Feb
08

Venezuela Devalues Currency Amid Shortages and Inflation

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela announced Friday that it was devaluing its currency, a step that had long been deemed necessary but could push the spiking inflation even higher. The devaluation, which lowered the currency’s value against the dollar by nearly a third, was aimed at solidifying government finances and easing a tight market for dollars that has choked back imports and led to shortages...
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Feb
07

FBI searches Las Vegas home of fugitive

Federal and local authorities served a search warrant at the Las Vegas home of an ex-police officer sought in connection with...
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California boy to be arraigned in “swatting” prank on actor Kutcher

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Prosecutors charged a 12-year-old boy on Thursday with making a false emergency call that sent police swarming to the home of actor Ashton Kutcher in a “swatting” prank.The name of the boy, who was arrested by Los Angeles police in December, was withheld due to his age. He was scheduled to be arraigned in a juvenile court in Los Angeles on Friday.The trend toward placing false...
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Bucks Blog: Avoiding Valentine’s Day Flower Woes

It’s that time of year again, when people rush to send bouquets of roses to that special someone. Last February, I wrote about the post-holiday howling and hand-wringing over flowers that were ordered online but went undelivered — or were delivered late — for Valentine’s Day.With all that in mind, the Web site Cheapism.com, devoted to recommendations that can save you money, has this suggestion: You...
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Feb
06

L.A. County Sheriff's Department intends to fire seven deputies

Seven Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies have been notified that the department intends to fire them for belonging to a secret...
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Psychiatric Hospitals Alter Rules on Patient Smoking

MANDEVILLE, La. — Annelle S., 64, who has paranoid schizophrenia, took an urgent drag on a cigarette at a supervised outdoor smoke break at Southeast Louisiana Hospital. “It’s mandatory to smoke,” she explained. “It’s a mental institution, and we have to smoke by law.” That was 18 months ago, and Annelle’s confusion was understandable. Until recently, Louisiana law required psychiatric...
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DealBook: R.B.S. to Pay $612 Million Over Rate Rigging

A campaign to root out financial fraud secured a victory on Wednesday, as authorities took aim at the Royal Bank of Scotland for its role in an interest rate manipulation scheme that has emboldened prosecutors and consumed the banking industry.American and British authorities struck a combined $612 million settlement with the bank, the latest case to emerge from the global investigation into rate-rigging....
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Feb
05

Child porn suspect indicted by federal grand jury

A North Hills woman whom authorities allege plied a young girl with crack cocaine and photographed her having sex with an older...
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Meryl Streep, Jean Dujardin returning to the Oscars

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep will likely get to induct Daniel Day-Lewis into that triple-Oscar club on February 24 at the Dolby Theatre, while “The Sound of Music” star Christopher Plummer will probably hand the Best Supporting Actress award to a new screen-musical star, Anne Hathaway.Those are two conclusions to be drawn from the Academy’s Tuesday announcement...
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Question Mark: Women’s Eggs Diminish With Age

Baby girls enter the world with enough of them to populate perhaps 40 small cities. A dozen or so years later, the first will make a debut of its own. And in the months and years to come, others will appear regularly, sometimes greeted with relief, other times with disappointment, perhaps most often with a touch of annoyance. Abdullah Pope/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesNot women's...
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