India police deny they delayed helping rape victim

An Indian family lights candles in memory of a gang-rape victim in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Passers-by refused to stop to help a naked, bleeding gang-rape victim after she was dumped from a bus onto a New Delhi street, and police delayed taking her to a hospital for 30 minutes, the woman's male companion said in an interview. / AP Photo/Altaf Qadri NEW DELHI Police in New...

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4 Dead After Aurora, Colo., SWAT Standoff

Four people were killed, including the gunman, during a hostage standoff this morning at a townhouse in Aurora, Colo., police said.Police pumped tear gas into the home in an attempt to get the gunman to leave, and then went into the home and shot him, ABC News Denver affiliate KMGH-TV reported.The three people found dead in the home are believed to be relatives of the shooter,...

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Venezuela lawmakers elect Chavez ally as Assembly chief

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan lawmakers re-elected a staunch ally of Hugo Chavez to head the National Assembly on Saturday, putting him in line to be caretaker president if the socialist leader does not recover from cancer surgery. By choosing the incumbent, Diosdado Cabello, the "Chavista"-dominated legislature cemented the combative ex-soldier's position as the third most powerful...

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Algeria, Turkey renew gas deal for 10 years

ALGIERS: Algeria and Turkey have decided to renew for 10 years from 2014 an agreement for Algeria to deliver four billion cubic metres of gas annually to Turkey, Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said on Saturday.The official APS news agency said it was "decided to extend the agreement by 10 years, with the possibility of increasing the volume of gas exported."Algeria and Turkey signed a 20-year...

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Views of a living Mars take the rouge off

This could have been Mars back before the dinosaurs built a super space ramp to our planet, at least according to software engineer and artist Kevin Gill.(Credit:Kevin Gill)What if the Red Planet weren't always in that constant state of blushing? Kevin Gill, a software engineer who also re-engineers planets every now and then, imagines Mars might long ago have looked quite a bit more like the aqua-green...

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Congress passes $9.7B Sandy relief bill

Updated: 2:26 p.m. ETThe House and Senate today passed a bill approving more than $9 billion in aid for regions impacted by superstorm Sandy, the first of two Sandy relief measures making their way through Congress between now and the end of the month. The measure, which allows FEMA to temporarily increase the National Flood Insurance program's borrowing limit by $9.7 billion, will now head to the...

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Pharmacy Blames Cleaners in Meningitis Outbreak

Jan 4, 2013 11:41am Credit: Minnesota Department of Health/AP PhotoThe pharmacy at the heart of the fungal meningitis outbreak says a cleaning company it hired should share the blame for the tainted steroid injections that caused more than 600 illnesses in 19 states, killing 39 people.Click here to read about the road to recovery for fungal meningitis victims.The...

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Abbas sees Palestinian unity as Fatah rallies in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas predicted the end of a five-year split between the two big Palestinian factions as his Fatah movement staged its first mass rally in Gaza with the blessing of Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave. "Soon we will regain our unity," Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 civil war between the two factions,...

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Westinghouse to show Roku Ready TV at CES

Westinghouse's UX60 will be certified Roku Ready.(Credit:Westinghouse) Today Westinghouse announced a line of TVs designed to work with the Roku Streaming Stick, a USB-key-sized dongle that provides the functionality of a full-fledged Roku box--our Editors' Choice for streaming video--without having to connect additional wires. The TVs have MHL (Mobile High Definition Link)-enabled HDMI inputs, into...

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FTC: Google does not violate antitrust laws

Google hasn't violated any antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday, but it has agreed to make some changes in how it treats its rivals as part of a settlement to end the 19-month investigation into its business practices. The FTC's investigation focused on allegations that Google has been abusing its dominance in Internet search. Google's rivals say the company has been highlighting...

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Sandy Hook Parents Cope With Students' Return

Sandy Hook parents put their children on school buses this morning and waved goodbye as the yellow bus rolled away, but this first day back since the pre-Christmas massacre is anything but normal for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School.Erin Milgram, the mother of a first grader and a fourth grader at Sandy Hook, told "Good Morning America" that she was going to drive...

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Syria rebels in push to capture air base

AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - Rebels battled on Thursday to seize an air base in northern Syria, part of a campaign to fight back against the air power that has given President Bashar al-Assad's forces free rein to bomb rebel-held towns. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the 21-month-old uprising and civil war, the United Nations said this week, sharply raising the death toll estimate...

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Relief for Google as US ends monopoly probe

WASHINGTON: US regulators Thursday closed a lengthy antitrust probe into Google, saying there was not enough evidence to show the Internet giant manipulated its search results to harm its competitors.The Federal Trade Commission said it lacked a legal basis to bring a monopoly abuse case against Google for "search bias," as alleged by some rivals, but won commitments from the tech titan...

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What Google's settlement with the FTC means for users

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz announces the Google agreement.(Credit:Screenshot by CNET)The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has completed a nearly two-year investigation into Google's business practices. Here are some of the key takeaways:On the issue most important to Google, Google won. The most potentially damaging line of inquiry undertaken by the FTC concerned accusations that Google's...

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Sandy Hook survivors welcomed at new school

A man waves to a child on a bus on the first day of classes after the holiday break, in Newtown, Conn.,Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. / AP Photo/Jessica Hill Updated 1:21 p.m. ETMONROE, Conn. The children who escaped last month's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown were welcomed Wednesday to a school in a neighboring town that was overhauled specially for them. Play VideoOrientation...

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Lawmakers Furious at Boehner Over Sandy 'Betrayal'

Republican lawmakers from New York and New Jersey whose storm-ravaged residents are desperate for federal aid are fuming at their party's leaders for refusing to hold a vote on a $60 billion disaster relief package despite promises that help was on the way."This was a betrayal," Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., told ABC News.com. "It's just reprehensible. It's an indefensible error...

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Central African Republic rebels halt advance, agree to peace talks

DAMARA, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic said they had halted their advance on the capital on Wednesday and agreed to start peace talks, averting a clash with regionally backed troops. The Seleka rebels had pushed to within striking distance of Bangui after a three-week onslaught and threatened to oust President Francois Bozize, accusing him of reneging...

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After Newtown, Colombia firm makes bullet-proof kid clothes

BOGOTA: Miguel Caballero has been making bullet-proof clothes for politicians and other bigwigs for 20 years, but not for kids. The latest US school massacre has changed that.This year he plans a line for children -- T-shirts, vests, and combination backpack-vests -- and geared toward the US market.Caballero has made good money in his 22-year-old business with a factory on the outskirts...

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Microsoft repeats YouTube gripe as Google probe winds down

Google has yet to address an alleged YouTube-Windows Phone compatibility issue, Microsoft says, despite the fact that Google is under antitrust scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad and the issue is allegedly more than a year old. With this latest charge, Microsoft seems to be trying to get ahead of the expected slight wrist-slap Google could receive from the Federal Trade Commission this month -- if news...

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The art of the "fiscal cliff" deal

Nobody said it would be easy. Senators voted in the pre-dawn hours of New Year's Day to pass the long-sought agreement on the "fiscal cliff" and the House readies for its turn as soon as today, which, if the House passes it, would officially avert the tax hikes and spending cuts that technically took effect at midnight (the deal, when signed by the president, will make the new tax rates and spending...

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New School for Sandy Hook Duplicated to the Crayons

The students and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary School will return to school on Thursday for the first time since the shooting rampage that left 20 young students and six adults dead. The students will be in a new building where their old classrooms have been completely recreated.Instead of returning to the halls of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., they will be...

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At least 61 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 61 people were crushed to death in a stampede after a New Year's Eve fireworks display at a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan early on Tuesday, officials said. Witnesses said police had tried to control crowds around the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium following the celebrations, triggering a panic in which scores were trampled. "The estimate...

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60 dead in New Year's stampede in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN: At least 60 people died and dozens more were injured in Abidjan as crowds that had gathered for celebratory New Year's fireworks stampeded overnight, Ivory Coast rescue workers said on Tuesday.An AFP journalist saw many injured children, while images broadcast by RTI television showed bodies stretched lifeless on the ground outside the city's main stadium.Piles of abandoned shoes...

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Stephen Hawking sucks opera singer into black hole (in an ad)

Ha. Ha. Ha.(Credit:MrCharliesView/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Once you're famous, you get inundated with offers to appear in ads.But which ones to choose? Should you peddle soap or Siri? Should you declare your love for Buick, while secretly pootling around in your Mercedes?Stephen Hawking made an interesting choice to advertise auto insurance -- Go Compare's online auto-insurance...

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Lovie Smith fired as Bears coach after 9 seasons

LAKE FOREST, Ill. The Chicago Bears fired coach Lovie Smith on Monday after the team missed the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. Smith was informed of the decision by general manager Phil Emery on the day after the Bears beat Detroit to finish 10-6 but still didn't make the playoffs. 10 PhotosNFL coaches, GMs sacked in firing frenzy Smith led the Bears to a Super Bowl, but also saw...

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Time's Up: Sides Closing In on 'Fiscal Cliff' Deal

President Obama said an 11th-hour agreement to avert year-end tax hikes on 98 percent of Americans is "within sight" but not yet complete with just hours to go before the nation reaches the so-called fiscal cliff."There are still issues left to resolve but we're hopeful Congress can get it done," Obama said at a midday White House news conference. "But it's not done."Congressional...

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