Bigger fights loom after tax deadline deal

(Note language, paragraph 12) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face even bigger budget battles in the next two months after a hard-fought "fiscal cliff" deal narrowly averted devastating tax hikes and spending cuts. The agreement, approved late on Tuesday by the Republican-led House of Representatives, was a victory for Obama, who...

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France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year’s Eve

PARIS (AP) — A New Year’s Eve tradition for some in France of torching empty, parked cars has continued.Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that 1,193 vehicles were burned overnight around the country, where the stunt began in the 1990s.There was no way to compare this figure to recent ones because the conservative government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy stopped making the numbers public...

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Four Android productivity apps you should use in 2013

Happy New Year! Like most folks, I am working on some resolutions for 2013. One resolution I have is to be more productive. One way I am going to do this is by using my Android phone better. Now there are apps that I have, but really have not used to their fullest. As I work on this resolution, I might discover even better apps. For now I will focus on these impressive apps that can make anyone more...

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Playboy Hugh Hefner marries his ‘runaway bride’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hugh Hefner is celebrating the new year as a married man once again.The 86-year-old Playboy magazine founder exchanged vows with his “runaway bride,” Crystal Harris, at a private Playboy Mansion ceremony on New Year’s Eve. Harris, a 26-year-old “Playmate of the Month” in 2009, broke off a previous engagement to Hefner just before they were to be married in 2011.Playboy said on Tuesday...

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Senate’s “fiscal cliff” bill adds $4 trillion to deficits: CBO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said Senate-passed legislation to avert the “fiscal cliff” would add nearly $ 4 trillion to federal deficits over a decade, largely because it would extend low tax rates for almost all Americans.The congressional scorekeeper’s analysis was released as a number of Republicans in the House of Representatives voiced opposition to the bill,...

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House faces test on fiscal cliff deal

Vice President Joe Biden gives two thumbs up following a Senate Democratic caucus meeting about the fiscal cliff …Updated 4:25 pm ETA hard-fought bipartisan compromise passed in the Senate early Tuesday to spare all but the richest Americans from painful income-tax hikes teetered on the edge of collapse as angry House Republicans denounced its lack of spending cuts.While House Speaker John Boehner...

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Pope marks end of difficult year, notes God’s good

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI marked the end of a difficult year Monday by saying that despite all the death and injustice in the world, goodness prevails.Benedict celebrated New Year’s Eve with a vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica to give thanks for 2012 and look ahead to 2013. He appeared tired during the service and used a cane afterward — an indication that the busy Christmas season...

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Green Day to get back on road in March

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The members of Green Day said on Monday they will return to the road in March after the punk rock band canceled its fall club tour and postponed later dates as frontman Billie Joe Armstrong underwent treatment for substance abuse.“We want to thank everyone for hanging in with us for the last few months,” the band members said in a statement on their website. “We are very excited...

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Naloxone reverses overdoses without hefty price tag

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Distributing a drug that reverses drug overdoses in heroin users would save lives and be cost-effective, according to a new analysis.U.S. researchers, who published their findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, calculated that one death may be prevented for every 164 naloxone injection kits they distribute to heroin users.That, the researchers say, works...

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Congress to miss midnight cliff deadline

America is going over the “fiscal cliff” – for a few minutes, or hours, at the very least. Don't panic. There's no need to move the family into the Doomsday bunker in the backyard. Yet.While President Barack Obama and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have said they are close to a broad agreement that would prevent across-the-board income-tax hikes, lawmakers are unlikely to approve...

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