Earl Smith is the man behind a military patch that President Obama prizes

AUSTIN — That February morning in 2008 found Barack Obama decidedly out of sorts. He was locked in one battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination that showed no signs of ending — and another with a vicious cold that felt the same way. As he rode the service elevator in the backway of a convention hotel here, the snowy-haired African American operating it turned...

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Bowling: Shayna Ng wins International Bowling Championship in Japan

NAGOYA, Japan: Singapore bowler Shayna Ng has added another title to her belt after winning the DHC International Bowling Championship in Nagoya, Japan.The 23-year-old claimed the women's crown after a title match showdown with American pro bowler Kelly Kulick.With the victory, Ng takes home close to S$82,000 in prize money.This is the second year that a Singaporean has won the title at...

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Decisions on Pakistan cannot be based on emotion: Rahul

JAIPUR: Seeking to temper the discourse on Pakistan in the wake of the beheading of an Indian soldier, Rahul Gandhi today made some plain speaking saying taking tough steps and showing emotions are two different things. Gandhi, who spoke in the sub-group on 'India and the World' at the party's brainstorming conclave here, is believed to have told the participants that while tough steps are taken...

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

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Te'o Denies Involvement in Girlfriend Hoax

Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o told ESPN that he "never, not ever" was involved in creating the hoax that had him touting what turned out to be a fictional girlfriend, "Lennay Kekua.""When they hear the facts, they'll know," Te'o told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap in his first interview since the story broke. "They'll know that there is no way that I could be a part of this.""I...

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Earl Smith is the man behind a military patch that President Obama prizes

AUSTIN, Tex. — That February morning in 2008 found Barack Obama decidedly out of sorts. He was locked in one battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination that showed no signs of ending — and another with a vicious cold that felt the same way. As he rode the service elevator in the backway of a convention hotel here, the snowy-haired African American operating it...

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Japan's Abe condemns civilians' deaths in Algerian crisis

JAKARTA: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned the deaths of civilians in the Algerian hostage crisis.He has also called on the Algerian government to prioritize the safety of hostages.Mr Abe was speaking at a joint news conference in Jakarta after his meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.During their talks, both leaders agreed to strengthen their strategic...

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Lalu Prasad reveals Delhi gang-rape victim's name, demands death for rapists

KOLKATA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad while demanding death punishment for the perpetrators of the Delhi gang-rape and murder, mentioned the name of the victim on Friday."I went to meet the family of the victim in Ballia (Uttar Pradesh) and the father related how the young girl was subjected to barbarism. He revealed his daughter's name to me," said Lalu before mentioning the name...

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Opinion: Lance One of Many Tour de France Cheaters

Editor's note: England-based writer and photographer Roff Smith rides around 10,000 miles a year through the lanes of Sussex and Kent and writes a cycling blog at: www.my-bicycle-and-I.co.ukAnd so, the television correspondent said to the former Tour de France champion, a man who had been lionised for years, feted as the greatest cyclist of his day, did you ever use drugs in the course...

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Manti Te'o's Fake Girlfriend May Have Duped Others

Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" may have hoaxed other unsuspecting suitors."Catfish" movie director and actor Ariel Schulman told "Good Morning America" today that he believes there may have been "a few other people duped by the fake Lennay character."Schulman and his brother Nev Schulman have been looking into the elaborate scam and claim...

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Airbus lost top spot to Boeing in 2012

TOULOUSE, France - European group Airbus lost its top spot as the world's biggest maker of airliners to the US giant Boeing last year, but did better than expected and sees big sales this year, it said on Thursday.Publishing results just as Boeing is hit by a crisis of confidence in its Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents, Airbus said that last year it delivered 588 aircraft to...

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India mulls huge increase in Rafale order, may buy up to 189 fighter jets

PARIS: India could buy up to 189 of the Rafale fighter jets currently being used by France to bomb Islamist militants in Mali, sources close to negotiations on the multi-billion dollar deal have told AFP. The possibility of an additional 63 jets being added to an expected order for 126 was raised during a visit by India's foreign minister Salman Khurshid to Paris last week, they said. "There is...

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6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You

Photograph by AP Photo/Marcio Jose SanchezThe planet keeps getting hotter, new data showed this week. Especially in America, where 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded, by far. Every few years, the U.S. federal government engages hundreds of experts to assess the impacts of climate change, now and in the future. From agriculture (pictured) to infrastructure to how humans consume energy, the National...

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Notre Dame: Football Star Was 'Catfished' in Hoax

Notre Dame's athletic director and the star of its near-championship football team said the widely-reported death of the star's girlfriend from leukemia during the 2012 football season was apparently a hoax, and the player said he was duped by it as well.Manti Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to the BCS championship game this year and finished second for the Heisman Trophy,...

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Panel makes recommendations to raise quality of financial advisory industry

SINGAPORE : Singaporeans planning to buy insurance products can look forward to paying lower costs. This comes after the Financial Advisory Industry Review Panel made a slew of recommendations to raise the quality and efficiency of the financial advisory industry.They include proposals aimed at lowering the distribution costs of insurance products. The panel reviewing the financial advisory...

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Hyundai to hike car prices from Feb 1 by up to Rs 20,000

NEW DELHI: Hyundai Motor India will increase prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 20,000 across all models by February 1. "On account of rise in input cost and fluctuation in currency, we will increase the prices up to Rs 20,000 by February 1, 2013 across all the models starting from Eon to Santa Fe SUV," Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Vice President, Sales and Marketing Rakesh Srivastava said. The...

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Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum.Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could...

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NRA Ad Calls Obama 'Elitist Hypocrite'

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP PhotoAs the White House prepares to unveil a sweeping plan aimed at curbing gun violence, the National Rifle Association has launched a preemptive, personal attack on President Obama, calling him an “elitist hypocrite” who, the group claims, is putting American children at risk.In 35-second video posted online Tuesday night, the NRA criticizes Obama for accepting armed...

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Schumer to back Hagel as defense secretary

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced his support Tuesday for the nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, delivering a key vote for the Nebraska Republican’s confirmation after weeks of voicing doubt about his positions on security issues related to Israel and Iran. Schumer, the No. 3 Democrat and most senior Jewish senator, made the decision following a...

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Bidding showdown over F&N expected on Jan 21

SINGAPORE: A corporate shoot out over Fraser & Neave is expected on January 21.The Securities Industry Council (SIC) has said the final time by which TCC Assets or OUE Baytown can revise its offer is 5.30pm on January 21. Each party will either announce any revision to their current takeover bids or walkaway from the deal.In a statement issued on Tuesday, SIC said that "given that...

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Why it took so long for PM to react? asks BJP

NEW DELHI: The BJP wondered why it took "so long" for the Prime Minister to respond to the "barbaric" beheading of an Indian soldier along the line of control and asked if his reaction on Tuesday was out of conviction or compulsion. The opposition party said it was able to make the government understand the mood of the nation seeking tough measures against Pakistan in the wake of the barbaric incident....

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long)...

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Oprah Describes Intense Armstrong Interview

Oprah Winfrey said today that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong came well prepared for their highly anticipated interview, although he "did not come clean in the manner [she] expected."Winfrey, who discussed the interview on "CBS This Morning" today, said, "We were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers. I feel that he answered the questions in a way that he was ready....

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Fast food linked to child asthma: study

PARIS: Children who frequently eat fast food are far more likely to have severe asthma compared to counterparts who tuck into fruit, a large international study published on Monday said.Researchers asked nearly half a million teenagers aged 13-14 and children aged six and seven about their eating habits and whether in the previous year they had experienced wheezing, eczema or an itchy,...

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Savour the Sankranti goodies

After all these years of having grandmas scream down our ears that seasonal, local produce is good for the body, new age nutritionists and food specialists telling are now telling us that how ghee, carbs and natural sugars will, eventually, do us good and that food miles are important. As it turns out, however, we need more than a little motherly arm twisting to eat sensibly. A decade or so ago, people...

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse CancelmoA fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew...

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Golden Globe Moments: A Night of Laughs, Surprises

Let's finally bury this idea that women can't be funny once and for all. Fey and Poehler were undeniably hilarious throughout the Globes, so much so that many fans on Twitter demanded more of them during the ceremony. From their opening bit -- Poehler: "Meryl Streep is not here tonight, she has the flu. And I hear she's amazing in it." -- to their pseudo drunk heckling of best TV comedy actress...

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S'pore's productivity well below most developed countries: DPM Tharman

SINGAPORE: Singapore's productivity is well below that of the most developed countries, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.In a Facebook post on Sunday, he noted that restaurants here are experiencing difficulties finding employees.Mr Tharman said some restaurants have raised pay to attract part-timers during the peak Lunar New Year season. But...

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Fresh firing in Poonch as Pak troops target Indian posts

NEW DELHI: A day before the flag meeting between Indian and Pakistani commanders, there are reports of fresh exchange of fire in Poonch sector on Sunday. According to TV reports, several Indian posts have been targeted by Pakistani troops. The Indian Army retaliated leading to exchange of fire between the two sides along the LoC.Earlier today Pakistan agreed to hold a flag meeting to defuse tension...

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse CancelmoA fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew...

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