| Nominee-to-be Hagel forged bond with Obama over Iraq Posted: 06 Jan 2013 12:23 PM PST  From his lonely position as an early Republican critic of the Iraq war, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel sometimes lectured his more timid Senate colleagues. "If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes," he told them. Now Democratic President Barack Obama, putting together his team for his second term, is poised to choose the intensely independent thinker to run the Pentagon. If Hagel is confirmed by the Senate, he will have to oversee the withdrawal of U.S. troops from another war zone - Afghanistan - and grapple with spending cuts. ...
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| Report: White House mulls broader approach to gun control Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:42 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is weighing a far broader approach to curbing U.S. gun violence than just reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. A working group led by Vice President Joseph Biden is seriously considering measures that would require universal background checks for gun buyers and track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, the newspaper said. ...
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| Victim’s plea for suspected Colo. theater gunman Holmes Posted: 06 Jan 2013 12:35 PM PST  DENVER -- As a God-fearing man, Marcus Weaver tries to accept that alleged movie theater gunman James Holmes deserves his day in court. "But he could do us all a favor and just plead guilty," said Weaver, one of at least 70 people injured in last July's ambush in Aurora, Colo. Twelve people were killed [...]
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| GOP senators hint Hagel’s in for tough confirmation fight Posted: 06 Jan 2013 12:25 PM PST  Several Republican senators voiced their concerns on Sunday about President Obama's expected nomination of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel for defense secretary over past statements the former Nebraska lawmaker made about Israel and gay rights--hinting Hagel's confirmation would not come without a fight. On CNN's "State of the Union," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called [...]
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| Analysis: Obama may turn Medicare reform into wider health debate Posted: 06 Jan 2013 08:14 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama could seek common ground with Republicans in the looming battle over Medicare spending by broadening the debate over entitlement reform to encompass the spiraling healthcare costs that confront a wide range of Americans. In recent public remarks the president has identified the U.S. healthcare system's sky-high price tag - by far the highest in the world - as a driving force for Medicare reform. The administration is expected to release a report on 2011 national healthcare expenditures on Monday that should further underline well-known trends. ...
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| Holmes' hearing in theater shootings may serve as 'mini-trial' Posted: 06 Jan 2013 10:01 AM PST  CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in the Colorado movie theater killings returns to court this week for a hearing that might be the closest thing to a trial the victims and their families will get to see.
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| Defiant Assad pledges to continue fighting Posted: 06 Jan 2013 12:58 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — A defiant Syrian President Bashar Assad rallied a chanting and cheering crowd Sunday to fight the uprising against his authoritarian rule, dismissing any chance of dialogue with "murderous criminals" that he blames for nearly two years of violence that has left 60,000 dead.
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| Schwarzenegger: Film violence not linked to school shooting Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:34 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger may be one of the world's biggest action stars but the former governor of California says violence in films is entertainment and should not be linked to tragic events like the Connecticut school shooting in which 20 children died. The star of films such as "The Terminator," "Predator" and "True Lies" told a press conference before the opening of his new movie, "The Last Stand," on January 18th that "one has to keep (the two) separate." "(This is) entertainment and the other thing is a tragedy beyond belief. ...
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| No movement: Lawmakers dig in heels on debt crisis Posted: 06 Jan 2013 12:58 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders on Sunday showed no signs of emerging from their corners to resolve the next step in the financial crisis, with Democrats still talking about higher taxes on the wealthy and the Senate's top Republican suggesting that a crippling default on U.S. loans was possible unless there were significant cuts in government spending.
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| There's a big reason towns don't want to host the F-35 Posted: 06 Jan 2013 02:37 PM PST  Plans on where to base the U.S. military's next-generation fighter jet, the F-35, concern people in communities from California to Florida to Maine who worry the aircraft are too loud.In Vermont, where ...
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| Over 30K teddy bears: Newtown sets up task force to handle donations Posted: 06 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST  NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — Chris Kelsey is the tax assessor in Newtown, but for the better part of three weeks, his job has been setting up and organizing a warehouse to hold the toys, school supplies and other gifts donated in the wake of the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary school.
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| Double-star systems can be dangerous for exoplanets Posted: 06 Jan 2013 11:12 AM PST  Alien planets born in widely separated two-star systems face a grave danger of being booted into interstellar space, a new study suggests.
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| Indian rape victim's father says he wants her named Posted: 06 Jan 2013 04:40 AM PST  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The father of an Indian student whose brutal rape provoked a global outcry said he wanted her name made public so she could be an inspiration to victims of sexual assault, a call that was quickly taken up by social media users and may pressure authorities to allow her identity to be revealed. The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died on December 28 in a Singapore hospital, two weeks after a gang rape on a moving bus in New Delhi that ignited protests across India and neighboring countries and government promises of tougher punishments. ...
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| Obama returns to capital after Hawaii vacation Posted: 06 Jan 2013 10:56 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has returned to Washington after a winter vacation in Hawaii that was interrupted by the "fiscal cliff" crisis.
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| GOP senator McConnell: 'Tax issue is finished' Posted: 06 Jan 2013 07:19 AM PST  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. R-Ky., Sunday said he will not accept any new revenue in future deals with congressional Democrats and President Obama. "The tax issue is finished. Over. Completed," McConnell told me on "This Week." "That's behind us. Now the question is what...
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| Spain's 'El Nino' lottery hands out $1.1 billion Posted: 06 Jan 2013 07:52 AM PST  MADRID (AP) — A lottery showered €840 million ($1.1 billion) on ticket holders in five regions of Spain on Sunday, in the midst of a deep recession and high unemployment.
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| Russian patriarch says religion law must not go too far Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:19 PM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, on Sunday urged the Kremlin to be moderate in new legislation seeking stricter punishment for religious offences. The pro-Kremlin United Russia party proposed a law introducing jail terms for offending religious feelings after a protest against Putin's increasingly close ties with the Church by punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow's main cathedral in February. ...
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| More money for college athletes: Not if, but how Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:28 PM PST  MIAMI (AP) -- After decades when paying college athletes was thought to violate the spirit of amateurism, the enormous television revenue generated by sports - football and basketball in particular - and the long hours of work by the players have changed the debate.
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| Rare color photos of The Beatles to go up for sale Posted: 06 Jan 2013 03:54 AM PST  LONDON (AP) — Unpublished early color photographs of The Beatles' first U.S. tour will be sold at a U.K. auction.
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| Police: Northern Irish paramilitaries hijacking flag protests Posted: 06 Jan 2013 03:34 PM PST  BELFAST (Reuters) - Pro-British militant groups are instigating riots that have rocked the Northern Irish capital Belfast in the past month, a police officers' representative said on Sunday as officers came under attack again. The violence stems from protests over the removal of the British flag over Belfast City Hall. It has been among the province's worst since a 1998 peace accord ended 30 years of conflict in which Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British forces and mainly Protestant loyalists. ...
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