Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed...

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Syrian Ex-General: Assad Will Use Chemical Weapons

A former top general in Syria's chemical weapons program says he doesn't doubt for a moment that President Bashar al-Assad will deploy his chemical weapons arsenal as he tries to hold onto power and crush the uprising that started almost two years ago."The regime started to fall and deteriorate. It's coming to its end," said retired Major General Adnan Sillou in an interview in...

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Cairo faces rival protests over constitution crisis

CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's plans to vote on a new constitution will take to the streets in central Cairo later on Tuesday, risking more violent confrontation after last week's deadly clashes. Leftists, liberals and other opposition groups have called for marches to the presidential palace in the afternoon to protest against the hastily...

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Sembawang, Nee Soon retailers hit by fee hike

SINGAPORE: Already facing dwindling profits because of the shopping malls that have sprung up nearby, hundreds of heartland retailers in the Sembawang and Nee Soon Group Representation Constituencies will be hit by higher fees - the increase is up to four-fold - for using the demarcated areas outside their shops. The fee hike, the first in 17 years for shopkeepers in the constituencies,...

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SC refers Zakia Jafri's plea to larger bench

NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench on Monday referred to a larger bench the plea of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri's widow seeking documents on the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the Gulberg Housing Society riot case in Ahmedabad in 2002.A two-judge bench of Justices D K Jain and Madan B Lokur said it cannot go into the issue as the SIT probe and related issues concerning the...

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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...

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Remains of Banda Superstar Jenni Rivera's Jet Reported Found

UPDATED: Multiple reports, including one from Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico's Secretary of Communications and Transports, claim that the remains of the private jet carrying Jenni Rivera have been found, with no survivors. Rivera, 43, was one of seven passengers.Rivera's parents are believed to be en route to Mexico. Her brother, fellow singer Lupillo Rivera, and eldest daughter...

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Egypt's opposition rejects constitutional referendum

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main opposition coalition rejected on Sunday Islamist President Mohamed Mursi's plan for a constitutional referendum this week, saying it risked dragging the country into "violent confrontation". Mursi's decision on Saturday to retract a decree awarding himself wide powers failed to placate opponents who accused him of plunging Egypt deeper into crisis by refusing...

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Football: South Americans lead Inter past Napoli

MILAN: Inter Milan moved up to second and closed the gap to Juventus to four points in Serie A Sunday thanks to a clinical but hard-fought 2-1 win over fellow title chasers Napoli.A pair of goals from south Americans Fredy Guarin and Diego Milito settled Inter's nerves before half-time and despite Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani reducing the arrears just before the hour the visitors failed...

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India misguided, paranoid over China: Guha

Shreya Roy Chowdhury, TNN Dec 8, 2012, 06.12AM ISTMUMBAI: A good half-hour into the discussion on 'India, China and the World', historian Ramachandra Guha issued a disclaimer—all the three members on the panel had been to China only once. "We should learn their language, promote quality research, and have a panel on China driven by Chinese scholars," he said. And that was the general tenor of the...

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