Canadian government under fire in case of drowned Syrian toddler

By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Canada’s Conservative government came under fire on Thursday after it emerged that the family of a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach had wanted to emigrate to Canada, rattling Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s re-election bid.

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Uber settles wrongful death lawsuit in San Francisco

By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Ride service Uber has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a 6-year-old girl who died in a San Francisco car accident, according to court filings. The girl, Sofia Liu, died after she, her younger brother and their mother were hit by a car in a San Francisco cross-walk on New Year's Eve in 2013

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California cancer patient with amnesia identified by sister: NBC

(Reuters) – A woman with amnesia who has been undergoing cancer treatments since she was found semiconscious in Southern California has been identified by her sister after turning to social media in a bid to rekindle her memory and find her family, an NBC affiliate in San Diego reported on Thursday.

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California cancer patient with amnesia faces identity crisis

By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A woman with amnesia who has been undergoing cancer treatments since she was found semiconscious in Southern California has turned to social media and law enforcement as she struggles to rekindle memory of her own identity and any family she may have. “The amnesia I have is called retro amnesia, and doctors have said they have seen this before with the kind of antibodies from the volleyball-sized tumor that was on my ovary,” she wrote on her Facebook page.    “I have been getting chemotherapy treatments, and have lost all of my hair ..

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Visa joins MasterCard, AmEx in ending use for Backpage sex ads

By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) – Visa Inc said on Wednesday it is joining MasterCard Inc and American Express Co in barring its credit cards from being used to pay for ads on Backpage.com following a request from a Chicago sheriff who said the site is used by sex traffickers. Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said that “escort” ads on Backpage.com and similar classified advertising sites make up the foundation of a sex-trafficking industry that preys on the young and vulnerable. Earlier this week, he asked both Visa and MasterCard to cut off any association with the Backpage.com “adult” section.

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Exclusive: Genealogy website Ancestry.com explores sale: sources

Ancestry.com LLC, the world's largest family history website helping users trace their heritage, is exploring a sale that could value it at between $2.5 billion and $3 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Permira Advisers LLC, the buyout firm that owns most of privately held Ancestry, has hired investment banks to run an auction for the company, the people said this week.

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Opposition blogger may have ‘outed’ Putin’s daughter

By Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) – One of Vladimir Putin's main opponents may have broken a taboo by publishing what he says is the pseudonym used by one the Russian president's daughters to stay out of the spotlight. Putin has made his and his family's private life little less than a state secret, keeping his rarely-photographed daughters Yekaterina, 28, and Maria, 29, out of sight and managing his divorce with the minimum fuss.

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