IHT Rendezvous: Hints of Taiwan Leading the Way on Same-Sex Marriage in Asia

BEIJING — Will Taiwan become the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2013?Perhaps, judging from recent developments on the island, where the legislature has held its first hearings on the issue, a move that signifies “a major step towards becoming the first Asian territory to approve marriage equality,” the Shanghai-based Web site Shanghaiist reported, citing Gay Star News.In another...

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10 Vintage Photographs of Snowflakes

Photo courtesy of Flickr, Smithsonian Institution.Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: 5 YouTube Videos to Help Winterize Your Home]If for some reason you didn’t believe no two snowflakes were alike, here’s your proof.In 1885, Wilson A. Bentley successfully photographed over 5,000 snowflakes by attaching a camera to a microscope (and in turn honing the field of Photomicrography). His...

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Courteney Cox: Ex David Arquette Is Still My 'Best Friend in the World'

By Alison Schwartz 01/06/2013 at 12:00 PM EST Courteney Cox and Ellen DeGeneres Michael Rozman/Warner Bros. The romance didn't work out for Courteney Cox and David Arquette, but the Cougar Town star still has plenty of love for her ex – as a friend."He's my best...

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Your medical chart could include exercise minutes

CHICAGO (AP) — Roll up a sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. Stick out a wrist for the pulse-taking. Lift your tongue for the thermometer. Report how many minutes you are active or getting exercise.Wait, what?If the last item isn't part of the usual drill at your doctor's office, a movement is afoot to change that. One recent national survey indicated only a third of Americans said their doctors asked...

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"Cliff" concerns give way to earnings focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors' "fiscal cliff" worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way next week. Financial results, which begin after the market closes on Tuesday with aluminum company Alcoa , are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results. As a warning sign, analyst current...

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India Takes Aim at Poverty With Cash Transfer Program

Manish Swarup/Associated PressPoor and homeless people waited for food on Tuesday at a New Delhi temple. NEW DELHI — India has more poor people than any nation on earth, but many of its antipoverty programs end up feeding the rich more than the needy. A new program hopes to change that. On Jan. 1, India eliminated a raft of bureaucratic middlemen by depositing government pension and scholarship...

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Hero Lawyer Gives His House to a Homeless Family for a Year

01/05/2013 at 12:00 PM EST Felicia Dukes and her four children had been living in a homeless shelter – but now they have a cozy house all their own – thanks to a Los Angeles lawyer who has temporarily given up his residence to the family in need.Tony Tolbert, 51, decided he wanted to give up his fully furnished...

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FDA: New rules will make food safer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of foodborne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year.The rules, the most sweeping food safety guidelines in decades, would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are...

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Police Captain in Benghazi Is Abducted

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) — Police officials said Thursday that they were searching for the chief of Benghazi’s criminal investigations unit, who was seized by armed men the night before. The chief, Capt. Abdel-Salam al-Mahdawi, had been ready to identify suspects in the death of a former police chief, officials said. He was taken by force “under the threat of weapons from a location close...

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Did Microsoft Just Announce the Next Xbox with a Countdown? Probably.

Go countdowns, saving marketing departments untold piles of cash! Microsoft’s Larry Hryb, colloquially known by his Xbox LIVE handle “Major Nelson,” just threw one up on his blog, and it’s causing precisely the sort of speculative stir the company doubtless intended.“And it’s on…” reads the ultra-austere post, followed by a simple Flash-based timer titled “Counting down to E3 2013″ (cribbed from a...

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