• Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:
• 1. THE WORST MAY BE OVER
• New census numbers suggest that the U.S. economy has bottomed out.
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• 2. ESTIMATE FOR HEALTH CARE PENALTY RISES SIGNIFICANTLY
• Analysts now say about 6 million Americans will face a tax penalty for not carrying medical coverage in 2016.
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• 3. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FAULTED OVER FAST AND FURIOUS
• More than a dozen people face possible disciplinary action for the bungled gun-trafficking probe in Arizona.
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• 4. EXTREMISTS, FOREIGN FIGHTERS ON THE RISE IN SYRIA
• Conflict's evolution into open war has attracted infiltrators to the front lines.
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• 5. AN APPEAL FOR A STRONGER STAND AGAINST VIOLENCE
• After attacks by vandals on Christian holy sites in Israel, normally tight-lipped Roman Catholic officials are beginning to speak out.
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• 6. ARCTIC ICE SHRINKS TO ALL-TIME LOW
• Scientists say global warming is to blame for an ice cap 18 percent smaller than the previous record.
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• 7. WHEEEE! TURNS TO UH-OH
• Stuck on a California amusement park attraction, riders dangle 300 feet in the air for nearly four hours.
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• 8. FOREIGN FILMS WELCOME -- EXCEPT FROM THE U.S.
• An international film festival opens today in what may seem the unlikeliest of

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