U.S. Seeks Truce on Gaza as Enemies Step Up Attacks

JERUSALEM — Efforts to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas were set to continue Wednesday but the struggle to achieve even a brief pause in the fighting emphasized the obstacles to finding any lasting solution. Overnight, as the conflict entered its eighth day, the Israeli military said in Twitter feeds that “more than 100 terror sites were targeted, of which approximately 50...

Read More..

The Voice: Top Eight Contestants Revealed

TV Watch By Julia Haskins 11/20/2012 at 10:05 PM EST From left: Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and host Carson Daly Mark Seliger/NBC Following what Blake Shelton called the "best episode of The Voice we've ever had", spirited group...

Read More..

OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription...

Read More..

European shares, euro fall on uncertainty over Greek bailout

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro fell on Wednesday after Greece's international lenders failed to reached a deal to reduce the country's debt and release the next payment from its bailout. The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.2752, while the region's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index <.stoxx50e> ended two days of gains built on expectations of a Greek deal to fall 0.3...

Read More..

Clinton to Visit Israel in Effort to Defuse Gaza Conflict

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – President Obama is sending Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East to try to defuse the conflict in Gaza, the White House announced on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton, who has been accompanying Mr. Obama on his three-country Asia trip, will leave directly from Asia, traveling first to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, then...

Read More..

People turn to Twitter for CPR information: study

(Reuters) – Amid snarky comments and links to cat videos, some Twitter users turn to the social network to find and post information on health issues like cardiac arrest and CPR, according to a U.S. study.Over a month, researchers found 15,234 messages on Twitter that included specific information about resuscitation and cardiac arrest, said the study...

Read More..

Dancing with the Stars: Couples Perform Crazy Combinations in Semi-Finals

TV Watch Dancing With the Stars By Aaron Parsley 11/19/2012 at 11:05 PM EST Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough Craig Sjodin/ABC It's the semi-finals!The remaining five couples on Dancing with the Stars faced two rounds of competition on Monday. First, the pairs performed...

Read More..

New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make...

Read More..

European shares slide as euro zone worries resume

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro fell on Tuesday after a credit rating agency stripped France of its top-notch rating, reminding investors of the continuing risks from the euro zone debt crisis. But the falls were limited as the move was widely expected and comes a day after global equity markets saw their biggest gains since late July on optimism that U.S. lawmakers would...

Read More..

Herat Journal: Herat, Freewheeling Afghan City, Fearful of U.S. Pullout

Bryan Denton for The New York TimesIn a dirty, bombed-out wasteland in the middle of Herat, 600-year-old minarets still stand, barely. Much of the city was destroyed during the war against the Soviet occupation. More Photos »HERAT, Afghanistan — Women in Converse sneakers jog untrammeled — if still in full, flowing chadors — in this western Afghan city’s biggest park, enjoying freedoms rarely witnessed...

Read More..