Alison Eastwood Is Engaged

12/03/2012 at 01:45 PM EST

Stacy Poitras and Alison Eastwood

Vivien Killilea/FilmMagic

There's more excitement for Clint Eastwood!

Fresh off the heels of Friday's news that his daughter Francesca Eastwood was named Miss Golden Globe 2013, one of his other daughters, Alison Eastwood, 40, is ready to go public with the longtime engagement to her Chainsaw Gang costar Stacy Poitras.

"I actually asked for [Clint's] permission three years ago at a Thanksgiving dinner in Pebble Beach that was attended by Alison's mom Maggie [Johnson], too," Poitras tells Celebuzz.

Having been with Alison for five years, Poitras calls himself "the luckiest guy in the world," to be engaged to "an angel."

As for a reaction from the Academy Award winner, 82, "Clint is a cool guy ... but he’s definitely a man of few words," Poitras says. "I quietly asked him when we were alone if it would be all right if I asked for his daughter's hand in marriage. He coolly looked me in the eye and softly said, 'You better take that up with her,' to which I replied, 'So, I have your permission?' And he said, 'Yes.' "

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US flu season starts early, could be bad, CDC says

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say flu season is off to its earliest start in nearly 10 years — and it could be a bad one.

The primary strain circulating is one that tends to cause more severe illness, especially in the elderly.

But officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the nation seems to be fairly well prepared. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu so far.

Officials said Monday that suspected flu cases have jumped in five southern states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick in flu reports like this usually doesn't occur until after Christmas.

The last time a typical flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04.

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Wall Street turns flat as U.S. factory data offsets China

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks barely budged on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq trimming early gains as disappointing U.S. factory numbers dented optimism spurred by positive data on China's economy.

Output by China's factories grew in November for the first time in more than a year, data showed. But that encouraging signal about the health of the world's second-largest economy was offset by a surprising contraction in U.S. manufacturing, which fell in November to its lowest level in more than three years, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

The market's reaction to the ISM data was somewhat muted, however, as concerns about budget dealings in Washington on the "fiscal cliff" remain the primary focus of investors. Political haggling continues over how to deal with large automatic spending cuts and tax hikes scheduled to kick in next year that could tip the U.S. economy back into recession.

"At this point, all you can say about the data is they are discounting it," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

"So barring some catastrophe here in terms of the fiscal cliff, we look pretty stable."

Among other factors serving to offset the ISM report were two developments in the euro zone: Spain formally requested the disbursement of more than $50 billion of European funds to recapitalize its crippled banking sector, while Greece said it would spend 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to buy back bonds in a bid to reduce its ballooning debt.

The PHLX Europe sector index <.xex> advanced 0.6 percent.

"The general feeling underneath here is things are improving - Europe appears to be improving, at least politically getting their act together," Mendelsohn said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> shed 10.45 points, or 0.08 percent, to 13,015.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> inched up just 0.62 of a point, or 0.04 pct to 1,417.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 3.68 points, or 0.12 percent, to 3,013.92.

The S&P 500 briefly moved above its 50-day moving average at about 1,420, a level that the index has been below since October 22, and now serving as a key resistance point for equities.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pushed Republicans on Sunday to offer specific ideas to cut the deficit and predicted that they would agree to raise tax rates on the rich to obtain a year-end deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Dell shares rose 5.8 percent to $10.19 as one of the biggest percentage gainers in both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx> after Goldman Sachs upgraded its view on the stock to "buy" from "sell."

Singapore Airlines said it was in talks with interested parties to sell its 49 percent stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic, with sources saying that Delta Air Lines was among the potential suitors. Delta shares fell 1.8 percent to $9.82.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)

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Taliban Bombers Attack Air Base in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban forces attacked a large coalition airfield in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, detonating three car bombs near the entrance and engaging in a two-hour gun battle that killed nine insurgents, four Afghan guards and at least four civilians whose vehicle was caught in the cross-fire, Afghan officials and witnesses said.

Noorullah Shirzada/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Taliban attackers detonated three car bombs near the entrance of a coalition airbase in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday.

Disguised in coalition military uniforms, the Taliban fighters attempted to enter the airfield, known as Forward Operating Base Fenty, after the initial explosions, which occurred just before 6 a.m., but were repelled by firepower that included helicopter gunships, officials said. Fewer than 10 coalition service members were wounded, according to official reports, though by late Sunday it remained unclear exactly how many had been hurt, and how severely. At least one of the guards killed in the fighting was a member of the Afghan military.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the operation, saying it had killed “tens” of foreign forces, though the insurgents routinely overstate the deadliness of their attacks.

But the coordinated assault, which left the entry to the base strewn with the remains of the bombers, was a potent reminder of the Taliban’s determination to continue the fight. As the coalition forces wind down the 11-year war, and with Western combat troops already withdrawing, the attacks serve as a reminder that the Taliban are not going anywhere — and that their firepower remains undiminished. How successful the nation’s defenses will be after the 2014 withdrawal of coalition forces is a question on the minds of many Afghans.

Forward Operating Base Fenty is primarily run by American and is one of the larger airfields in eastern Afghanistan. Like other large coalition bases, Fenty has been attacked before, including in February, when a suicide blast killed nine Afghans. The assaults have, in most cases, been repulsed before the insurgents could fight their way inside bases, and coalition casualties have been minimal, as appears to have been the case on Sunday.

But the Afghans who work or live near the base have not been so fortunate. Afghan officials said that two of the civilians killed were doctors, their car riddled by gunfire about 50 yards from the base. The doctors had been on their way to work in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar Province, said Hajji Niamatullah Khan, the district governor of Behsood. In addition, at least three private security guards on duty at the outer perimeter were killed, he said.

Coalition forces had few details about the extent of the damage from the Taliban assault.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said medical evacuation helicopters could be seen ferrying dead and wounded American soldiers from the scene, “which shows that heavy casualties were inflicted” by the attackers.

He also claimed that a Toyota sport utility vehicle packed with explosives had leveled one of the guard towers. He said that some of the attackers were wearing “foreign” military uniforms, a tactic that the Taliban have employed in previous assaults on coalition bases. An official from the American-led coalition confirmed that at least some of the attackers wore coalition uniforms.

The last major assault against a coalition base was in September, when the Taliban blew up eight Harrier attack jets and killed two Marines at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. The militants, wearing American Army uniforms, caused more than $200 million in damage in that attack.

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.

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Verizon may soon launch Samsung Galaxy Camera with 4G LTE

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Larry Hagman, Boy Meets World Re-Boot Get Top Reactions This Week

12/02/2012 at 12:25 PM EST

Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage; Larry Hagman

Everett, Hulton Archive/Getty

It was a post-Thanksgiving week of delightful highs and solemn lows. From the passing of favorite actors to confusion over the recent Two and a Half Men drama, this week's stories left you experiencing a whirlwind of emotions on PEOPLE.com.

As always, you've been reacting in droves, telling us what you love, what makes you mad and what leaves you to LOL.

Check out the stories with top reactions on the site this week, and keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every story to tell us what you think!

Nostalgic readers loved the promise of a Boy Meets World spinoff getting the green light. Fans of the original show were thrilled to see that Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel will film for the Girl Meets World pilot.

The entertainment world lost some beloved members this week. Larry Hagman, best known as J.R. Ewing on Dallas, lost his battle with throat cancer at 81. Deborah Raffin of 7th Heaven also succumbed to leukemia at 59.

Celebrities are often ridiculed for giving their children bizarre names, but the Jameson family may have outdone them all by naming their baby girl "Hashtag". You agreed: Leave social media terms to the Internet.

Readers weren't sure what to make of Angus T. Jones's shocking rant about his show, Two and a Half Men. By calling the CBS sitcom "filth," and urging viewers to stop watching, Jones is said to be remaining with the program.

News of Demi Moore's new beau had readers snickering. But Moore, who is no stranger to dating younger men, seems to have no issue with dating 26-year-old art dealer Vito Schnabel.

Check back next week for another must-read roundup, and see what readers are reacting to every day here.

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Asperger's dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term "Asperger's disorder" is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But "dyslexia" and other learning disorders remain.

The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation's psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.

Full details of all the revisions will come next May when the American Psychiatric Association's new diagnostic manual is published, but the impact will be huge, affecting millions of children and adults worldwide. The manual also is important for the insurance industry in deciding what treatment to pay for, and it helps schools decide how to allot special education.

This diagnostic guide "defines what constellations of symptoms" doctors recognize as mental disorders, said Dr. Mark Olfson, a Columbia University psychiatry professor. More important, he said, it "shapes who will receive what treatment. Even seemingly subtle changes to the criteria can have substantial effects on patterns of care."

Olfson was not involved in the revision process. The changes were approved Saturday in suburban Washington, D.C., by the psychiatric association's board of trustees.

The aim is not to expand the number of people diagnosed with mental illness, but to ensure that affected children and adults are more accurately diagnosed so they can get the most appropriate treatment, said Dr. David Kupfer. He chaired the task force in charge of revising the manual and is a psychiatry professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

One of the most hotly argued changes was how to define the various ranges of autism. Some advocates opposed the idea of dropping the specific diagnosis for Asperger's disorder. People with that disorder often have high intelligence and vast knowledge on narrow subjects but lack social skills. Some who have the condition embrace their quirkiness and vow to continue to use the label.

And some Asperger's families opposed any change, fearing their kids would lose a diagnosis and no longer be eligible for special services.

But the revision will not affect their education services, experts say.

The new manual adds the term "autism spectrum disorder," which already is used by many experts in the field. Asperger's disorder will be dropped and incorporated under that umbrella diagnosis. The new category will include kids with severe autism, who often don't talk or interact, as well as those with milder forms.

Kelli Gibson of Battle Creek, Mich., who has four sons with various forms of autism, said Saturday she welcomes the change. Her boys all had different labels in the old diagnostic manual, including a 14-year-old with Asperger's.

"To give it separate names never made sense to me," Gibson said. "To me, my children all had autism."

Three of her boys receive special education services in public school; the fourth is enrolled in a school for disabled children. The new autism diagnosis won't affect those services, Gibson said. She also has a 3-year-old daughter without autism.

People with dyslexia also were closely watching for the new updated doctors' guide. Many with the reading disorder did not want their diagnosis to be dropped. And it won't be. Instead, the new manual will have a broader learning disorder category to cover several conditions including dyslexia, which causes difficulty understanding letters and recognizing written words.

The trustees on Saturday made the final decision on what proposals made the cut; recommendations came from experts in several work groups assigned to evaluate different mental illnesses.

The revised guidebook "represents a significant step forward for the field. It will improve our ability to accurately diagnose psychiatric disorders," Dr. David Fassler, the group's treasurer and a University of Vermont psychiatry professor, said after the vote.

The shorthand name for the new edition, the organization's fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, is DSM-5. Group leaders said specifics won't be disclosed until the manual is published but they confirmed some changes. A 2000 edition of the manual made minor changes but the last major edition was published in 1994.

Olfson said the manual "seeks to capture the current state of knowledge of psychiatric disorders. Since 2000 ... there have been important advances in our understanding of the nature of psychiatric disorders."

Catherine Lord, an autism expert at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York who was on the psychiatric group's autism task force, said anyone who met criteria for Asperger's in the old manual would be included in the new diagnosis.

One reason for the change is that some states and school systems don't provide services for children and adults with Asperger's, or provide fewer services than those given an autism diagnosis, she said.

Autism researcher Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks, said small studies have suggested the new criteria will be effective. But she said it will be crucial to monitor so that children don't lose services.

Other changes include:

—A new diagnosis for severe recurrent temper tantrums — disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. Critics say it will medicalize kids' who have normal tantrums. Supporters say it will address concerns about too many kids being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with powerful psychiatric drugs. Bipolar disorder involves sharp mood swings and affected children are sometimes very irritable or have explosive tantrums.

—Eliminating the term "gender identity disorder." It has been used for children or adults who strongly believe that they were born the wrong gender. But many activists believe the condition isn't a disorder and say calling it one is stigmatizing. The term would be replaced with "gender dysphoria," which means emotional distress over one's gender. Supporters equated the change with removing homosexuality as a mental illness in the diagnostic manual, which happened decades ago.

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner .

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Cliff fight may knock out December rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In normal times, next week's slew of U.S. economic data could be a springboard for a December rally in the stock market.

December is historically a strong month for markets. The S&P 500 has risen 16 times in the past 20 years during the month.

But the market hasn't been operating under normal circumstances since November 7 when a day after the U.S. election, investors' focus shifted squarely to the looming "fiscal cliff."

Investors are increasingly nervous about the ability of lawmakers to undo the $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that are set to begin in January; those changes, if they go into effect, could send the U.S. economy into a recession.

A string of economic indicators next week, which includes a key reading of the manufacturing sector on Monday, culminates with the November jobs report on Friday.

But the impact of those economic reports could be muted. Distortions in the data caused by Superstorm Sandy are discounted.

The spotlight will be more firmly on signs from Washington that politicians can settle their differences on how to avoid the fiscal cliff.

"We have a week with a lot of economic data, and obviously most of the economic data is going to reflect the effects of Sandy, and that might be a little bit negative for the market next week, but most of that is already expected - the main focus remains the fiscal cliff," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

Concerns about the cliff sent the S&P 500 <.spx> into a two-week decline after the elections, dropping as much as 5.3 percent, only to rally back nearly 4 percent as the initial tone of talks offered hope that a compromise could be reached and investors snapped up stocks that were viewed as undervalued.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained more than 20 points from its intraday low after House Speaker John Boehner said he was optimistic that a budget deal to avoid big spending cuts and tax hikes could be worked out. The next day, more pessimistic comments from Boehner, an Ohio Republican, briefly wiped out the day's gains in stocks.

On Friday, the sharp divide between the Democrats and the Republicans on taxes and spending was evident in comments from President Barack Obama, who favors raising taxes on the wealthy, and Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, who said Obama's plan was the wrong approach and declared that the talks had reached a stalemate.

"It's unusual to end up with one variable in this industry, it's unusual to have a single bullet that is the causal factor effect, and you are sitting here for the next maybe two weeks or more, on that kind of condition," said Sandy Lincoln, chief market strategist at BMO Asset Management U.S. in Chicago.

"And that is what is grabbing the markets."

BE CONTRARY AND MAKE MERRY

But investor attitudes and seasonality could also help spur a rally for the final month of the year.

The most recent survey by the American Association of Individual Investors reflected investor caution about the cliff. Although bullish sentiment rose above 40 percent for the first time since August 23, bearish sentiment remained above its historical average of 30.5 percent for the 14th straight week.

December is a critical month for retailers such as Target Corp and Macy's Inc . They saw monthly retail sales results dented by Sandy, although the start of the holiday shopping season fared better.

With consumer spending making up roughly 70 percent of the U.S. economy, a solid showing for retailers during the holiday season could help fuel any gains.

Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, believes the recent drop after the election could be a market bottom, with sentiment leaving stocks poised for a December rally.

"The concerns on the fiscal cliff - as valid as they might be - could be overblown. When you look at a lot of the overriding sentiment, that has gotten extremely negative," said Detrick.

"From that contrarian point of view with the historically bullish time frame of December, we once again could be setting ourselves up for a pretty nice end-of-year rally, based on lowered expectations."

SOME FEEL THE BIG CHILL

Others view the fiscal cliff as such an unusual event that any historical comparisons should be thrown out the window, with a rally unlikely because of a lack of confidence in Washington to reach an agreement and the economic hit caused by Sandy.

"History doesn't matter. You're dealing with an extraordinary set of circumstances that could very well end up in the U.S. economy going into a recession," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

"And the likelihood of that is exclusively in the hands of our elected officials in Washington. They could absolutely drag us into a completely voluntary recession."

(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: charles.mikolajczak(at)thomsonreuters.com )

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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With Aid, Afghan ‘Honor’ Victim Inches Back

Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Gul Meena recovering from an ax attack at a hospital in Jalalabad. Reportedly attacked by her brother for dishonoring their family, she was saved by villagers and doctors.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — It is doubly miraculous that the young woman named Gul Meena is alive. After she was struck by an ax 15 times, slashing her head and face so deeply that it exposed her brain, she held on long enough to reach medical care and then, despite the limitations of what the doctors could do, clung to life.

“We had no hope she would survive,” said Dr. Zamiruddin, a neurosurgeon at the Nangarhar Regional Medical Center in the eastern city of Jalalabad who, like many Afghans, uses only one name. After she was brought in, he worked for more than six hours in the hospital’s rudimentary operating theater, gently reinserting her brain and stitching her many wounds.

For weeks afterward, she was often unconscious, always uncommunicative and, but for the hospital staff, utterly alone, with no family members to care for her. That is because, if the accounts from her home province are true, she is an adulterer: though already married, she ran away with another man, moving south until her family caught up with them.

Locals say that the man who wielded the ax against her, and also killed the man with her, was most likely her brother.

That she reached a hospital and received care at all is the second part of the miracle: the villagers, doctors and nurses who helped her were bucking a deeply ingrained tradition that often demands death for women who dishonor their families.

Such “honor killings” of women exist in a number of cultures, but in Afghanistan they are firmly anchored by Pashtunwali, an age-old tribal code prevalent in the ethnic Pashtun areas of the country that the government and rights advocates have fought for years to override with a national civil legal system. This year, six such killings have been reported in Afghanistan’s far east alone, more than in each of the past two years, and for every one that comes to light, human rights advocates believe a dozen or more remain hidden.

Gul Meena’s story, as best it can be pieced together from relatives, tribal elders and others, gives insight into that deeply entrenched tribal culture. But it is also a story about a society struggling to come to terms with a different way of thinking about women.

The Americans and Europeans have put a special emphasis on programs to help Afghan women and raise awareness of their rights. Now, as the Western money and presence are dwindling, women’s advocates fear that even the limited gains will erode and a more tribal and Taliban culture will prevail, especially in the south and east of the country, where Pashtun tribal attitudes toward women are strongly held.

It is a credit to many people — villagers, doctors, the police, rights advocates — that they chose to help Gul Meena, overcoming centuries of distaste for dealing with so-called moral crimes. The doctors at the Nangarhar Regional Medical Center who first treated her and cared for her for weeks were aware of her likely transgressions and chose to ignore them. However, the doctors, who say Gul Meena is about 18, were also bewildered about what to do with her.

“She has no one; no mother has come, no father, no one from her tribe has come,” said Dr. Abdul Shakoor Azimi, the hospital’s medical director, as he stood at the foot of her bed looking at her. “What is the solution? Even the government, the police, even the Women’s Affairs Ministry, they are not coming here to follow up and visit the patient.”

A patient in an Afghan hospital without a family member is a neglected soul. Most hospitals are so impoverished that they offer only the bed itself and limited medical care. Gul Meena lay in her own urine when a reporter first visited her because no relative was there to change her sheets. Hospital staff members were able to tend to her sporadically, but they are overstretched. Without a relative, the patient has no one to pay for drugs, drips, needles or food, no one to bring fresh clothes.

Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting from Jalalabad, and an employee of The New York Times from Kunar Province.

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The Kids Are All Right: How Social Media Created a Generation of Activists

This week marked the nation’s inaugural  “Giving Tuesday,” a UN sponsored initiative, which utilized social media to encourage businesses, schools, and community members to give back. The effort resulted in $ 10 million worth of donations made in a single day, a 53 percent increase over the same day last year.

Conceived as a means to promote activism and charity, the campaign’s use of social media to spread its message is most likely a large part of the initiative’s success. 

Certainly people from every age group use Twitter and Facebook, but social media activism is especially resonant with young adults. According to TBWA, people between the ages of 18-29 strongly identify as activists and count social media as their first point of engagement when they learn about a new cause.

MORE: ‘Tis Always the Season to Give: Creating a Corporate Culture That Gives Back

In fact, about half believe that activism is important to their personal identity and about a third look to it as a means of socializing and relating to one another.

But more than identifying with activism, this younger generation’s aptitude for social media can effect real change. Look at the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Earlier this year, when the organization announced it would pull its funding for breast cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood, cutting off medical access for millions of women, Twitter and Facebook lit up with vitriolic statements, claiming the organization had become a puppet of the religious right. The ensuing bad press proved to be too much and within days, the organization reversed its decision and issued a public apology.

Similarly, when Florida law enforcement officials refused to arrest George Zimmerman after he fatally shot Trayvon Martin, the case lay dormant for almost a month. But an online petition started by Martin’s parents went viral and galvanized a nation demanding justice for the boy’s death. Zimmerman was arrested and charged as a result.

For all we hear about “kids these days” and their irresponsible use of social media−posting questionable pictures of themselves doing kegstands or letting Twitter corrode their ability to hold a thought for more than a nanosecond−it turns out that most are using it to express a genuine passion for changing the world around them. And they’re succeeding.

And these trends extend well beyond the U.S. That same age group in other countries shows similar interests in contributing to larger causes. China’s young adults for instance, lead the world in online political discussions and offline they donate the most money to charities. India’s younger generation ranks the first in the world when it comes to staying informed, and they’re the most optimistic about the impact their activism has on the world around them.

It seems that our youngest generation of adults are the ones leading the charge when it comes to effectively making a difference.

Do you consider yourself an activist? Let us know in the Comments what social causes inspire you to get involved.

Related Stories on TakePart:

• Secret Santas: Profiles in Anonymous Holiday Generosity

• Rwanda Genocide Survivor Wins Grant for Giving Back

• 40 U.S. Billionaires Pledge Half of Fortunes to Charity

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A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.  In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a webeditor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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