Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Released from Hospital

After being admitted the hospital on Monday for acute morning sickness, Kate Middleton has left King Edward VII Hospital in London.

The Duchess of Cambridge was accompanied by her husband, Prince William, as she exited the hospital with a smile and a bouquet of flowers.

RELATED: Prince William & Kate Middleton Expecting a Baby

In a statement released by the hospital, it was confirmed that the Duchess had been discharged from the hospital and revealed that she now plans to rest at Kensington Palace, a residence of the Royal Family.

The Duchess' first child, whom she simultaneously revealed to be pregnant with upon divulging the news of her hospitalization, will become third in line to throne regardless of its gender.

RELATED: Kate Middleton: After the Prank

While her pregnancy news fell on poor terms, the Duchess is elated to bring a new member into the Royal Family after marrying Prince William in April 2011.

Middleton is less than twelve weeks pregnant, which is a typically premature pregnancy announcement for the Royal Family, suggesting that the hospitalization encouraged the exciting news, which would have been unveiled to the public by her hospital stay, to be announced by the Royal Family itself.

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Bombing wounds Afghan intelligence chief

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan's intelligence chief was wounded Thursday in an assassination attempt in the capital, Kabul, Afghan officials said.

A senior government official said Asadullah Khalid suffered injuries on the lower part of his body when a bomb exploded at the intelligence chief's guest house as he was receiving a visitor. The house is used for private meetings that Khalid doesn't want to hold at the official compound of the National Directorate of Intelligence, the official said.

He official would not provide more details beyond saying the bombing was an attempt on Khalid's life.

AP

Asadullah Khalid in 2007

Khalid was rushed to a medical facility run by the intelligence service, the government official said.

An Afghan police official also confirmed that Khalid was injured in a blast. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information.

Khalid, a former minister of tribal and border affairs and ex-governor of two provinces, was appointed head of the service in September.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

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South Florida foreclosure sales up in third quarter

Miami-Dade County’s foreclosure-related sales rose 43.9 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter and jumped 21.8 percent from a year earlier, as banks sold off more properties, according to RealtyTrac.

In Broward County, third-quarter foreclosure-related sales rose 38.9 percent from the prior quarter, but were down 24.5 percent from a year ago, the real estate data firm based in Irvine, Calif., said.

Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said Miami-Dade, Broward and Florida generally are showing an increase in bank-owned sales, as well as mirroring the national trend of rising short sales.

“South Florida shows a pretty significant quarter over [prior] quarter increase in bank-owned properties being sold,’’ Blomquist said. “It appears that banks are ramping back up and selling more properties.’’

Foreclosure-related sales – including bank-owned properties and short sales – accounted for 32.5 percent of sales in Miami-Dade and 25.2 percent in Broward in the third quarter. Nationwide, 19 percent of all residential sales were foreclosure-related in the latest quarter, RealtyTrac said.

Across Florida, foreclosure-linked sales rose 47 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter and were up 16.9 percent from a year earlier.

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On shared stage, Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan take steps toward 2016

WASHINGTON --
Just days after he was sworn in, Sen. Marco Rubio was trying to knock down speculation.

"This is the one job that I wanted. I wanted to be a U.S. senator, not a vice presidential candidate, not a presidential candidate," he told a radio interviewer in January 2011. "I didn’t run to use it as a stepping-stone."

But Tuesday night at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel, Rubio took another step in reaching for the next thing.

Encircled by the buzz over a potential run for president in 2016, the Florida Republican delivered a speech on ways to lift the middle class, calling it "the answer to the most pressing challenges we face" as he tried to project a fresh outlook for a GOP still reeling from last month’s election.

Rubio shared the stage, and a similar message, with another GOP hotshot and likely presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. The ambitious, young politicians — Rubio, 41, Ryan, 42 — competed for the spotlight under the watch of several hundred guests, more than two dozen reporters and viewers of C-SPAN.

Rubio is more polished and charismatic, using the emotional power of his immigrant parents’ tale to drive his message. But Ryan, of Wisconsin, is beloved among conservatives and was equally well received.

The positioning was acknowledged only through a joke.

"You’re joining an elite group of past recipients — so far, it’s just me and you," Ryan said to Rubio, who was given a leadership award by the Jack Kemp Foundation at the group’s banquet Tuesday at the Mayflower. "I’ll see you at the reunion dinner — table for two. Know any good diners in Iowa or New Hampshire?’’

Rubio, who traveled to Iowa on Nov. 17, later joked, "I will not stand by and watch the people of South Carolina ignored."

For Rubio, who arrived in Washington by defeating a sitting governor knocked as a relentless office climber, his continued national emergence is a delicate balance of managing his vow to focus on the Senate with his political drive. He played down talk of becoming Mitt Romney’s running mate, a job that went to Ryan, but with the GOP left without a clear leader and searching for direction, Rubio won’t close doors.

Romney’s loss and other election disappointments have left the party searching for a new direction, and Rubio’s and Ryan’s speeches reflected their efforts to appeal to a broader group of voters. Both made an effort to distance themselves from the impression Romney left that half the country is hopelessly dependent on government — the infamous "47 percent" comments delivered at a private fundraiser in Boca Raton.

They pulled back on partisan rhetoric and tried to project a more hopeful and inclusive vision with a heavy focus on middle-class families.

"Some say that our problem is that the American people have changed," said Rubio, born in Miami to Cuban immigrants who worked blue-collar jobs. "That too many people want things from government. But I am still convinced that the overwhelming majority of our people just want what my parents had — a chance."

Ryan, in his first speech since the election, said: "We’ve got to set aside partisan considerations in favor of one overriding concern: How can we work together to repair the economy? How can we provide real security and upward mobility for all Americans — especially those in need?"

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Holly Madison on Her Hospitalization for Morning Sickness

Seven months into her first pregnancy, Holly Madison suffered a scare earlier this week when she was briefly hospitalized for excessive morning sickness, which normally subsides after the first trimester of pregnancy. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Madison says she was frightened by the incident.

"When [the morning sickness] started happening really late [in the pregnancy] and I was really vomiting a lot during the day, it freaked me out," the former Playboy model said. "I was told to go to the doctor and get an IV and everything. So, that was kind of scary to me just because it seemed like something so unusual...but everything's O.K. so far, so that's good."

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Madison was cleared by the hospital shortly after she admitted herself and is now back to normal; however, she revealed that doctors warned her that if she were to put too much strain on her body, she would be confined to resting in her bed.

The 32-year-old model, who once dated Playboy's Hugh Hefner, is expecting her baby with boyfriend Pasquale Rotella to be born sometime in March. While the two are expecting a girl, they haven't yet decided on a name for the child.

"We actually have a lot of names we really like, so we're narrowing it down and I think we're going to wait until the day the baby comes and see what her vibe is and then pick one from there," she said.

RELATED: Prince William & Kate Middleton Expecting a Baby

Although extreme morning sickness isn't very common, the Duchess of Cambridge was also recently hospitalized with a similar, more severe case of morning sickness, which caused her to announce her pregnancy much earlier than royals typically do.

"I wish her the best and I'm glad she's getting the best possible care and I'm super excited for her," she said, then offering her suggestion for a baby name. "I think everybody wants to see [the baby] named Diana if it's a girl. I think that would melt the hearts of the world."

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Two men arrested for allegedly stealing packages from LI doorsteps

BAY SHORE, NY — Two men are under arrest for allegedly stealing packages from the doorsteps of homes on Long Island.

Police say the suspects followed a UPS truck around the Bay Shore neighborhood on Tuesday and stole packages after they were left on the doorsteps.

An Apple EarPod, Apple iPad Mini case and two pairs of Skechers sneakers were recovered.

Albert Munoz, of Bay Shore, and Freddy Benavides, Jr., of Central Islip, were charged with criminal possession of stolen property.

It wasn't immediately clear if they had a lawyer.

Freddy Benavides, Jr.

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iPad’sdominance limits apps for other tablets

Q. When are companies going to start writing applications for tablet computers other than the iPad? I own a Pandigital tablet, and when I try to download apps, I’m told they’re either for the iPad or iPhone.

LeRoy Hilton,

Oro Valley, Ariz.

You can expect more apps for non-Apple tablet computers when those devices gain more market share. How soon, or if, that will happen is anyone’s guess.

People who write apps are motivated by the revenue they’re likely to get. They can maximize that revenue by focusing on the tablet computer that is owned by the largest number of people.

Right now, the best opportunity for app writers is the iPad, which in the first three months of 2012 accounted for 68 percent of the 17.4 million tablet computers sold worldwide, according to market research firm IDC. The iPad’s chief competitors, in order of market share, are tablets made by Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo and Barnes & Noble. Pandigital is further down the list.Q. I recently bought a Kindle Fire tablet computer, and I’m disappointed that it cannot be read in the sunshine as other Kindle devices can. Is there anything I can do to make the screen more readable outdoors, such as buying an anti-glare screen protector?

Mary Jo Ready,

Shoreview, Minn.

An anti-glare protector won’t help. The issue is that your Kindle Fire’s LCD, or liquid crystal display, screen is lit from inside, but isn’t bright enough to compete with sunlight. Your only outdoor options are to raise the screen brightness and find some shade. A video that explains how to adjust screen brightness can be found on Amazon’s help pages, at http://www.tinyurl.com/7289vlo. Q. My Windows task bar was always at the bottom of my screen, but the other day it went to the top for some reason. How can I get it back to the bottom of the screen?

Kathleen Gignac,

Bartow, Fla.

The task bar can be dragged to a new location using your mouse. Left-click a blank space on the task bar and, while holding down the mouse button, drag the bar to the bottom of the screen.

You can skip this manual process if you are using Windows XP or Windows Vista. Just go to http://www.tinyurl.com/c7qwp8 and click the automatic “fix it” button. That will return the task bar to its default position at the bottom of the screen.

If you have problems with either of these techniques, the task bar may have become “locked” in its current position. There are directions on the same Web page that explain how to “unlock” the tool bar’s location so it can be moved.

Contact Steve Alexander at Tech Q&A, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn. 55488-0002; e-mail steve.j.alexander@gmail.com.

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Son of slain Miami Gardens car wash owner: ‘He put his own life before someone else’

When Dameion Peart got the phone call from his uncle, he didn’t believe it. He drove to his father’s Miami Gardens car wash to see for himself. He hoped the news wouldn’t be too bad, or maybe the shooting happened someplace else.

He pulled up, saw flashing lights and police tape, and knew it was true.

His father, Errold Peart, had been trying to protect a customer Sunday afternoon from armed robbers at the car wash he ran at Northwest 191st Street and First Place.

The robbers turned their gun on Peart, killing him.

“He put his own life before someone else,” his son said.

Now, Peart’s family began the unexpected task of planning a memorial. He was five days away from his 60th birthday.

He won’t get to see his daughter, Mishka Peart, 23, graduate from the University of Miami’s medical school.

“It’s just sad,” Dameion Peart said. “It was unnecessary.”

When the community heard of the shooting, they started dropping by the scene. They were the ones who lived nearby, longtime customers and friends, each with their own tale of how his father had helped them through the years.

They talked about the times Peart, 59, didn’t charge for carwashes to people short on money. They told Dameion Peart, 32, how his father would give money to people who needed help paying for water and electricity, never asking for the money back.

They shared stories about people who couldn’t get jobs because they had convictions — until Peart gave them work.

One of the younger employees told him it was Errold Peart who convinced her to go back to school.

“He was a very good, kindhearted person and a good father at the same time,” Dameion Peart said. “The community where his business is located, he really helped them out here.”

Errold Peart hailed from Jamaica, where he played cricket and worked at one point at a school for problem children, his son said. He eventually came to the United States, where he continued to play cricket for the USA national team.

Peart represented the USA in five matches at the 1990 International Cricket Council Trophy in the Netherlands, where the batsman was the team’s leading scorer, ESPN reported. The USA made it through the first round that year before losing in the second, according to ESPN.

At first, Peart worked with an airline, his son said, but later decided to open his own business.

He started the car wash more than a decade ago, his son said. He chose the location because it was near a busy stretch of U.S. 441 and near Florida’s Turnpike, the Palmetto Expressway and Interstate 95.

“It was like a landmark,” Dameion Peart said. “Everyone knew him.”

But Peart worried about safety.

“He didn’t like guns. But every year, around this time, for the past three years he got held up at gunpoint and people tried to rob him,” Dameion Peart said. “The last time they even followed him home.”

So Errold Peart got a concealed weapons permit.

On Sunday afternoon, he noticed a pair of young men trying to rob a customer. Errold Peart went out to try and stop it, his son said, only to be shot himself.

The men ran away, leaving behind the customer and a bleeding Peart.

Miami Gardens Police still were looking for the suspects on Monday.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

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Student group to go to court over Facebook privacy policy

VIENNA (Reuters) – An Austrian student group plans to go to court in a bid to make Facebook Inc, the world’s biggest social network, do more to protect the privacy of its hundreds of millions of members.

Campaign group europe-v-facebook, which has been lobbying for better data protection by Facebook for over a year, said on Tuesday it planned to go to court to appeal against decisions by the data protection regulator in Ireland, where Facebook has its international headquarters.

The move is one of a number of campaigns against the giants of the internet, which are under pressure from investors to generate more revenue from their huge user bases but which also face criticism for storing and sharing personal information.

Internet search engine Google, for example, has been told by the European Union to make changes to its new privacy policy, which pools data collected on individual users across its services including YouTube, gmail and social network Google+, and from which users cannot opt out.

Europe-v-facebook has won some concessions from Facebook, notably pushing it to switch off its facial recognition feature in Europe.

But the group said on Tuesday the changes did not go far enough and it was disappointed with the response of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), which had carried out an audit after the campaign group filed numerous complaints.

Facebook, due to hold a conference call later on Tuesday to answer customer concerns about its privacy policy, said its data protection policies exceeded European requirements.

“The latest Data Protection report demonstrates not only how Facebook adheres to European data protection law but also how we go beyond it, in achieving best practice,” a Facebook spokesman said in an emailed comment.

“Nonetheless we have some vocal critics who will never be happy whatever we do and whatever the DPC concludes.”

LOSING PATIENCE

Europe-v-facebook founder Max Schrems, who has filed 22 complaints with the Irish regulator, said more than 40,000 Facebook users who had requested a copy of the data Facebook was holding on them had not received anything several months after making a request.

“The Irish obviously have no great political interest in going up against these companies because they’re so dependent on the jobs they create,” Schrems told Reuters.

Gary Davies, Ireland’s deputy data protection commissioner, denied Facebook’s investment in Ireland had influenced regulation of the company.

“We have handled this in a highly professional and focused way and we have brought about huge changes in the way Facebook handles personal data,” he told Reuters.

Schrems also questioned why Facebook had only switched off facial recognition for users in the European Union, even though Ireland is the headquarters for all of Facebook’s users outside the United States and Canada.

Facebook is under pressure to reverse a trend of slowing revenue growth by selling more valuable advertising, which requires better profiling of its users.

Investors are losing patience with the social network, whose shares have dropped 40 percent in value since the company’s record-breaking $ 104 billion initial public offering in May.

Last month, Facebook proposed to combine its user data with that of its recently acquired photo-sharing service Instagram, loosen restrictions on emails between its members and share data with other businesses and affiliates that it owns.

Facebook is also facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States, where it is charged with violating privacy rights by publicizing users’ “likes” without giving them a way to opt out.

A U.S. judge late on Monday gave his preliminary approval to a second attempt to settle the case by paying users up to $ 10 each out of a settlement fund of $ 20 million.

Europe-v-facebook said it believed its Irish battle had the potential to become a test case for data protection law and had a good chance of landing up in the European Court of Justice.

Schrems said the case could cost the group around 100,000 euros ($ 130,000), which it hoped to raise via crowd-funding – money provided by a collection of individuals – on the Internet.

(Additional reporting by Conor Humphries in Dublin; Editing by Mark Potter)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Why Daniel Radcliffe Prefers To Film in Canada

As Daniel Radcliffe continues to segue out of the colossal film franchise that made him a star, Harry Potter, he is broadening his acting career and exploring new locations outside of Harry Potter's U.K.-based sets. While filming the upcoming Horns throughout Canada, Radcliffe told ET Canada why he prefers filming there.

"What is very impressive about Canada is that people don't generally do English accents as much around me as they do in America," Radcliffe said to ET Canada's Erin Cebula. "I could film in Canada again anytime, any day of the week very, very happily."

VIDEO: What Daniel Radcliffe Fears the Most

In Horns, based on a 2010 book bearing the same name, Radcliffe plays a man ("Ig Perrish") who spontaneously has horns extending from his head after his girlfriend was mysteriously murdered. While moviegoers will get an up-close look at his character's life in the film, he reiterated that he doesn't feel as though the public should be granted an in-depth view of his personal life.

"Good actors don't really seek out paparazzi attention and all of that stuff, but to a certain extent, it's unavoidable," the 23-year-old actor said. "I don't think anyone knows me knows me, but I think they have a sense of what I'm like as a person and [I] think that's good, but I don't think the day-to-day details of people's lives--as I've said many times--need to be known."

VIDEO: First ET Interview: Daniel Radcliffe

While Radcliffe may prefer the way he's treated by Canadians, he'll be honored this winter in the U.S. when another of his upcoming films, Kill Your Darlings, premieres at this year's annual Sundance Film Festival, which marks a first for the British actor.

"That'll be the first time that I've actually had a film in a film festival, really," he said with a smile. "That's really, really exciting for me. That's a very big moment."

Horns is set for release in 2013.

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