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FDA warns of deadly side effect with imaging drugs
(AP)
AP - Federal health regulators are warning doctors that a class of injectable drugs used in MRI medical imaging scans can cause a rare and sometimes fatal condition in patients with kidney disease.
2 shot dead at Kraft cookie plant in Pa., 1 hurt
(AP)
AP - A woman who had just been suspended from her job and escorted from a Kraft Foods Inc. facility returned with a handgun and opened fire Thursday, killing two people and critically injuring a third before being taken into custody about an hour later, police said.
Pastor cancels Quran-burning, then reconsiders
(AP)
AP - An anti-Islamic preacher backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center and mosque away from New York's ground zero. The imam planning the center denied there was ever such a deal.
Judge: Military's ban on gays is unconstitutional
(AP)
AP - A federal judge on Thursday declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional and said she will issue an order to stop the government from enforcing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy nationwide.
U.S. slips in WEF's competitiveness rankings
(Reuters)
Reuters - Switzerland remains the world's most competitive economy, while the United States has fallen from second to fourth after losing the top spot last year, according to the World Economic Forum's annual rankings issued on Thursday.
Study: Flamboyant male dancing attracts women best
(AP)
AP - John Travolta was onto something. Women are most attracted to male dancers who have big, flamboyant moves similar to the actor's trademark style, British scientists say in a new study.
1 dead, 53 homes destroyed in California fire
(AP)
AP - A massive explosion on Thursday sent flames roaring through a neighborhood in the hills south of San Francisco, destroying more than 50 homes and leaving at least one person dead.
Rural Pennsylvania town fights big gas
(Reuters)
Reuters - In the rush to develop America's biggest new source of domestic energy, one community is fighting to protect its rural way of life from the environmental strains that accompany shale gas drilling.
Fidel latest to say Cuba's communism doesn't work
(AP)
AP - Cuba's communist economic model has come in for criticism from an unlikely source: Fidel Castro.
U.S. troops charged with murder of Afghan civilians
(Reuters)
Reuters - Twelve U.S. soldiers have been charged with gruesome crimes in Afghanistan ranging from murdering civilians to keeping body parts as war trophies -- revelations that the Pentagon said on Thursday damaged America's image around the world.
Mo. man accused of keeping woman as sex slave
(AP)
AP - Five Missouri men are accused of taking part in the sexual torture of a young woman allegedly kept as a sex slave by one of the men and forced to work as a stripper, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Why Foreign Businesses in China Are Getting Mad
(Time.com)
Time.com - Foreign businesses in China are voicing growing frustration about the country's heavily regulated market -- a bureaucratic maze many say is deliberately designed to hamstring non-Chinese players to the advantage of their local competitors
US Marines take back pirate-held ship off Somalia
(AP)
AP - U.S. Marine commandos stormed a pirate-held cargo ship off the Somalia coast Thursday, reclaiming control and taking nine prisoners without firing a shot in the first such boarding raid by the international anti-piracy flotilla, U.S. Navy officials said.
Anna Chapman a tabloid star in Russia
(The Upshot)
The Upshot - Anna Chapman, the 28-year-old redheaded Russian who was returned home as part of the largest spy swap with the United States since the Cold War, is evidently enjoying newfound celebrity status in her mother country. Her deal with U.S. authorities prohibits Chapman from selling her story, but the former spy is nonetheless enjoying cultlike fame, [...]
Wildfire sets sights on Boulder as wind picks up
(AP)
AP - A Colorado wildfire that has destroyed 170 homes showed no signs of relenting Thursday as wind gusts of more than 40 mph fueled fears that the flames would move east from the Rocky Mountain foothills and into the heart of Boulder, where some residents were warned to be ready to flee.
Critics say Mexico needs to learn from Colombia
(AP)
AP - With a blunt remark that grated on Mexicans, Washington's top diplomat was merely echoing a growing concern about the alarming violence and instability being caused by Mexico's war on drug cartels.
Biden thanks Bush, troops on ‘The Colbert Report’
(The Upshot)
The Upshot - Vice President Joe Biden publicly thanked former President George W. Bush for his role in helping to end major combat missions in Iraq, allowing that even though they had disagreed on "policy," the 43rd president deserves "a lot of credit." Appearing on "The Colbert Report" Wednesday night during a week of episodes devoted to honoring [...]
Report: US must deal with domestic radical problem
(AP)
AP - The U.S. was slow to take seriously the threat posed by homegrown radicals and the government has failed to put systems in place to deal with the growing phenomenon, according to a new report compiled by the former heads of the Sept. 11 Commission.
B vitamins found to slow progression of dementia
(Reuters)
Reuters - Daily tablets of large doses of B vitamins can halve the rate of brain shrinkage in elderly people with memory problems and may slow their progression toward dementia, data from a British trial showed on Wednesday,
Tourist crowds threaten Vatican's Sistine Chapel
(AP)
AP - The Vatican Museums chief warned that dust and polluting agents brought into the Sistine Chapel by thousands of tourists every day risk one day endangering its priceless artworks.