France ups terror threat level after Mali strike

Last Updated 1:13 p.m. ET PARIS The French president says the country will raise its domestic terror threat level after military action in Mali and Somalia, promising to increase protection at public buildings and transportation networks.President Francois Hollande said Saturday he had ordered increased security after the French military operations in the two African countries against Islamist forces.France...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right."He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and,...

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Russia rejects Assad exit as precondition for Syria deal

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia voiced support on Saturday for international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi but insisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to end the country's conflict. Some 60,000 Syrians have been killed during the 21-month-old revolt and world powers are divided over how to stop the escalating bloodshed. Government aircraft bombed...

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Four police injured in fresh Northern Ireland clashes

BELFAST, United Kingdom: Four Northern Ireland police officers were injured while battling to quell sectarian clashes in Belfast on Saturday as the row over the flying of the British flag showed no sign of abating.Police used water cannon and fired a plastic bullet during the clashes in Belfast, the latest to blight the British province after more than five weeks of violent disorder over...

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CEO of beleaguered HP made $15.4M last year

Meg Whitman, CEO of the struggling Hewlett-Packard, pulled in $15.4 million in compensation during fiscal 2012.Her base salary may have been only $1, but, as reported by Reuters (which cited an HP filing made yesterday with the SEC), the former eBay chief and onetime California gubernatorial candidate was awarded a bonus of $1.7 million, along with stock options and the like valued at more than $13...

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Judge delays James Holmes arraignment to March

Last Updated 12:11 p.m. ET CENTENNIAL, Colo. A judge on Friday delayed the arraignment of the man charged with the Colorado theater shooting until March.District Judge William Sylvester ruled Thursday night that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to proceed with charges alleging that James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a suburban Denver movie theater on July 20.Play...

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James Holmes Told to 'Rot in Hell' By Victim's Dad

The father of a young woman allegedly slain by James Holmes in the Aurora movie theater massacre yelled "Rot in hell, Holmes" during a court hearing today.The outburst by Steve Hernandez prompted judge William Sylvester to have an off-the-record conference with prosecutors and defense attorneys. Sylvester then reconvened court to address the issue while armed court deputies...

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U.S. forces to move to Afghan support role in spring: Obama

Jan 11 (Reuters) - Tiger Woods may guarantee packed galleries but even the oil-rich Qataris cannot afford the former world number one's appearance fee for the only European Tour event in the Gulf state. The American's involvement at the Jan. 23-26 Qatar Masters would cost a whopping $3 million, said Qatar Golf Association president Hassan al Nuaimi. "Tiger Woods demands $3 million just for an appearance,...

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Football: West Ham sign Brazilian striker Wellington

LONDON: West Ham on Friday signed Brazilian forward Wellington Paulista on loan from Cruzeiro until the end of the season.Wellington had been a long-term target for Hammers manager Sam Allardyce and the Premier League club have an option to sign him on a three-year contract if his loan spell proves successful.The 28-year-old, who has yet to make his Brazil debut, finished last season as...

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Moneual smart table lets you order and pay for your food

LAS VEGAS--Imagine going into a restaurant and browsing the menu, placing your order, and paying for the meal with a credit card, all from the comfort of your table without having to call the waiter. That seems to be the vision of the folks behind Moneual's MTT300 Touch Table PC. In fact, a company representative at its CES booth mentioned that depending on customer requirements, the Touch Table PC...

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High school shooting wounds 2 in Calif.

Updated at 2:31 p.m. ET TAFT, Calif. A student was shot and wounded at a rural San Joaquin Valley high school Thursday and another student was taken into custody, officials said. The shooting occurred about 9 a.m. at Taft Union High School, a community of fewer than 10,000 people amid oil and natural gas production fields about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The student who was shot was flown...

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Biden Hints at Executive Order on Gun Control

Vice President Biden, meeting today with outside groups on gun safety, told reporters he has already started putting together a list of recommendations that he plans to issue next Tuesday.Biden meets with representatives of the NRA and other supporters of gun rights on the second day of this week's meetings on gun violence.But he told reporters Thursday, during meeting a with...

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String of bombings kill 101, injure 200 in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 101 people were killed in bombings in two cities in Pakistan on Thursday, officials said, with most casualties caused by sectarian attacks in the city of Quetta. Two coordinated explosions killed at least 69 people and injured more than 100 in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on Thursday evening, said Deputy Inspector of Police Hamid...

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Worst storms in decade bring Mideast to near standstill

BEIRUT: The worst storms in a decade left swathes of Israel and Jordan under a blanket of snow and parts of Lebanon blacked out on Thursday, bringing misery to a region accustomed to temperate climates.Freezing temperatures and floods since Sunday have claimed at least 11 lives across the region and exacerbated the plight of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees huddled in tented camps...

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Soft headphones meant for sleeping go wireless

The wireless version is expected to look similar to the current corded headset (pictured).(Credit:Reuben Lee/CNET Asia)LAS VEGAS--As their name suggests, SleepPhones (tagline: "pajamas for your ears") are designed for those who want to lie down while listening to music with a pair of headphones. Traditional headphones or earphones tend to get in the way or feel uncomfortable, especially when you rest...

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Holmes posed playfully with gun before shootings

CENTENNIAL, Colo. The hearing to determine whether the suspected gunman in last year's Colorado theater shooting ended Wednesday with one last detail from police: James Holmes used a cell phone to take self-portraits the night of the attack, sticking out his tongue, smiling and posing with a Glock pistol The defense decided not to call witnesses to talk about Holmes' mental health. They are expected...

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Holmes Took Disturbing Photos Before Massacre

Hours before James Holmes allegedly carried out a massacre at a Colorado movie theater he took a series of menacing self-portraits with his dyed orange hair curling out of from under a black skull cap and his eyes covered with black contacts.A prosecutor told the court after the photographs were shown that Holmes had a "depravity of human heart."Those haunting photographs,...

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U.N. envoy says 40 years of Assad family rule is "too long"

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrians believe 40 years of Assad family rule is too long, the international mediator for Syria said, the closest he has come to calling directly for President Bashar al-Assad to quit. The remarks by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi cast doubt on the future of his peace plan, the only major diplomatic initiative to end a war the United Nations says has killed 60,000 people....

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Football: Winning start for LionsXII

SINGAPORE: The LionsXII have got their 2013 Malaysian Super League (MSL) campaign off to a winning start with victory over Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) FA on Wednesday.A solitary strike from captain Shahril Ishak in the 66th minute was enough to give the Singaporean side a 1-0 win at the Paroi Stadium in Seremban.ATM FA missed a golden opportunity when Marlon James miscued three yards...

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Supercharge Windows 8 Wi-Fi with Amped Wireless adapter

The TAN1 high-power Wi-Fi adapter for Windows 8 at CES 2013.(Credit:Dong Ngo/CNET)LAS VEGAS--If you need to add more Wi-Fi range to your Windows 8 computer, especially a tablet or an ultrabook, consider the TAN1 adapter from Amped Wireless.The networking vendor showed off this device at CES 2013, calling it "the first high-power Wi-Fi adapter designed specifically for use with Windows 8."This is because...

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FBI: Booby trap at Holmes' Aurora home had napalm

Updated at 2:36 p.m. ET CENTENNIAL, Colo. An elaborate booby trap system allegedly set up to pull police away from the Colorado theater shooting included improvised napalm and thermite, which burns so hot that water can't put out the blaze. FBI bomb technician Garrett Gumbinner described the system Tuesday at a hearing in which prosecutors laid out their case against suspected gunman James Holmes....

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James Holmes' Elaborate Booby Trap Plan Revealed

A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today.FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told a Colorado court about...

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Insight: Aleppo misery eats at Syrian rebel support

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - At a crowded market stall in Syria, a middle-aged couple, well dressed, shuffle over to press a folded note, furtively, into the hand of a foreign reporter. It is the kind of silent cry for help against a reign of fear that has been familiar to journalists visiting Syria over the past two years. Only this is not the Damascus of President Bashar al-Assad but rebel-held...

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Euro unemployment hits 'unacceptable' high

BRUSSELS: European unemployment has hit an unacceptable high, as one national leader put it on Tuesday, with dire figures in Spain highlighting a growing north-south divide that experts warn will only get worse.The unemployment rate across the troubled 17-nation eurozone hit 11.8 per cent in November, up from 11.7 per cent in October, with the number of people out of work in the single...

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Panasonic highlights its ambitions beyond TVs at CES 2013

Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga gives the opening keynote speech at CES 2013.(Credit:CNET/James Martin)Panasonic is more than a TV company. Or so said the company's president, Kazuhiro Tsuga, during an opening keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.Indeed, Tsuga and TV journalist Lisa Ling, who joined him on stage, spent the good part of an hour highlighting the...

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