Abe vows to revive Japanese economy, sees no escalation with China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Americans on Friday "I am back and so is Japan" and vowed to get the world's third biggest economy growing again and to do more to bolster security and the rule of law in an Asia roiled by territorial disputes. Abe had firm words for China in a policy speech to a top Washington think-tank, but also tempered his remarks by...

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Maldivain ex-leader exits Indian embassy: New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed left the Indian embassy in the capital Male on Saturday, an Indian official said, 10 days after he sought refuge in the mission in a bid to avoid arrest.Nasheed's exit came after a Maldivian court earlier this week postponed his trial for abuse of power when he was in office and India sent an envoy to the nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims...

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Nokia Lumia 720, 520 photos leak ahead of MWC

This could be the Nokia Lumia 720 you're gazing at.(Credit:EVLeaks)BARCELONA, Spain--Days before Nokia has a chance to unveil its Mobile World Congress lineup, apparent leaks of its two upcoming smartphones, the Lumia 720 and Lumia 520, have already surfaced to go along with some bubbled-up specs.If the images, provided by EvLeaks, prove accurate, the mid-tier Lumia 720 and more entry level 520 will...

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Pentagon grounds F-35 fleet after engine crack found

Updated 9:03 PM ET WASHINGTON The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane. The problem was discovered during what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., of an F-35A, the Air Force version of the sleek new plane. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the F-35, which...

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Cyberattacks Bring Attention to Security Reform

Recent accusations of a large-scale cyber crime effort by the Chinese government left many wondering what immediate steps the president and Congress are taking to prevent these attacks from happening again.On Wednesday, the White House released the administration's Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets as a follow-up to the president's executive order. The strategy...

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ECB says banks to repay US$80.5b in ultra-cheap loans

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank said on Friday that 356 eurozone banks will repay early 61.1 billion euros ($80.5 billion) of a second batch of ultra-cheap three-year loans made available to them a year ago in emergency liquidity measures.Under the ECB's special long-term refinancing operations or LTROs, which it launched to avert a looming credit crunch in the single currency area,...

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Crave giveaway: Kanex Sydnee four-port recharging station

Congrats to Johnal L. of Costa Mesa, Calif., for winning a pair of Aperio Audio Verus Forte speakers in last week's giveaway. This week's prize is sure to get the winner all charged up. We're giving away a Kanex Sydnee recharging station, which charges up to four iOS devices at once through its four 2.1-amp USB ports. It works with all iPhones and iPads, and would be quite happy in any iFriendly...

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Georgia executes man lawyers claimed was mentally ill

JACKSON, Ga. A 38-year-old inmate convicted of killing two college students in 1995 was executed in Georgia on Thursday, apologizing to the families of both victims before being injected at a state prison. Andrew Allen Cook was pronounced dead at 11:22 p.m., about 14 minutes after he was injected with the sedative pentobarbital. He was the first inmate to be executed since the state changed its...

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Arias Challenged On Pedophilia Claim

Accused murderer Jodi Arias was challenged today by phone records, text message records, and her own diary entries that appeared to contradict her claim that she caught her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, looking at pictures of naked boys.Arias had said during her testimony that one afternoon in January 2008, she walked in on Alexander masturbating to pictures of naked boys....

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Cameroon, Nigeria officials deny French hostages freed

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - The fate of seven French tourists seized in Cameroon by suspected Nigerian Islamist militants was unclear on Thursday after government officials denied French media reports that they had been freed. The hostages, four children and three adults, were captured this week while on an excursion to the Waza national park near Cameroon's border with Nigeria. ...

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Chingay Parade expected to draw 150,000 spectators

SINGAPORE: Organisers of this year's Chingay Parade are expecting a crowd of 150,000 people to turn up for the event.After 15 months of preparation, performers are finally ready for the stage.Rehearsals for the parade started on Thursday, and the parade will start at 8pm on Friday and on Saturday.The Chingay Parade will kick off with an opening act - a giant centipede made up of 60 performers...

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Social pollution masks? Winning wearable tech ideas

The Tree Voice concept lets anyone walk up and interact with a tree and get updates on the local environment.(Credit:Frog Design)While anyone could dream up a spinning virtual GPS globe constantly updated with a slideshow of global Flickr photos emanating from a hat, competitors in Frog Design's contest for new wearable technology concepts had to keep their designs within the realm of feasibility....

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Mom: Waitress the likely K.C. restaurant blast victim

KANSAS CITY, Mo. It was a beloved fixture on Kansas City's culinary scene for more than 27 years. A legendary wine list, well-reviewed food, hospitable staff and intimate setting made JJ's a smart choice for everything from popping a cork on a rare varietal to popping the question. But a deadly blast Tuesday reduced the Country Club Plaza landmark to scorched rubble and apparently killed an employee,...

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Arias Leaves Stand After Describing Killing, Her Lies

Jodi Arias stepped down from the witness stand today after mounting an emotional effort to save herself from death row, insisting to the Arizona jury that an explosive fight with ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander led to his death, and that her lies about killing him masked deep regret and plans to commit suicide.Arias, 32, will now face what is expected to be a withering cross-examination...

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Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after violent nationwide protests against high power prices, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during Europe's debt crisis. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, a former bodyguard who swept to power in 2009 on pledges to root out corruption and raise living standards in the European Union's poorest...

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Football: Manchester Utd chief executive David Gill to step down

LONDON: David Gill is to step down as chief executive of Manchester United on June 30, the English football giants announced on Wednesday.In a statement on the club's official website, the 55-year-old Gill said his post-season exit would allow the Premier League leaders to "refresh themselves with new management and ideas".United added that executive vice chairman Ed Woodward would replace...

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Google debuts event page for Academy Awards ceremony

Google's Academy Awards destination page.(Credit:Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)Google is rolling out the red carpet for the Academy Awards with a destination site that promises to help users "get more from the Oscars."In a partnership with Oscars organizers, the Web giant has created a resource page to keep movie fans engaged and informed in the days leading up to the awards ceremony on Sunday....

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What's next in the looming budget crisis?

(CBS News) WASHINGTON -- We are nine days from the next national self-inflicted budget crisis: big, across-the-board cuts in the federal budget will hit automatically on March 1. The cuts are designed to be so deep and damaging that they would force the president and Congress to compromise on a better way. "These cuts are not smart, they are not fair, they will hurt our economy, they will add hundreds...

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Former Navy SEAL on Coming Out of Shadows

It used to be that Navy SEALs didn't just operate in the shadows. They trained in them too. Their whole story stayed shrouded in mystery. Their secret missions stayed secret to the rest of us.But when they got Osama Bin Laden, snatched back an American cargo ship taken by pirates and rescued two air workers held hostage in Somalia, then suddenly, it seemed that SEALs were headline-makers.Add...

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Venezuela's Maduro would win if Chavez goes: poll

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro would comfortably win a presidential election should his boss Hugo Chavez's cancer force him out of power, according to an opinion poll. The first survey on such a scenario, by local pollster Hinterlaces, gave Maduro a potential 50 percent of votes, compared to 36 percent for opposition leader Henrique Capriles. ...

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Companies paying more bills on time

SINGAPORE: Companies are paying more bills on time, according to the Commercial Credit Bureau.The bureau said the number of prompt commercial payments rose to 51.59 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. That is up by a moderate 2.29 percentage points from 49.3 per cent in the previous quarter. Prompt payment means a company has paid at least 90 per cent of its total bills within...

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Microsoft moves Outlook.com out of preview

Microsoft announced Tuesday that its Outlook.com browser-based e-mail service has moved out of its preview stage and is now available globally.First introduced last July, Outlook.com is Microsoft's boldest e-mail move since Google launched Gmail in 2004 and a clear answer to it. As I said in my First Take, the simple interface, Skydrive integration, and promise of mega storage will remind you of Google's...

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WH: Leaked immigration plan is only partial draft

(CBS News) WASHINGTON -- Over the weekend, a partial White House plan for immigration reform leaked to the press and caused an uproar. White House officials tell CBS News that what was leaked is real -- it's a partial draft of half a bill. What we know is the administration's current thinking about what to do about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States right now....

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Russian Meteor: Close Encounter, Preventing Impacts

Feb 18, 2013 7:03pm MOSCOW — As if Friday’s massive meteor explosion over central Russia weren’t enough, just hours later a large asteroid buzzed dangerously close to Earth.And that evening, the California sky was lit up by a fireball, apparently entering Earth’s atmosphere.It’s a barrage from space that has people asking: Are we ready for the big one?Nearly 100...

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U.N. says has list of Syrian war crimes suspects

GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrians in "leadership positions" who may be responsible for war crimes have been identified, along with units accused of perpetrating them, United Nations investigators said on Monday. Both government forces and armed rebels are committing war crimes, including killings and torture, spreading terror among civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict, they said. ...

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Budget to include schemes to develop manpower for SMEs: Teo Ser Luck

SINGAPORE: The upcoming Singapore budget will include schemes to develop a larger pool of Singaporean workers to cater to the needs of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck on Monday. Mr Teo revealed this during a visit to a Soup Spoon outlet on Monday morning. The minister said that the Singapore government is looking at how to...

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LG's 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro to reach U.S. in Q2

LG Optimus G Pro(Credit:LG Electronics)After some earlier teasing, LG Electronics fully detailed its Optimus G Pro Android phone today, a high-end model with 5.5-inch screen, LTE networking, and a quad-core 1.7GHz processor.LG often sells its phones first in its home market of South Korea, and it looks like that's the plan for the Optimus G Pro, too. But it'll arrive in other areas, too, including...

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Danica Patrick makes NASCAR history

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Danica Patrick has made history before — as a woman and a racer, in Indianapolis and Japan. The spotlight is nothing new. But never has it been this bright before. Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole Sunday, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any race in NASCAR's premier circuit. It's by far the biggest achievement of her stock-car career. 29 PhotosDanica Patrick...

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