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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India ruling party urges Rahul Gandhi stand for PM

JAIPUR, India: Leaders of the ruling Congress party on Saturday clamoured for Rahul Gandhi -- scion of India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty -- to be named the prime ministerial candidate ahead of next year's polls.Gandhi, 42, has preferred to take a back seat in the party's politics until now, concentrating instead on leading the Congress youth wing into the general elections due in 2014.But Oil...

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Chintan Shivir: Congress leaders pitch for Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate

JAIPUR: Amid talk that Rahul Gandhi will be given a larger responsibility, clamour for declaring him as the Congress prime ministerial candidate grew louder at the party's Chintan Shivir on Saturday. Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajiv Shukla, Jitin Prasada, senior leader Manishankar Aiyar batted for larger responsibility for Rahul as the party recognised the need to respond to the demands...

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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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Floods ease in Jakarta, at least 11 dead

JAKARTA: Floods in Indonesia's capital Jakarta which have killed at least 11 people and left two missing eased on Friday, authorities said, warning however of more torrential rains which could hamper relief efforts.The capital's worst floods in five years have forced 18,000 people from their homes, the nation's disaster agency said, with many ferried to temporary shelters on rafts."Since...

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Frist Commandant of Subsidiary Training Center Kharkan expires

AMRITSAR: The first Commandant of Subsidiary Training Center, (STC) Border Security Force (BSF) , Kharkan Hoshiarpur, Colnel (Retd.) Ajit Singh Gill expired at the age of 83, informed , BSF's Deputy Inspector General RPS Jaswal on Friday. He informed that Gill had served this STC as Commandant from May 21st 1979 to July 1st 1982 and gave his valuable services.The present shape of STC BSF Kharkan...

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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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Armstrong Admits to Doping, 'One Big Lie'

Lance Armstrong, formerly cycling's most decorated champion and considered one of America's greatest athletes, confessed to cheating for at least a decade, admitting on Thursday that he owed all seven of his Tour de France titles and the millions of dollars in endorsements that followed to his use of illicit performance-enhancing drugs.After years of denying that he had taken...

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4 Pinocchios for a slashing NRA ad on security at Sidwell Friends School

“Are the president’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.” — voiceover of a new National Rifle Association television ad, released...

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SDA, RP candidates outline their 5-year plans for Punggol East

SINGAPORE: Candidates for the Punggol East by-election from the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Reform Party (RP) outlined their five-year plans on Thursday.RP's secretary-general, Kenneth Jeyaretnam said his plan won't cost a lot of money while SDA's secretary-general, Desmond Lim said he wants to set up a residents' cooperative to build a hawker centre.Mr Lim said his five year...

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Prime Minister to decide on talks with Pakistan: Khurshid

NEW DELHI: Talks between India and Pakistan have not been frozen, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday while stating that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would decide on Islamabad's offer of foreign minister-level talks. "The differences have to be resolved and for that we need to proceed with wisdom, keeping in mind the interest and sentiments of the nation. We will await the...

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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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Most see Obama as ‘strong leader,’ say deal on debt ceiling does not require cuts

President Obama heads into his second term with political momentum on his side, and leads congressional Republicans when it comes to dealing with country’s debt limit according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. More Americans now approve of the way Obama is doing his job than at any point in the past three years, except for a fleeting spike upward after the killing of Osama bin Laden....

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European auto sector hits 17-year low

PARIS: European auto sales plunged to their lowest point in 17 years in 2012, trade data revealed Wednesday after Renault announced the latest job cuts to hit the beleaguered sector.New car registrations in the European Union fell by 8.2 percent from their 2011 level to 12.05 million units last year, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said.Sales in December fell for the...

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Showrooming is a growing trend in India: Study

BANGALORE: A new IBM study of 26,000 global consumers released today at the 2013 National Retail Federation convention found they are diversifying the way they shop for and acquire goods, becoming increasingly open to buying both online and in-store depending on their needs at time of purchase. While more than 80% of shoppers chose the store to make their last non-grocery purchase, only half are...

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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'

Jan 16, 2013 12:04am 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...

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‘Cliff’ drops into political vocabulary

Another “Cliff”, center, flanked by Norm, left, and Carla, right, on NBC’s ‘Cheers.’ (Photo courtesy of NBC-TV 1985)Innovations in the political lexicon don’t come along very often. That’s why we’re welcoming with open arms the addition of the word “cliff.”At first, it was paired exclusively with the word “fiscal” and used to describe the sharp increase in taxes and reduction of spending...

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Asian stocks end mixed

HONG KONG - Asian shares were mixed Tuesday on a lack of direction from Wall Street, but Tokyo hit a 32-month high on hopes for new central bank easing despite giving up early gains as the yen rebounded.Some bourses advanced early in the session on reassurances from Fed chief Ben Bernanke that quantitative easing was set to continue in the United States, only to lose ground later in the...

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Odisha gang-rape rape victim dies

BHUBANESWAR: A minor girl, who was gang-raped in Odisha's Rayagada town about a week ago, died at a private hospital at Visakhapatanam on Tuesday. "The girl passed away at about 3.45pm on Tuesday in a private hospital at Visakhapatanam," Rayagada district collector SS Padhi told over phone. The 16-year-old orphan, unable to bear the ignominy, had tried to immolate herself and had suffered over 80...

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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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Armstrong Admits Doping in Tour, Sources Say

Lance Armstrong today admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, sources told ABC News.A government source tells ABC News that Armstrong is now talking with authorities about paying back some of the US Postal Service money from sponsoring his team. He is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up...

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Brunei to seek South China Sea code of conduct

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei: Brunei will pursue a binding code of conduct among competing South China Sea claimants as a top priority during its ASEAN chairmanship, officials said Monday.The tiny, oil-rich sultanate has assumed the chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2013 at a time when tension over sweeping Chinese claims to the sea have rattled the...

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Martyr Hemraj's family calls off fast after UP CM Akhilesh Yadav's visit

KHAIRAIR: Martyred soldier Hemraj's family ended their six-day-old fast on Monday after the visit of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.According to TV reports, the martyr's wife and mother agreed to end the fast after a meeting with Akhilesh.UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav met the family and promised to fulfill their demands. "We have already given Rs 25 lakh... Money is not a big thing...

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