Mindy McCready: Under Police Scrutiny at Time of Suicide?















02/18/2013 at 06:00 PM EST







Mindy McCready and David Wilson


Courtesy Mindy McCready


When Mindy McCready talked to police in recent weeks, her account of how her boyfriend came to be found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head concerned police, a law enforcement source tells PEOPLE.

"At first, she said she hadn't heard the gunshot because the TV was too loud. Then she said she had heard the gunshot," the source says. "So obviously there were a lot of questions, and the Sheriff was asking for clarification."

But before investigators could re-interview her, the long-troubled country singer also would die under eerily similar circumstances, her body discovered at the same Heber Springs, Ark., house just feet away from where David Wilson died.

McCready's death was blamed on what "appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound," the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

This differed from how the sheriff characterized Wilson's case. His cause and manner of death still have not been established by the coroner. It was McCready's publicist, and not a law enforcement official, who announced that Wilson had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After Wilson's death, McCready, 37, spoke to investigators three times, but they didn't feel as if they were through with her.

"At no point did [police] tell her she was a suspect, and she wasn't officially one," says the source. "But she knew that some of her answers didn't stand up to questioning. She was very cooperative, but she just wasn't making a lot of sense."


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Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women


CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.


The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models of hip implants perform best in women, even though women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year to ease the pain and loss of mobility caused by arthritis or injuries.


"This is the first step in what has to be a much longer-term research strategy to figure out why women have worse experiences," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit National Research Center for Women & Families. "Research in this area could save billions of dollars" and prevent patients from experiencing the pain and inconvenience of surgeries to fix hip implants that go wrong.


Researchers looked at more than 35,000 surgeries at 46 hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente health system. The research, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, was funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.


After an average of three years, 2.3 percent of the women and 1.9 percent of the men had undergone revision surgery to fix a problem with the original hip replacement. Problems included instability, infection, broken bones and loosening.


"There is an increased risk of failure in women compared to men," said lead author Maria Inacio, an epidemiologist at Southern California Permanente Medical Group in San Diego. "This is still a very small number of failures."


Women tend to have smaller joints and bones than men, and so they tend to need smaller artificial hips. Devices with smaller femoral heads — the ball-shaped part of the ball-and-socket joint in an artificial hip — are more likely to dislocate and require a surgical repair.


That explained some, but not all, of the difference between women and men in the study. It's not clear what else may have contributed to the gap. Co-author Dr. Monti Khatod, an orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, speculated that one factor may be a greater loss of bone density in women.


The failure of metal-on-metal hips was almost twice as high for women than in men. The once-popular models were promoted by manufacturers as being more durable than standard plastic or ceramic joints, but several high-profile recalls have led to a decrease in their use in recent years.


"Don't be fooled by hype about a new hip product," said Zuckerman, who wrote an accompanying commentary in the medical journal. "I would not choose the latest, greatest hip implant if I were a woman patient. ... At least if it's been for sale for a few years, there's more evidence for how well it's working."


___


Online:


Journal: http://www.jamainternalmed.com


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Yen firmer but near lows, Asian shares capped

TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen remained near recent lows on Tuesday, as attention turned to the appointment of a new Bank of Japan governor.


Regional share markets held to tight ranges as the absence of catalysts and a holiday in the U.S. overnight capped demand.


The yen, which has dropped 20 percent against the dollar since mid-November, fell further at the start of the week after financial leaders from the G20 promised not to devalue their currencies to boost exports and avoided singling out Japan for any direct criticism.


The choice of the next BOJ governor and two deputies has drawn market attention as a gauge to how strongly Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is committed to reflating the economy. The G20's message was that as long as Japan pursues aggressive monetary easing to achieve that goal, a weaker yen as a result of such domestic monetary policy will be tolerated, analysts say.


"But that means that some other economy's monetary conditions have been tightened," said Barclays Capital in a note.


"Japan hasn't even changed its policy stance thus far, and the effect of expectations of a looser setting have led to limited moves in domestic interest rates, but the sell-off of the JPY has been marked and has clearly caused unease in other economies."


Market reaction was muted to the release of the minutes of the BOJ's January 21-22 meeting, when the bank set a 2 percent inflation target and pledged to an open-ended quantitative easing from 2014, but the yen was bought when Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters Japan has no plans to buy foreign currency bonds as part of monetary easing, a trader said.


The dollar was down 0.2 percent to 93.75 yen, but remained near its highest since May 2010 of 94.465 hit on February 11. The euro also eased 0.3 percent to 125.05 yen, below its peak since April 2010 of 127.71 yen touched on February 6.


The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> was nearly flat.


The Nikkei stock average <.n225> opened down 0.6 percent, after closing up 2.1 percent on Monday to approach its highest level since September 2008 of 11,498.42 tapped on February 6. <.t/>


Australian shares <.axjo> inched down 0.1 percent on the back of weakness in metals prices, with investors focusing on local corporate earnings for direction after a three-month rally that has taken the market to 4-1/2 year highs.


Seoul shares <.ks11> opened little changed, and were expected to struggle to find momentum on worries about the weak yen.


"The market has been taking a breather recently after staging a recovery earlier this month," said Lee Jae-man, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities in Seoul. "The weaker yen has been priced in to some extent, and the pace of its fall is expected to slow down."


Disappointing earnings pushed European shares lower on Monday for a third straight session of losses while U.S. markets were closed for the President's Day holiday.


The euro was steady around $1.3348. The currency eased slightly on Monday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in a speech at the European Parliament that "the exchange rate is not a policy target but is important for growth and price stability" and that its rise is "a risk."


The risk of an inconclusive outcome in Italy's election this weekend added to investor concerns.


Sterling hovered near a seven-month low against the dollar touched on Monday after a key policymaker made comments about the need for further weakness, while recent poor data has spurred worries of another British recession.


U.S. crude fell 0.4 percent to $95.47 a barrel.


(Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)



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Briefs | Middle East: Iran: Rivals Forced to Apologize to Supreme Leader



Rival politicians apologized to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the weekend for having been embroiled in an unusually public feud involving secret tapes and a tit-for-tat impeachment. On Sunday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; the Parliament speaker, Ali Larijani; his brother, Sadegh Larijani; the chief of Iran’s judiciary; and all members of Parliament sent letters expressing sorrow and promising renewed allegiance to Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran. The written apologies, reported by the state-run press, came a day after the ayatollah had criticized both Mr. Ahmadinejad and the Larijanis for letting their own mutual animosity become public, raising speculation of irreparable rifts. The ayatollah had said in a speech that the whole matter “made me feel sad.”


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Sony slashes PS Vita pricing in Japan ahead of PlayStation 4 unveiling






As Sony’s (SNE) struggles continue in the portable gaming market, the consumer electronics giant announced on Monday that it will slash the price of its PlayStation Vita console in Japan. Beginning late next week, both the Wi-Fi-only and 3G-connected versions of the Vita will drop to 19,980 yen including taxes, or $ 215.42 USD at Monday’s exchange rate. The Wi-Fi model currently costs 24,980 yen ($ 269.33 USD) and the 3G model is priced at 29,980 yen ($ 323.24 USD) until February 28th when the price drops take effect. Sony hasn’t said anything about cutting the cost of the portable console outside of Japan, but it may make some announcements during its PlayStation 4 event on Wednesday. The company’s full press release follows below.



PlayStation ® Vita price revision
February 28, 2013 (Thursday) retail price of 19,980 yen (tax included)






[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]


February 28, 2013 (Thursday), ¥ 29,980 traditional Sony Computer Entertainment Japan ※ 1 (SCEJ) is, 3G/Wi-Fi model (including tax, the retail price of the PlayStation ® Vita (PS Vita below) to 19,980 yen including tax) (, Wi-Fi model will be revised (including tax) from 19,980 yen (including tax) from 24,980 yen).


By addition to the GPU and the CPU, high-performance display and a beautiful that, with such dual analog stick and the multi-touch pad on the rear panel, PS Vita, which was launched in December 2011, to deliver an immersive experience of the ultimate I will continue to provide the gaming experience. In addition to the expansion of an attractive color variations such as sapphire Cosmic Red and Blue, by the system of free software updates, such as service response to PlayStation ® Plus ※ 2 software and standard flat-rate “PlayStation” first, PS Vita users meet the needs of everyone in, I’m constantly evolving. In addition to the methods existing Wi-Fi, by which supports access to the 3G network a new, PS Vita has realized the connection of new and everyone other users in everyday life. To enjoy the PS Vita to everyone more users, we will begin offering at a price of ¥ 19,980 revision both models. As a result, the user’s everyone, you can feel free to choose the model that is appropriate for the game play style of your choice is available.


In addition, we received strong support from companies like software maker, dedicated software is PS Vita PS Vita interactive content that can be enjoyed by more than 100, you can download from the PlayStation ® Store has reached more than 1,500 ※ 3 at the end of January 2013 You had to. Our company and our future than software manufacturers, “Den 討鬼” (SEGA) “Phantasy Star Online 2″, “SOUL SACRIFICE (Soul Sacrifice)” (TECMO KOEI GAMES CO., LTD.) Sony Corporation (- from hunting action game to enjoy cooperative play, such as Computer Entertainment), the player taking the communication meeting, “Kagura 閃乱 SHINOVI VERSUS – proof of the girls” – “Oboro Muramasa”, Marvelous AQL), ​​”Tales Inc. ( Obuhatsu Pirate Musou 2 R “,” One Piece Baseball Spirits 2013 “(NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.)” “to work, such as the long-awaited game fans (Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.), is expected to be released one after another title is scheduled.


(Thursday), the set body and PS Vita special edition with the motif of the peripherals, the same title, and a variety of breaking down the common sense of the multi-Hunting Action “(Soul Sacrifice) SOUL SACRIFICE” March 7, 2013 change (including tax) 24,980 yen, will be released in limited quantities from (tax included) for a suggested retail price of 29,980 yen originally planned, did the “PlayStation ® Vita SOUL SACRIFICE PREMIUM EDITION”.


We will carry out a variety of campaigns to suit this price revision, to everyone in the user’s enjoy PS Vita. Please refer to the following for the campaign details.


So that you can enjoy the world of entertainment unique PS Vita to more customers in the future, SCEJ will continue to strongly promote and expand further spread of the PS Vita platform.



Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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See The Dress Only Jennifer Lopez Could Wear







Style News Now





02/15/2013 at 06:00 PM ET











Emmy Rossum, Jessica Alba, Jennifer LopezDave Allocca/Startraks; Amanda Edwards/WireImage; Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic


Judging by the red carpet looks seen at the Grammys and the creations sent down the runways at New York Fashion Week, we have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be spotting a lot more navy and a lot more menswear-inspired getups in the coming weeks. But there’s one style you can pretty much write off (and don’t expect to see much of it at the Oscars): Studio 54-esque dresses.



Up: Navy Instead of Black. The LBD and LWD better watch out: There’s another shade gunning for the spotlight. This week everyone from Emmy Rossum and Anne Hathaway to Oprah Winfrey and Miranda Lambert slipped into midnight blue. And we totally understand the appeal of the color. It’s a bit more interesting and unexpected than black, but equally flattering on all shapes and sizes.




Up: Menswear-Inspired Looks. Beyoncé wore a pantsuit to the Grammys and a number of other stars (including Jessica Alba, Julianne Hough and Solange Knowles) quickly followed, well, suit. We doubt that tons of actresses will forgo gowns for dude duds at the Oscars, but our money is on at least one woman in menswear on that red carpet.



Down: Disco Ball Dresses. They had their moment, but that moment seems to have passed. So, take a long look at Jennifer Lopez in her printed sequin Preen dress (sparkly enough to be hung from the ceiling over any dance floor) because as amazing as it is, the creation is probably the last you’ll see of its kind for some time.


For more on which trends to follow check out our thoughts on platforms, polka dots, and furry accents.


Tell us: Which trend do you hope to see more of? Vote in our poll below! 






PHOTOS: SEE OUR FAVORITE DRESSES OF AWARDS SEASON — SO FAR!




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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows


GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.


U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.


Edwards said Friday that the camps have been hit by 6,017 cases of hepatitis E, which is spread through contaminated food and water.


He says the largest number of cases and suspected cases is in the Yusuf Batil camp in Upper Nile state, which houses 37,229 refugees fleeing fighting between rebels and the Sudanese government.


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Japan stocks rally, yen resumes fall after G20

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese shares rallied and the yen fell on Monday after Tokyo escaped direct criticism from its G20 peers on its aggressive reflationary plans that have weakened the currency.


"With Japan, as yet, using various measures to ease monetary conditions domestically, we do not expect a large international backlash against its efforts and look for the JPY to continue to decline gradually as the easier monetary conditions feed through into FX," Barclays Capital said in a note to clients.


The G20 declined to single out Tokyo but committed to refrain from competitive devaluations and said monetary policy would be directed only at price stability and growth. Japan said this has given it a green light to pursue its policies unchecked.


Taking their cue from the G20, the Nikkei average <.n225> opened up 1.3 percent as the yen resumed its downtrend. <.t/>


The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> was nearly unchanged. The pan-Asian index briefly hit a 18-1/2-month high on Friday and had its best performance since the week of January 6 with a 1.2 percent weekly gain.


On Friday, MSCI's all-country world index <.miwd00000pus>, a measure of global equity activity, traded down 0.26 percent, while European shares closed lower and U.S. stocks ended flat.


Australian shares rose 0.3 percent as miners gained on hopes that top customer China might start buying after the Lunar New Year holidays, while blue chips Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra Corp Ltd dropped after trading ex-dividend.


Markets in China and Taiwan resumed trading after a week-long holiday.


In Seoul, the Kospi <.ks11> opened down 0.1 percent, partly weighed by concerns over continued yen weakness that could erode the competitive edge of Korea's exporters.


"There is not much else to go on today except the currency, so everything depends on where the yen goes," said Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex.


The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 93.75 yen inching closer to its highest since May 2010 of 94.465 hit on February 11. The euro added 0.1 percent to 125.26 yen, still below its peak since April 2010 of 127.71 yen touched on February 6.


The market's focus is now on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nominee for the next Bank of Japan governor. Abe is expected to announce his choice in coming days.


Sources told Reuters that former top financial bureaucrat Toshiro Muto is leading the field of candidates to become the next central bank governor. It is expected that he would intensify stimulus efforts to reflate the economy.


STOCKS CONSOLIDATE


Data from EPFR Global on Friday underscored that a consolidation was underway in global equities after their recent rally. It showed investors worldwide pulled $3.62 billion from U.S. stock funds in the latest week, the most in ten weeks after taking a neutral stance the prior week. But demand for emerging market equities remained strong, with investors putting $1.81 billion in new cash to stock funds, the fund-tracking firm said.


Demand for commodities will likely be in focus as China returns to the market.


Investors are also expected to focus on fiscal talks in Washington, where policymakers are discussing a package of budget cuts set to kick in on March 1. Analysts say the austerity measures could hurt the U.S. economy.


U.S. crude fell 0.2 percent to $95.64 a barrel.


(Additional reporting by Sophie Knight in Tokyo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)



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In Russia, Property Ruined and Spared by Meteor Share Space





CHELYABINSK, Russia — The shock wave from a meteor that exploded above Siberia last week somehow sheared the roof off a brick and steel factory building while leaving a nearby glass facade unscathed.




In some high-rises in this city, the first modern urban community to have felt the breath of a cosmic close encounter, every window blew out on the top floor; elsewhere, the ground floors suffered.


More ominously, reports came in to local news media over the weekend of stranger phenomena: behind unshattered apartment windows, glass jugs were said to explode into shards, dishes to crack, electronics to die. Balconies rattled. One man said a bottle broke right in his hand.


Anna V. Popova was at home with her daughter when she saw the flash, then heard explosions, then found the windows of her enclosed balcony blown in; her neighbor, with identical windows, escaped without property damage.


“A lot of people suffered, not us alone,” Ms. Popova said, but added that there seemed to be randomness in whose property was damaged. “Who are we supposed to blame for all this? Nobody of course.”


Scientists believe the space rock that tore through the atmosphere on Friday morning and blew apart here was the largest to have entered the atmosphere since 1908 and that it was unusual as well for the scale of its effects: more than 1,200 people injured and broad property damage.


Indeed, the event is providing a first indication of the type of structural and infrastructural costs meteors can exact from a highly industrialized society. NASA scientists say a meteor of this size strikes the Earth about once every hundred years.


Shattered glass caused most of the damage and injuries here in Chelyabinsk, a sprawling industrial city of about a million people.


What shattered the glass, scientists say, was both the explosion as the meteor fragmented and the waves of pressure created as it decelerated. Such low-frequency waves — called infrasound — are sometimes detected by cold-war era nuclear blast sensors in remote parts of the Pacific Ocean or Alaska, according to meteor experts.


The waves can bounce off buildings and be stronger in some places than others; they can also resonate with glass, explaining why bottles and dishes might have shattered inside undamaged kitchens, as if crushed by the airy hand of the meteor itself.


“A shock wave is like a ball,” Aleksandr Y. Dudorov, director of the theoretical physics department at Chelyabinsk State University, said in an interview. “Throw a ball into a room and it will bounce from one wall to another.”


Russia has mobilized 24,000 emergency officials to inspect roads, railroads, hospitals, factories and military facilities. Most are undamaged, including 122 sites identified as particularly critical, including nuclear power plants, dams and chemical factories, and a space launching site called Strela.


Also Sunday, Russia’s consumer safety inspection agency, Rospotrebnadzor, released a statement saying the water in Lake Chebarkul, where a hole in the ice appeared on Friday, was not radioactive.


It was unclear why the agency released this finding only Sunday, or whether the tests were conducted to assuage popular concerns or out of any real official uncertainty over what happened on Friday. In any case, the agency said a mobile laboratory quietly dispatched to the lake tested for but did not discover cesium 137 and strontium 90, isotopes created in nuclear explosions.


Infrasound waves have not previously been studied in a cityscape, Richard P. Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of a textbook on asteroids and meteorites, said in a telephone interview. But he noted that the apparent randomness of the damage was consistent with the way such waves function.


“A shock wave can be coming from a particular direction, and if you face that direction you are more susceptible,” Dr. Binzel said.


“One building might shadow another, or you may have a street that is optimally aligned to channel the wave, either in a fortunate or unfortunate way.”


Peter Brown, a professor of physics at the University of Western Ontario, wrote in an e-mail that an infrasound wave “is very efficient at traveling long distances,” and that “windows, structures or even glass jars susceptible to resonate at this frequency could be a factor to seemingly random damage at widely disparate locations.”


Dr. Brown studied a similar, though smaller, explosion of a meteor over the Pacific Ocean on Oct. 8, 2009, which also sent out low-frequency waves, though too remote to affect homes or industry.


They were, though, registered by a network of infrasound sensors established to monitor compliance with the international ban on nuclear tests, according to Dr. Brown.


Alekdander V. Anusiyev, the spokesman for the governor of Chelyabinsk region, characterized the damage here as without a discernible pattern. “It is impossible to say more glass broke in one part of the city or another,” he said. “Glass broke everywhere.”


The roof of the zinc factory that collapsed was reinforced with a lattice of steel beams and supported by concrete joists that are now broken, jutting upward with mangled re-bar protruding. Windows on a neighboring house blew in with such force that the frames went with them.


Yet a few yards away on Sverdlovsky Street, the cosmos spared a seemingly vulnerable Hundai dealership, a three-story cube sheathed in glass, with glistening display models inside. Not a window broke.


“People can consider Feb. 15 their second birthday,” the governor of Chelyabinsk, Mikhail Yurevich, told reporters, referring to the day of the meteor strike. “God directed danger away.”


Ellen Barry contributed reporting from Moscow.



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Justin Bieber Feud With Patrick Carney Heats Up As Black Keys Drummer Imitates Pop Star On Twitter






The Twitter war between Justin Bieber and Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney rages on.


After the pair got into a verbal tussle on the social networking site on Tuesday, thousands of Beliebers have bombarded Patrick’s page with threats and insults.






PLAY IT NOW: Justin Bieber Opens Up On Split From Selena Gomez


The musician initially seemed to have fun with the attack from Justin‘s fans (re-Tweeting their oft-misspelled rants) but took the bizarre feud to a new level when he changed his Twitter name to Justin Bieber, and replaced his own photo with a picture of the “Beauty and the Beat” singer rocking hipster frames (similar to his own).


Patrick also began Tweeting using the 18-year-old singer’s catchphrase, “Swag,” when replying to hundreds of angry pro-Justin Tweets.


VIEW THE PHOTOS: Grammys 2013: The Winners


“In order 2 give u guys full swag I have changed my stage name to Justin Bieber,” the 32-year-old drummer Tweeted on Saturday.


“I luv all u! I need to get my beauty swag. Swag you guyz later! – Justin,” he later added.


Carney even Tweeted a photo of a Justin Bieber toothbrush with the caption, “Bout to swag my teeth.”


VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Boy Who Makes The Tweens Swoon — Justin Bieber


See the photo HERE.


On Sunday, however, Patrick seemed to have abandoned his “swag,” as he reverted back to his own name and Tweeted, “Justin is gone now. DNA recombo unsuccessful. I will try again soon though!”


VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood’s Infamous Celeb Feuds


Justin, who is currently on tour in Ireland, has yet to respond to Patrick’s Twitter name change.


As previously on AccessHollywood.com, the fight began after Justin Tweeted, “The black keys drummer should be slapped around haha,” to his 34 million followers on Tuesday night.


The Canadian pop star was up in arms over comments Patrick made to a TMZ paparazzo on Monday night, who asked if Justin should feel snubbed by the Recording Academy’s lack of Grammy nominations.


“He’s rich, right? Grammys are for like music, not for money … and he’s making a lot of money,” the drummer — whose band took home four awards at Sunday’s Grammys — told TMZ. “He should be happy.”


VOTE: Whose side are you on?


– Erin O’Sullivan


Copyright 2013 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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