Rebels Claim They Seized Air Bases and a Dam in Syria

ReutersThe bodies of Syrian civilians in a street in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, after opposition activists said they were shot by government forces. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fresh from declaring that they had seized an important military airport and an air defense base just outside Damascus, Syrian rebels on Monday said they overran a hydroelectric dam in the north of the country, adding to a...

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Nokia unveils 2 new cellphone models, priced at $62

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Struggling Finnish cellphone maker Nokia unveiled on Monday two new cellphone models, the Asha 205 and the Asha 206, pricing both models at around $ 62, excluding subsidies and taxes.Both models will go on sale this quarter.Nokia unveiled a new Slam feature which allows consumers to share multimedia content like photos and videos with nearby friends almost instantly through Bluetooth...

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Longoria agrees to deal adding $100 million

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longori has agreed to a new contract through 2022 that adds six guaranteed seasons and $100 million.The agreement announced Monday with the three-time All-Star incorporates the remainder of the 27-year-old's existing contract, which called for him to earn $36.6 million over the next four seasons. The new deal includes a team option for...

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Chia Seeds Gain Popularity for Nutritional Benefits

First there were Chia Pets; now there are chia people. Ubiquitous in television ads that began 30 years ago, Chia Pets were called “the pottery that grows.” Mixing chia seeds and water on the outside of an animal-shaped terra-cotta figurine produces a plant resembling green hair almost overnight. Now, chia is having a second life as a nutritional “it” item. Whole and ground chia seeds...

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DealBook: S.E.C. Chief Who Overhauled Agency to Step Down

11:42 a.m. | Updated Mary L. Schapiro, who overhauled the Securities and Exchange Commission after the financial crisis, announced Monday that she was stepping down as chairwoman of the agency.In recent days, the S.E.C. informed the White House and Treasury Department that Ms. Schapiro planned to leave Dec. 14, becoming the first major departure from the Obama administration’s team of financial regulators....

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Opinion: India Shrugs at Another Gandhi

Kapil Sethi/Associated PressRahul Gandhi, center, waves during an event organized by the National Students Union of India in Chandigarh, India, on Oct. 11, 2012. A WELL-KNOWN Indian fashion designer, who had recently flown home from New York, said to me at a dinner in Delhi: “For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like coming back. I felt like it used...

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Saudi telco regulator suspends Mobily prepaid sim sales

(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia‘s No.2 telecom operator Etihad Etisalat Co (Mobily) has been suspended from selling pre-paid sim cards by the industry regulator, the firm said in a statement to the kingdom’s bourse on Sunday.Mobily’s sales of pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go, sim cards will remain halted until the company “fully meets the prepaid service provisioning requirements,” the telco said in the statement.These...

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No. 1 Notre Dame beats USC 22-13, earns title shot

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For four straight plays in the waning minutes, Notre Dame's defense was backed up to its 1 with its perfect season in peril.And on four straight plays, Southern California got nothing."We're going to fight," linebacker Manti Te'o said. "That's our name. It doesn't matter where we are."The Fighting Irish will be in Miami next. With one another hard-nosed victory, they punched their...

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Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family

The New York TimesPing An, one of China’s largest financial services companies, is building a 115-story office tower in Shenzhen. The company is a $50 billion powerhouse now worth more than A.I.G., MetLife or Prudential. SHENZHEN, China — The head of a financially troubled insurer was pushing Chinese officials to relax rules that required breaking up the company in the aftermath of the Asian financial...

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News Analysis: Israel and Hamas Are United in Seeing Scant Value in Compromise

Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesNext to the Gaza border, Shai Hathuel, 37, took his children to the beach to enjoy the cease-fire. GAZA — The eight days of fighting between Hamas and Israel left more than 160 Palestinians and six Israelis dead, but there may be another casualty from the sudden burst of violence: whatever small chance there was for reviving a long-moribund peace process. ...

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