Romney: Sequester not a success for Obama

Mitt Romney may not be running for the White House any more, but he certainly came out swinging against President Obama in his first post-election interview with "Fox News Sunday," accusing the president of poisoning the negotiations over automatic spending cuts by "berating" Republicans. "No one can think" that the fight over the sequester has "been a success for the president," last year's Republican...

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US Seeks to Confirm Report of Terror Leader's Death

American military and intelligence officials said today they are attempting to confirm a report from the Chadian military of the death of al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of the deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas facility in January.If the new report is confirmed, Belmokhtar's death would be a significant victory against a growing al Qaeda threat in...

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Second leak at North Sea oil platform forces evacuation

LONDON: An oil leak at a North Sea platform caused it to be partially evacuated on Saturday, its Middle East operator said, the second such incident at the installation in less than two months.The Alpha Cormorant platform and the pipeline system it services were shut down as a precaution, operator Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) said in a statement.The company said it had evacuated...

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Butt-dial to 911 spoils alleged drug deal

Raleigh Reynolds, the accused butt-dialer.None of us is immune from being our own worst enemy.We find ways to sabotage ourselves that aren't even assuaged by years of visits to our psychologists.The extremely openhearted may, therefore, find a certain at-oneness with an alleged drug dealer whose bottom may have caused him to be arrested.As KGW-TV deals it, Raleigh Reynolds, 25, was allegedly about...

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Fla. man presumed dead after sinkhole opens under his bed

SEFFNER, Fla. A man was missing and feared dead early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa. Jeff Bush is presumed dead after a sinkhole opened under his bed./CBS His brother says Jeff Bush screamed for help before he disappeared. The 36-year-old man's brother, Jeremy Bush, told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother...

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Sequester Begins But Govt. Shutdown Looks Unlikely

Mar 1, 2013 4:13pm Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty ImagIt may not be readily obvious from the blizzard of news out there today on the “sequester,” but a government shutdown became significantly less likely today, even as the automatic budget cuts barreled ahead toward reality.What happened? Both sides – Republicans and Democrats – basically seem to have agreed that...

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Assad forces take Aleppo village, reopening supply line

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces seized a village southeast of the city of Aleppo on Friday, reopening a supply line to the country's biggest city where they have been battling rebels for eight months, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the capture of Tel Shghaib marked the last step to creating a land supply route north into...

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Zionism row casts cloud over Kerry's Turkey visit

ANKARA: US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Turkey's leaders on the Syria crisis Friday amid a row over comments by the Turkish premier branding Zionism a "crime against humanity.""Obviously we disagree with that, we find it objectionable," Kerry said at a joint press conference in Ankara, referring to a speech delivered by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that likened...

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Tips for increasing the longevity of your Mac

Regardless of whether you purchase it new, refurbished, or used, your Mac is likely a sizable investment that you might wish to keep running for as long as possible, not only because of the cost factor but also because of the time and effort it would take to migrate your data and workflow to a new system (even though Apple has made the latter quite easy if you have proper backups).There are many ways...

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Judge accepts Manning's guilty pleas in WikiLeaks case

Updated at 5:52 p.m. ET FORT MEADE, Md. A U.S. Army judge has accepted an offer by a private to plead guilty to violating military regulations in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history. Pfc. Bradley Manning admits to sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables and other files to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence...

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Obama Admin to Court: End Calif. Gay Marriage Ban

In a historic argument for gay rights, President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country.The Obama administration's friend-of-the-court brief marked the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court to expand the right of gays and lesbians to wed. The...

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West to send Syrian rebels aid, not arms

ROME (Reuters) - Western powers pledged aid for Syrian rebels on Thursday but stopped short of offering them weapons, disappointing opponents of President Bashar al-Assad clamoring for more arms. More than 70,000 Syrians have been killed in a fierce conflict that began with peaceful anti-Assad protests nearly two years ago. Washington has given $385 million in humanitarian...

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Facebook buys advertising firm from Microsoft

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook agreed Thursday to buy Atlas Advertiser Suite from Microsoft as part of an effort to boost ad revenues at the massive social network.Terms of the deal were not disclosed."Atlas is a leader in campaign management and measurement for marketers and agencies. We believe this acquisition will benefit both marketers and users," Facebook's Brian Boland said in a blog post.Atlas...

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Bigger, thicker, cheaper, plastic iPhone coming next year (rumor)

Apple's iPhone 5 makes use of aluminum and ceramics. (Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Holdouts expecting a larger version of the iPhone this year will have to keep on waiting, a new report says.Citing sources, Japanese Apple news site Macotakara says such a device is instead slated for next year, and will use plastic instead of aluminum for its body.Macotakara says the device will sport a polycarbonate...

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Newtown father's emotional plea to Congress

During emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, the father of a first grader slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School fought back tears as he stressed the need to ban weapons like the assault rifle that a gunman used to kill his son, 19 other children, and 6 educators in Newtown, Conn. Neil Heslin described how his son Jesse "was brutally murdered at Sandy Hook school on December...

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Holder Says Sequester Makes America Less Safe

The looming budget sequestration will make Americans less safe, Eric Holder says—and anyone who says otherwise isn't telling the truth."This is something that is going to have an impact on the safety of this country," the U.S. attorney general told ABC's Pierre Thomas on Wednesday in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview."And anybody that says otherwise is either lying or saying...

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Football: Arsenal reveal plans for Bergkamp statue

LONDON: Arsenal revealed on Wednesday that they plan to honour former striker Dennis Bergkamp by erecting a statue of the Dutchman outside the Emirates Stadium.Bergkamp follows in the footsteps of former team-mates Thierry Henry and Tony Adams and legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman, who have already been commemorated in bronze statues outside the club's north London home.Arsenal...

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See a saber duel through Darth Vader's eyes

I've got a bad feeling about this.(Credit:Screenshot by Christopher MacManus/CNET)In the "Star Wars" universe, Jedi and Sith usually settle a score with a good old-fashioned lightsaber duel. Even though all six movies featured lengthy confrontations filled with sizzling sabers, George Lucas never showed an angle of how that type of fight would appear through the eyes of a dueler.Independent filmmakers...

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Dozens of prominent Republicans sign brief backing gay marriage

Matthew Wiltse, right, places a wedding ring on the finger of Jonathon Bashford as they took their wedding vows before Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham at the Thurston County Courthouse just after midnight on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, in Olympia, Wash. / AP Photo/Rachel La Corte More than 80 "conservative voices" have signed onto a legal brief supporting the notion that same-sex couples should...

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Senate Votes to Confirm Hagel as Defense Secretary

After a tough two-month battle characterized by tough interrogation and a partisan divide, the Senate voted 58-41 to confirm Chuck Hagel -- President Obama's nominee -- as secretary of defense this afternoon.Only four Republicans broke party lines to vote in Hagel's favor. They included Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Mike Johanns of Nebraska and...

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Dollar edges higher as Bernanke confirms stimulus

NEW YORK: The dollar edged higher Tuesday against the euro after Ben Bernanke confirmed the US Fed's stimulus program would continue, while the yen traded flat ahead of the nomination of a new Bank of Japan chief.At 2200 GMT the euro was at $1.3061, compared to $1.3065 late Monday. The euro remained under pressure after Italy's inconclusive election, which some fear could lead to more...

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Adobe issues emergency patch for zero-day Flash vulnerabilities

Adobe Systems released a security update today that addresses a trio of vulnerabilities in Flash, two of which it said were already being exploited by hackers.Today's surprise update -- the company's third for the browser plugin this month -- patches holes "that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system," Adobe said in a security bulletin."Adobe is...

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Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop dies at 96

C. Everett Koop, who raised the profile of the surgeon general by riveting America's attention on the then-emerging disease known as AIDS and by railing against smoking, has died in New Hampshire at age 96. The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth said in a release that Koop died peacefully in his home in Hanover on Monday. They did not disclose a cause of death Koop wielded the previously low-profile...

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Arias Had No Remorse: Prosecutor

Prosecutor Juan Martinez hammered alleged murderer Jodi Arias today with accusations that she felt no remorse when she lied over and over again about killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander."Ma'am you have a problem with telling the truth don't you?" Martinez asked as his first question today, the 11th day Arias has been on the stand explaining her role in Alexander's death."Not...

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