Watch Live: Spectacular Total Solar Eclipse Over Australia

A total solar eclipse will darken the Southern Hemisphere today. Though it will only be visible from a small, remote area of Australia, you can still watch via the internet with our selection of live feeds.A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and sun, casting a shadow across the planet. Today’s eclipse will become darkest over Cairns,...

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Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit lays off 500 employees: source

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comcast Corp‘s NBCUniversal entertainment unit is laying off about 500 employees at cable channels, Jay Leno‘s late-night TV show and the Universal Pictures movie studio, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.The cuts add up to about 1.5 percent of the company’s workforce of 30,000 employees, the source said. A...

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The Neediest Cases: Single Mother Battling Breast Cancer Takes Strength From Her Children

She had not expected her fingernails to feel as if they had been hollowed out. Suzanne DeChillo/The New York TimesJosmery Batista, 34, with her children: Analisse, 4, left; Erika, 10; and Jeremy, 1. Ms. Batista is receiving chemotherapy treatment. For the past 100 years, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct assistance to children, families...

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I.H.T. Special Report | Oil & Money: After Years of Waiting, Virginia Wants to Make Its Name in Oil

Jason Hirschfeld/Associated PressHurricane Sandy pounding the coastline last month in Virginia Beach, Va. The state is the new epicenter of efforts by energy companies to get a toehold in the potentially vast resources hidden beneath the Atlantic. WASHINGTON — When Doug Domenech looks out at the Atlantic Ocean, he sees oil and natural gas and jobs and revenue. Standing between him and those prizes...

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U.S. to become world's largest oil producer before 2020, IEA says

This post has been corrected. See below for details.The U.S. will become the world’s top producer of oil within five years,...

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Gmail Location Data Led FBI to Uncover Top Spy's Affair

Every year careless hackers, cyberstalkers and others are undone by the digital trails they leave behind for law enforcement to collect and trace back to them.But who would have thought the nation’s top spy chief would be undone so easily by digital footprints left behind in Gmail?In the irony of ironies, the distinguished career of CIA Director and former Afghanistan war commander David Petraeus...

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U2′s Bono to urge U.S. politicians not to cut aid programs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Irish rocker and anti-poverty campaigner Bono will appeal to Democrats and Republicans during a visit to Washington this week to spare U.S. development assistance programs from cuts as Congress tries to avert the looming “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending reductions early next year.The U2 lead singer’s visit comes as the Obama...

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Personal Best: Quitting Smoking for Good

Few smokers would claim that it’s easy to quit. The addiction to nicotine is strong and repeatedly reinforced by circumstances that prompt smokers to light up.Yet the millions who have successfully quit are proof that a smoke-free life is achievable, even by those who have been regular, even heavy, smokers for decades.Today, 19 percent of American adults smoke, down from more than 42 percent half...

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Report Sees U.S. as Top Oil Producer, Overtaking Saudi Arabia, in 5 Years

Charlie Riedel/Associated PressIncreased oil production and new policies to improve energy efficiency mean that the United States will become “all but self-sufficient” in energy in about two decades, the International Energy Agency predicted. Above, an oil rig near Greensburg, Kan. The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net...

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Times investigation: Legal drugs, deadly outcomes

Terry Smith collapsed face-down in a pool of his own vomit.Lynn Blunt snored loudly as her lungs slowly filled with fluid.Summer...

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