Egypt constitution approved in vote: Islamist official

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's new constitution, which was drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly, was approved by 64 percent of voters in a two-round referendum, an official in the Muslim Brotherhood said on Sunday citing the group's unofficial tally. The result followed votes held on December 15 and on Saturday. "According to our calculations, the final result of the second...

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Avramovic: It's not about me

SINGAPORE: In his near decade-long spell as Singapore's national coach, Radojko Avramovic has always cut an intriguing figure - a fuss-free man of few words, gruff at times, but always charming with the occasional dose of deadpan humour.And in typical understated fashion, he played down his role in masterminding the Lions' path to victory in the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki...

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First day tips and tweaks for new MacBook owners

As much as new MacBook owners love to rave about their systems, no laptop -- even one with an Apple logo -- comes right out of the box ready to perform optimally.And while it's certainly exciting to unwrap a new holiday MacBook, there are a handful of tweaks, tips, and fixes you should check out on day one that will make your MacBook easier to use. I've put together some of my personal favorites...

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Newtown swamped by charity for victims, families

NEWTOWN, Conn. Peter Leone was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number. "She said, 'I'm paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,'" Leone said. "About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same...

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Urban Advocates Say New Gun Control Talk Overdue

For years, voices have cried in the urban wilderness: We need to talk about gun control.Yet the guns blazed on.It took a small-town slaughter for gun control to become a political priority. Now, decades' worth of big-city arguments against easy access to guns are finally being heard, because an unstable young man invaded an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., with a military-style...

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Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February. The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he...

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Judge halts Argentine woman's wedding to sister's killer

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine judge has blocked planned nuptials between a 22-year-old woman and her twin sister's convicted killer after a formal complaint by her mother.Edith Casas insists that Victor Cingolani did not murder her sister Johana Casas, a fashion model. He is serving a 13-year prison sentence in southern Santa Cruz province for her murder in 2010.The twins' mother Marcelina...

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Why does my external hard drive only show 2.2TB?

External hard drives are exceptionally useful for expanding storage capabilities for both backups and data management. While external hard drives are often sold in preconfigured packages by manufacturers, another popular option is to purchase an external hard-drive enclosure and then use any drive of your choice in it. This is beneficial because as your demands for storage increase, you can replace...

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NRA: Guns in schools would protect students

Updated: 6:44 p.m. ETIn a press conference reflecting on last week's massacre in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre today called on Congress to put armed law enforcement agents in every American school, insisting that guns in schools -- not tougher gun laws -- would most effectively protect children from school shootings. Play VideoA "good guy with a gun" in every school?...

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Obama Still an 'Optimist' on Cliff Deal

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON D.C. – Ten days remain before the mandatory spending cuts and tax increases known as the “fiscal cliff” take effect, but President Obama said he is still a “hopeless optimist” that a federal budget deal can be reached before the year-end deadline that economists agree might plunge the country back into recession.“Even though Democrats and Republicans are...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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User revolt causes Instagram to keep old rules

SAN FRANCISCO: Instagram on Thursday tried to calm a user rebellion by nixing a change that would have given the Facebook-owned mobile photo sharing service unfettered rights to people's pictures."The concerns we heard about from you the most focused on advertising, and what our changes might mean for you and your photos," Instagram co-founder and chief Kevin Systrom said in a blog post."There...

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Four security trends defined 2012, will impact 2013

The Internet is slowly changing, and security experts say that today's security issues will continue to be major players in driving that change. Here are four trends that dominated headlines in 2012, and will continue to play a major role in 2013.The Internet as governmental toolThe collective realization by governments around the world that the Internet is an excellent network for conducting surveillance,...

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It's already Dec. 21 in Europe, so where's doomsday?

MERIDA, Mexico Doomsday hour is here, at least in much of the world, and so still are we. According to legend, the ancient Mayans' long-count calendar ends at midnight Thursday, ushering in the end of the world. Didn't happen. "This is not the end of the world. This is the beginning of the new world," Star Johnsen-Moser, an American seer, said at a gathering of hundreds of spiritualists at a...

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Police Chief Wants to Ban High-Capacity Firepower

High-capacity magazines are the deadliest of gun cartridges. They come in cases of 30, 40, 60 and even 120 rounds.These magazines are maximum, economy-sized firepower packed into a steel cartridge. When strapped into a pistol or semi-automatic rifle, a shooter can fire non-stop until the magazine is empty. By then, the damage can be devastating.That is why the Baltimore County Police...

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U.S. State Dept officials resign under pressure over Benghazi killings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three senior U.S. State Department officials were asked to resign after an official inquiry harshly criticized their offices for failing to provide adequate security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, before it came under attack in September, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Eric Boswell, the assistant...

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Review slams BBC over Savile report but says no cover-up

LONDON: An official report strongly criticised the BBC's handling of allegations of child sex abuse against late presenter Jimmy Savile, but cleared the world's biggest broadcaster of a cover-up.The findings by an independent inquiry sparked the resignation of the BBC's deputy director of news, and led to the editor and deputy editor of the programme at the centre of the scandal being...

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Redbox Instant launches private beta for video streaming

Redbox Instant -- Verizon's stab at a video-streaming service to compete with Netflix -- was rolled out into private beta today. For the first time, users can sign up for the service and see what it has to offer. The service will give new users, who sign up to try it in beta, unlimited streaming and four DVD credits for free for one month, according to the Web site. Once the month-long trial ends,...

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More funerals for victims of Newtown shooting

(CBS News) NEWTOWN, Conn. - In Newtown, Connecticut, more children and a teacher -- victims of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- were laid to rest Wednesday. Daniel Barden, 7, a victim in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012./Rex Features via AP Images Firefighters from across the northeast came to honor seven-year-old Daniel Barden....

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days."If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference."I...

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Egypt opposition protests against constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi staged protests in Cairo on Tuesday against an Islamist-backed draft constitution that has divided Egypt but looks set to be approved in the second half of a referendum this weekend. Several hundred protesters outside the presidential palace chanted "Revolution, revolution, for the sake of the constitution" and called on...

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AU Optronics executive guilty in LCD price-fixing case

SAN FRANCISCO: A US jury on Tuesday found a former senior manager at Taiwan-based AU Optronics Corp guilty of taking part in a global scheme to rig prices of liquid crystal display screens.Shiu Lung Leung faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for his crime, according to the US Department of Justice.Marketplace rivals fixed the prices of LCD panels during...

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House approves Netflix-backed changes to video privacy law

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Netflix-backed bill today that would make it easier for people to share their video-viewing habits online, while failing to act on an e-mail privacy measure.By voice vote, members of the House approved H.R. 6671, which amends the Video Privacy Protection Act to allow video rental companies to obtain consent from customers in order to share information about...

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