Hackers claim attack on Justice Department website

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers sympathetic to the late computer prodigy Aaron Swartz claimed on Saturday to have infiltrated the website of the U.S. Justice Department’s Sentencing Commission, and said they planned to release government data.The Sentencing Commission site, www.ussc.gov , was shut down early Saturday.Identifying themselves as Anonymous, a loosely organized group of unknown provenance...

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Ashton Kutcher Parties in Sundance After jOBS Premiere

Caught in the Act 01/26/2013 at 01:50 PM EST Ashton Kutcher's much-hyped movie jOBS premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, and the star was on hand – minus girlfriend Mila Kunis – for all the festivities. Kutcher was one of the first to arrive at the official after party, hosted by Nur Khan Presents...

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Bears hibernate as stocks near record highs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks have been on a tear in January, moving major indexes within striking distance of all-time highs. The bearish case is a difficult one to make right now. Earnings have exceeded expectations, the housing and labor markets have strengthened, lawmakers in Washington no longer seem to be the roadblock that they were for most of 2012, and money has returned to stock...

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At Least 30 Die in Egyptian Riots After Soccer Verdict

Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York TimesA protester threw a tear-gas canister back toward police officers in Cairo on Saturday. More Photos »CAIRO — The Egyptian government appeared to have lost control of the major city of Port Said on Saturday after a court sentenced 21 fans to death for their role in a deadly soccer riot, and their supporters attacked the prison where they were being held,...

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Everything You Need to Know About Kim Dotcom’s Mega

Click here to view the gallery: Hands On With MegaMega — the long-anticipated file sharing and cloud storage site from Kim Dotcom — is now open to the public.[More from Mashable: Google Glasses Spotted and Two Other Stories You Need to Know]Thanks to its association with the now-defunct Megaupload — and the legal issues facing its founder Kim Dotcom — the amount of press, user interest and hype surrounding...

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Joe Manganiello Is Dating Model Bridget Peters

By Monica Rizzo 01/25/2013 at 03:45 PM EST Joe Manganiello and Bridget Peters Seth Browarnik/Startraks Joe Manganiello has a new lady love. The True Blood hunk, 36, has been spending time with the beautiful brunette model Bridget Peters, PEOPLE has learned. Manganiello...

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Penalty could keep smokers out of health overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to experts who are just now teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation.The Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to its detractors — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies...

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S&P 500 heads for longest winning streak in eight years

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 on track to close above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years on bullish data from Europe and strong earnings reports. The benchmark was on track to extend its winning streak to eight days, the longest since a nine-day run in late 2004. Data showed sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell in December...

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Pentagon Reverses Its Censoring of Passages in Afghan War Book

WASHINGTON — In an illustration of the government’s changeable ideas of what should be secret, Pentagon censors have decided that nearly half of more than 400 passages deleted from an Afghan war memoir can be printed without damaging national security. The decision last week by a Defense Department security office is the latest twist in the striking fate of the 2010 book, “Operation Dark...

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Women in Combat Stoke Twitter Debate

The Pentagon’s decision to allow women in combat has elicited some strong and controversial words from opponents of the move.First, Tucker Carlson. Last night, the Daily Caller publisher tweeted: “Feminism’s latest victory: the right to get your limbs blown off in war. Congratulations.”This drew some swift criticism on Twitter, and a counterpoint from The Week’s Marc Ambinder, who noted that one woman...

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Puppy Bowl's Starting Lineup Revealed

People Pets By Amy Jamieson 01/24/2013 at 03:45 PM EST It's time to set your DVRs, people. Animal Planet has revealed Puppy Bowl IX's starting lineup, and it would be a crime to miss this much cuteness.Thirty-five doe-eyed doggies are primed to strut their adorable assets on Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. ET/PT – and each...

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US hit by new stomach bug spreading around globe

NEW YORK (AP) — A new strain of stomach bug sweeping the globe is taking over in the U.S., health officials say.Since September, more than 140 outbreaks in the U.S. have been caused by the new Sydney strain of norovirus. It may not be unusually dangerous; some scientists don't think it is. But it is different, and many people might not be able to fight off its gut-wrenching effects.Clearly, it's...

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Wall Street edges up in face of Apple decline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 advanced on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P index on track for its first seven-day streak of gains in over six years as solid economic data managed to outweigh a steep decline in Apple shares. Apple Inc dropped 10.4 percent to $460.69 after the technology giant missed Wall Street's revenue forecast for a third straight quarter as iPhone...

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India Ink: India Rape Trial Starts With Renewed Ban on Media Coverage

The trial of five men accused in the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in New Delhi is being watched closely as a symbol of India’s commitment to justice for women, but information about the ongoing court proceedings may be scarce.As court proceedings began Thursday, the presiding judge said  there would be a blanket ban on reporting on the trial. The judge, Yogesh Khanna,  also...

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Why the Future of TV Still Isn’t Here Yet

As content providers continue to intimidate tech companies with a seemingly endless couch-potato conundrum, the latest innovation in the war to win your living room isn’t some new gadget from Apple or Netflix, or even that exciting à la carte content delivery system from Intel — it’s a protocol that helps our screens better communicate with one another. YouTube and Netflix have teamed up...

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Beyoncé's Lip-Syncing Controversy: PEOPLE Readers Weigh In

By Cara Lynn Shultz 01/23/2013 at 03:55 PM EST Beyoncé at the presidential inauguration in 2013 and Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV Justin Sullivan/Getty; George Rose/Getty There's no question that Beyoncé can sing. But did she? That's still the question on...

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Scientists to resume work with lab-bred bird flu

WASHINGTON (AP) — International scientists who last year halted controversial research with the deadly bird flu say they are resuming their work as countries adopt new rules to ensure safety.The outcry erupted when two labs — in the Netherlands and the U.S. — reported they had created easier-to-spread versions of bird flu. Amid fierce debate about the oversight of such research and whether it might...

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Wall Street up on tech earnings, S&P index knocks on 1,500

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks advanced on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 inching up for a sixth day in a row, as stronger-than-expected profits at IBM and Google helped alleviate investor concerns about the tech sector. IBM's and Google's earnings, released after Tuesday's close, come on the heels of stronger U.S. economic data, which have pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to five-year highs,...

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The Lede Blog: Clinton Testifies on Benghazi Attacks

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyThe Lede is following Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s testimony Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the American Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Earlier today, she testified before...

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Apple slips, BlackBerry slides and Windows Phone stalls in December

Kantar Worldpanel’s December smartphone market share numbers are out. And they are as fascinating as ever. Kantar pegs the BlackBerry market share in America as 1.1% last month, down from 1.4% in November. Surprisingly, Windows Phone’s market share also ticked down to 2.6% in December from 2.7% in November. That might be a statistical artifact, but it is surprising not to see a substantial boost in...

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See Jana Kramer's 5-Carat Sparkler

Stylewatch Style News Now 01/22/2013 at 03:29 PM ET Courtesy of Jana Kramer (2)When country star Brantley Gilbert proposed to his girlfriend of one year, country singer and One Tree Hill actress Jana Kramer, the one thing on his...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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Cyclical sectors lift S&P 500 to 5-year high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cyclical sectors led the Standard & Poor's 500 to a five-year intraday high on Tuesday as traders gobbled up bank and commodity shares on hopes the global economy continues to mend. The market also gained on signals that Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives aim on Wednesday to pass a nearly four-month extension of the U.S. debt limit. The White...

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Exit Polls Show Netanyahu Lost Ground to Centrist Party

Baz Ratner/ReutersA polling station on Tuesday in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh, near Nablus. TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu performed far worse than expected in Israel’s national elections on Tuesday, according to exit polls, and while he remained likely to serve a third term, a surprise surge by a new centrist party indicated that he would be under pressure to form...

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