Reports: Margaret Thatcher leaves hospital

LONDON (AP) — British media are reporting that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has left the hospital after an operation to remove a bladder growth.The 87-year-old former Conservative leader was admitted to the hospital last week to have the operation.The BBC and Sky News said Thatcher was doing well and left the hospital on Saturday to "convalesce privately." Her spokesman did not...

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Spanish police arrest 17 suspected pimps

MADRID (AP) — Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested 17 people on suspicion of smuggling Nigerian women into Spain and forcing them into prostitution using threats including claims they would cast Voodoo spells on them if they didn't comply.An investigation began when police detected in January that around 10 women had been brought into the country illegally using a small boat.Police...

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Anglican leader Rowan Williams steps down

LONDON (AP) — The head of the Church of England is leaving office after a decade as the spiritual leader of the world's 80 million-strong Anglican Communion.Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, will be replaced by 56-year-old former oil executive Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham.The ten years in which the 62-year-old Williams held office saw him struggling to maintain unity within...

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Black boxes examined in fatal Russian plane crash

MOSCOW (AP) — Investigators on Sunday examined flight recorders and other evidence to try to determine the cause of the airliner crash in Moscow that killed five people, an official said.The Tu-204 belonging to Russian airline Red Wings was carrying eight people, all of them crew members, when it careered off the runway Saturday while landing at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport. It went partly into an adjacent...

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Official: Turkey talking to jailed Kurdish leader

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is holding talks with the Kurdish rebels' jailed leader to press the autonomy-seeking guerrilla group to relinquish arms and end its decades-long conflict, a senior official was quoted as saying on Sunday.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief adviser, Yalcin Akdogan, insisted in an interview with Taraf newspaper that the discussions were aimed at convincing the Kurdistan...

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Republicans see some leverage in "fiscal cliff" talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republicans may have some leverage in their fiscal cliffhanger with President Barack Obama: the threat of forcing a disproportionate number of Democrats to pay the so-called alternative minimum tax.Under U.S. law, taxpayers each year must pay the greater of regular federal income tax, or the AMT. The latter requires taxpayers to give up certain tax breaks, typically exemptions...

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Toll Brothers 4Q net income soars on tax benefit

 Toll Brothers says its fiscal fourth-quarter net income soared, helped by a large income tax benefit and a 48 percent rise in revenue. The luxury homebuilder delivered more homes and its order backlog increased.CEO Douglas C. Yearley Jr. said in a statement on Tuesday that higher home prices, low interest rates, pent-up demand and improving consumer confidence prompted buyers to return to the...

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IRS finalizes new tax for medical devices in healthcare law

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday released final rules for a new tax on medical devices, products ranging from surgical sutures to knee replacement implants, that starts next year as part of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law.The 2.3-percent tax must be paid, effective after December 31, by device-makers on their gross sales. The tax is expected to raise $29 billion in government...

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H&R Block 2Q loss narrows as revenue rises

 H&R Block's fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed, helped by cost-cutting efforts. Revenue climbed mostly because of a strong tax season in Australia.The nation's largest tax preparation company typically turns in a loss in the August-to-October period because it takes in most of its revenue during the U.S. tax season. H&R Block's quarterly performance beat analysts' estimates and its...

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Tax filing delay looms if no fix for minimum tax: IRS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. tax collector warned on Thursday of a delayed start to 2013's tax season if Congress fails to reset the alternative minimum tax (AMT) on high-income taxpayers so that it does not sweep in millions of middle-income people.Without another adjustment by lawmakers soon to the AMT, "many of us will see a delayed filing season," said Steven Miller, named just last month...

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