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Shots - Health News
3:21 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

Heart Failure Treatment Improves, But Death Rate Remains High

Credit Brian Evans / Science Source
Heart with congestive heart failure showing an enlarged left ventricle.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 4:12 pm

This is one of those "good news, but" medical stories.

New treatments for heart failure have made it much less likely that people with this chronic condition will die suddenly.

But an analysis by researchers at UCLA finds that the death rate for people with advanced heart failure remains stubbornly high, with 30 percent of people dying within three years.

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The Two-Way
2:52 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

Google Reportedly Faces FTC Antitrust Probe Over Display Ads

The Federal Trade Commission is in the early stages of opening an antitrust probe into how Google runs its online display advertising business, according to a report by Bloomberg News, citing sources who want to remain anonymous because the FTC has not announced the probe.

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The Salt
2:46 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

The Great Charcoal Debate: Briquettes Vs. Lumps?

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 4:30 pm

A lot of things about grilling can ignite a fight, including the meaning of "barbecue." And with the proliferation of fancy equipment — from gas grills to pellet smokers to ceramic charcoal cookers — amateur cooks are growing more knowledgeable, and opinionated, about how to best cook food outdoors.

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Monkey See
2:37 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

Are Women Really Missing From Film Criticism?

Credit iStockphoto.com

A new study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film has led to headlines claiming that women are missing from film criticism. "Female Movie Critics' Influence Shrinking, Says Study," reads the headline in the Chicago Tribune.

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Movie Reviews
2:04 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

This Time, It's A Dull Ache Of A 'Hangover'

Credit Warner Bros. Pictures
Dazed And Confused (And Just Plain Lazy): Zach Galifianakis (center), with Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper, is back for a third Hangover film.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 2:34 pm

Well, they did say this one was going to be different.

After The Hangover II essentially duplicated the structure of the first movie --three guys piecing together a night of debauchery and mayhem none of them can entirely remember — director Todd Phillips promised that the third would go in a new direction. And, in a bold if unbelievable move in the era of never-ending sequels, he pledged that this Hangover would be the last.

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The Two-Way
1:56 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

News Corp. Board Approves Company Split

Credit Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images
The head of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in February.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 2:12 pm

Media empire News Corp., parent of Fox and The Wall Street Journal, will be cleaved into two businesses starting June 28: a publishing arm and one for entertainment.

The plan was first announced a year ago. As we reported at the time:

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The Two-Way
1:40 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

New Jersey Shore Is Ready For Visitors, Gov. Christie Says

Credit Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie earlier this month.
The Two-Way
1:05 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

Amphibians' Population Decline Marked In New U.S. Study

Credit Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images
Populations of frogs and other amphibians are declining at an average rate of 3.7 percent each year, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 1:37 pm

Populations of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians are declining at an average rate of 3.7 percent each year, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study released this week. Researchers say the study is the first to calculate how quickly amphibians are disappearing in the United States.

"If the rate observed is representative and remains unchanged, these species would disappear from half of the habitats they currently occupy in about 20 years," according to the USGS.

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The Two-Way
12:22 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

There's No Place For Sex Assaults In Military, Obama Says

Credit Larry Downing / Reuters /Landov
President Obama delivering the commencement address Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Saying that "those who commit sexual assaults are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that make our military strong," President Obama on Friday urged Naval Academy graduates to help bring an end to a disturbing series of such offenses.

"They've got no place in the greatest military on earth," Obama said during the commencement address he delivered at the academy's Annapolis, Md., campus.

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Movie Reviews
12:13 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

Two New Stories With A New-Wave Vibe

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 12:31 pm

Lately I've been re-watching vintage Truffaut movies, and I've been struck by the resurgent influence on American independent films of the French New Wave of the late '50s and '60s.

The Truffaut borrowings are fairly explicit in Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha, while Richard Linklater's Before Midnight takes its cues from Eric Rohmer's gentle but expansive talkfests. That's not a criticism: With mainstream movies seeming ever more machine-tooled nowadays, the impulse to reach back to an age of free-form filmmaking feels especially liberating.

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