IHT Rendezvous: Romany Were European 500 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

LONDON — The Romany people constitute Europe’s largest and, arguably, now its most persecuted minority.A new genetic study published this week suggests their ancestors arrived in Europe from northwestern India in a single wave around 1,500 years ago, half a millennium earlier than previously thought.The international authors of the peer-reviewed paper in Current Biology journal said their study is...

Read More..

FCC chairman urges FAA to revise in-flight iPad rules

No, it doesn’t make any sense that you have to turn off your iPad or Kindle during airplane landings, and now the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to see that change. In a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski urged the agency to “enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices” on flights, The Hill reports. Genachowski...

Read More..

Shakira's Foundations Are Transforming Thousands of Kids' Futures

Heroes Among Us By Marisa Laudadio 12/08/2012 at 10:40 AM EST Shakira with students of the Barefoot Foundation in Colombia Courtesy Shakira Shakira was 8 when her parents taught her what life was like for the most vulnerable people in her native Colombia. Visiting...

Read More..

Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...

Read More..

Operators at 311 are accustomed to oddball calls

Just before Thanksgiving a few years back, Raquel Lopez fielded her umpteenth call of the day to find an irate man on the line.Someone...

Read More..

Khaled Meshal, the Leader of Hamas, Makes First Visit to Gaza

Wissam Nassar for The New York TimesKhaled Meshal, left, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, arrived for a visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday. With him is Ismail Haniya, Hamas's prime minister in Gaza. RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Khaled Meshal, whom the Israelis tried to assassinate in Jordan in 1997, arrived for his first visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday as head of the political bureau of Hamas, which...

Read More..

Firm says first BlackBerry 10 phone to debut in March, QWERTY phone won’t launch until June

Research In Motion (RIMM) is gearing up for a series of make-or-break releases that could be considered the most important device launches in the company’s history. Everything is riding on the success of the RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform, which will be unveiled in its finished state on January 30th next year. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins is on record confirming that BlackBerry 10 will launch in the first...

Read More..

Eddie Redmayne: 5 Things You Should Know

By Mary Green and Julie Jordan 12/07/2012 at 10:15 AM EST Eddie Redmayne, breakout star of Les Miserables, is receiving awards buzz as the student French revolutionary Marius, who falls in love with Cosette, played by Amanda Seyfried. Redmayne, who also played Michelle Williams's love interest...

Read More..

Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans...

Read More..

Man dumped soiled adult diapers around Orange County, police say

The Orange County district attorney's office has filed one misdemeanor charge against a man suspected of dumping soiled adult diapers in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.Tomoo Kawai is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 17. He faces probation and up to six months in jail if convicted.Although the D.A.'s office did not release Kawai's address or city of residence, police previously said the suspect...

Read More..

3 Charged With Plotting to Export Carbon Fiber to Iran

Three people have been charged with conspiring to illegally export to Iran and China a superstrong material called carbon fiber that can be used to make machines that can enrich uranium, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Wednesday. Iran has been pursuing carbon-fiber technology for years, and has had difficulty in obtaining the material. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear...

Read More..

Apple to return some Mac production to U.S. in 2013: report

(Reuters) – Apple Inc is planning to bring back some of its production of Mac computers to the United States from China next year, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, according to a report published Thursday.The company will spend more than $ 100 million to build the computers in the United States, Cook was cited as saying in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.“This doesn’t mean that Apple will do...

Read More..

Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum's Wedding Photo Revealed

TV Watch People Exclusive 12/06/2012 at 10:45 AM EST J.P. Rosenbaum and Ashley Hebert Bob and Dawn Davis Photography & Design Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum's wedding was picture perfect.In an exclusive shot from the couple's weekend nuptials, the newlyweds...

Read More..

Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans...

Read More..

Republican Kevin James makes an outsider run for L.A. mayor

A fundraiser put on by heavyweights in Los Angeles' liberal-leaning environmental community should have been a tough crowd for...

Read More..

Typhoon Kills Hundreds in Philippines

Bullit Marquez/Associated PressA resident hung clothing amid fallen trees and debris on Wednesday, a day after Typhoon Bopha made landfall in the village of Andap, in southern Philippines. MANILA — Rescue teams were trying to reach isolated villages in the southern Philippines on Wednesday after a powerful out-of-season typhoon tore through the region, leaving more than 270 people dead, officials...

Read More..

Austrian farmers dip into Internet “milking” craze

VIENNA (Reuters) – Dumping a bottle of milk over your head and filming it for a video post on the Internet has become a popular youth craze, but Austrian farmers say the spillage is a crying shame.“Milking”, as the trend is known, is among a variety of tongue-in-cheek stunts in which young people shoot pictures or videos of themselves posing as owls, planks of wood, or famous people and then share...

Read More..

Melissa Joan Hart, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi Sport Ugly Christmas Sweaters

By Maggie Coughlan 12/05/2012 at 10:45 AM EST Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Melissa Joan Hart Courtesy Nicole Polizzi; GABRIELLE REVERE It's sweater weather!With the holidays just around the corner, it's time to bust out your traditional ugly – and even not-so-ugly...

Read More..

Longer tamoxifen use cuts breast cancer deaths

Breast cancer patients taking the drug tamoxifen can cut their chances of having the disease come back or kill them if they stay on the pills for 10 years instead of five years as doctors recommend now, a major study finds.The results could change treatment, especially for younger women. The findings are a surprise because earlier research suggested that taking the hormone-blocking drug for longer...

Read More..

Man lived with dead girlfriend for months, faced murder charges

A jury is being selected in Stockton to hear the murder case against a man accused of living for months with his girlfriend's dead body.Devon Epps was evicted from his apartment in December 2011. The next day, when the apartment manager stopped by, they found a dead body in the bathroom.The body had been there for some time, authorities said.Epps was arrested and then arraigned a few days...

Read More..

Assad Suffering Reversals in Fighting and Diplomacy

Thair Al-Khalidieh/Shaam News Network, via ReutersA Free Syrian Army fighter battled government forces in Homs, Syria, on Monday. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fierce fighting on the battlefield and setbacks on the diplomatic front increased pressure on the embattled Syrian government as fresh signs emerged on Tuesday of a sustained battle for control of the capital, Damascus. News reports quoted...

Read More..

Taylor Swift & Harry Styles Hold Hands After Long Night in NYC

By Tim Nudd 12/04/2012 at 10:20 AM EST Taylor Swift and Harry Styles Alequin/Bosch/INF They're getting closer by the day. After strolling together in Central Park on Sunday, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles graduated to publicly holding hands early Tuesday after...

Read More..

Tapping citizen-scientists for a novel gut check

WASHINGTON (AP) — The bacterial zoo inside your gut could look very different if you're a vegetarian or an Atkins dieter, a couch potato or an athlete, fat or thin.Now for a fee — $69 and up — and a stool sample, the curious can find out just what's living in their intestines and take part in one of the hottest new fields in science.Wait a minute: How many average Joes really want to pay for the privilege...

Read More..

Decapitated body of man found at hospital

About L.A. NowL.A. Now is the Los Angeles Times’ breaking news section for Southern California. It is produced by more than 80 reporters and editors in The Times’ Metro section, reporting from the paper’s downtown Los Angeles headquarters as well as bureaus in Costa Mesa, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Riverside, Ventura and West Los Angeles.Have a story tip for L.A. Now?Can I call...

Read More..

Syria Moves Its Chemical Weapons and Gets Another Warning

WASHINGTON — The Syrian military’s movement of chemical weapons in recent days has prompted the United States and several allies to repeat their warning to President Bashar al-Assad that he would be “held accountable” if his forces used the weapons against the rebels fighting his government. The warnings, which one European official said were “deliberately vague to keep Assad guessing,” were...

Read More..

Nokia debunks rumor that it may be considering shift to Android

...

Read More..

David Oliver Relin, Co-Author of Three Cups of Tea, Commits Suicide at 49

By Maggie Coughlan 12/03/2012 at 10:45 AM EST David Oliver Relin, a journalist who co-authored the controversial best-selling book Three Cups of Tea, has committed suicide, the New York Times reports. He was 49.Relin, who co-wrote the 2006 book with Greg Mortenson about how Mortenson, a former mountain climber,...

Read More..

Asperger's dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term "Asperger's disorder" is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But "dyslexia" and other learning disorders remain.The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation's psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.Full details...

Read More..