotiations in Washington. Extending Wednesday's 6.4 percent decline, Apple was trading down 0.7 percent at $535 early on Thursday, after falling as much as 3.7 percent at the open, which...

Read More..

Typhoon Kills Hundreds in Philippines

Bullit Marquez/Associated PressA resident hung clothing amid fallen trees and debris on Wednesday, a day after Typhoon Bopha made landfall in the village of Andap, in southern Philippines. MANILA — With many roads and bridges washed away, rescue teams struggled on Wednesday to reach isolated villages in the southern Philippines after a powerful out-of-season typhoon tore through the region, leaving...

Read More..

Austrian farmers dip into Internet “milking” craze

VIENNA (Reuters) – Dumping a bottle of milk over your head and filming it for a video post on the Internet has become a popular youth craze, but Austrian farmers say the spillage is a crying shame.“Milking”, as the trend is known, is among a variety of tongue-in-cheek stunts in which young people shoot pictures or videos of themselves posing as owls, planks of wood, or famous people and then share...

Read More..

Frankie Muniz Couldn't See or Speak During Mini-Stroke

Only on People.com By Monica Rizzo 12/05/2012 at 11:40 AM EST Nobody was more surprised to learn that former Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz had a mini-stroke last Friday than the actor and musician himself."I consider myself to be very healthy," says Muniz, who spoke to PEOPLE from his Phoenix home...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Blue chips lead Wall Street bounce back

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks swung back to positive territory in late morning trading on Wednesday, led by gains in Dow components Caterpillar and The Travelers , while Citigroup's 5 percent gain boosted bank stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 72.71 points, or 0.56 percent, to 13,024.49. The S&P 500 <.spx> edged up 1.49 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,408.54....

Read More..

Royal Baby a ‘Delight,’ Especially to Britain’s Tabloids

LONDON — The speculation began virtually the moment Kate Middleton said “I will” to Prince William in April 2011, leaving an industry of tabloid newspapers and gossip magazines with a big black hole where their wedding coverage used to be. Why, they asked, was the former Ms. Middleton, now the duchess of Cambridge, drinking water instead of wine at an official dinner, in what appeared to...

Read More..

Swiss spy agency warns U.S., Britain about huge data leak

ZURICH (Reuters) – Secret information on counter-terrorism shared by foreign governments may have been compromised by a massive data theft by a senior IT technician for the NDB, Switzerland‘s intelligence service, European national security sources said.Intelligence agencies in the United States and Britain are among those who were warned by Swiss authorities that their data could have been put in...

Read More..

Prince William and Kate: What Will They Name the Baby?

By Anya Leon 12/04/2012 at 11:30 AM EST Kate and Prince William Pascal Le Segretain/Getty The much-awaited news may be confirmed, but there's still plenty to buzz about when it comes to Prince William and wife Kate's baby announcement. Namely, well, the name.With much speculation that the...

Read More..