Lovie Smith fired as Bears coach after 9 seasons

LAKE FOREST, Ill. The Chicago Bears fired coach Lovie Smith on Monday after the team missed the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. Smith was informed of the decision by general manager Phil Emery on the day after the Bears beat Detroit to finish 10-6 but still didn't make the playoffs. 10 PhotosNFL coaches, GMs sacked in firing frenzy Smith led the Bears to a Super Bowl, but also saw...

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Fiscal Cliffhanger: Tax Deal 'Within Sight,' Not Done

President Obama said an 11th-hour agreement to avert year-end tax hikes on 98 percent of Americans is "within sight" but not yet complete with just hours to go before the nation reaches the so-called fiscal cliff."There are still issues left to resolve but we're hopeful Congress can get it done," Obama said at a midday White House news conference. "But it's not done."Congressional...

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State Department made "grievous mistake" over Benghazi: Senate report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the U.S. mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on Monday. A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the U.S. mission and a nearby...

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'Fiscal cliff' deal talk, Apple lift US stocks at year-end

WASHINGTON: US markets closed out the year on Monday with a sharp jump on news that Congress was close to a deal to avert the fiscal cliff - but also on a 4.4 percent gain by market giant Apple.The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 166.03 points (1.28 percent) at 13,104.14.The broad-market S&P 500 gained 23.79 points (1.69 percent) at 1,426.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite...

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'Dystextia': Muddled texts can signal stroke, doctors say

An MRI of a pregnant woman's brain showed a stroke in the region of the brain connected to language.(Credit:Archives of Neurology)Most of us have sent a garbled text or two (or dozens) in our day, and probably received more than our share as well. But such disoriented messages can in some rare cases move beyond the parlance of speedy modern-day communication to signal a health emergency, Harvard scientists...

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With blockade eased, building materials enter Gaza

Thousands of tons of building materials, such as cement and steel, began crossing into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said, as Israel eased its five-year-old blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel agreed to ease the blockade on Gaza under terms of a cease-fire that ended eight days of fierce fighting with Hamas last month, reports CBS News correspondent Robert...

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Cliffhanger: 'Major Setback' For Budget Talks

With less than two days remaining for Congress to reach a budget agreement that would avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," ABC News has learned that negotiations have reached a "major setback."According to Democratic sources the row was sparked when the GOP offered a proposal that included a new method of calculating entitlement benefits with inflation. Called the "chained consumer...

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Body of India rape victim cremated in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The body of a woman, whose gang rape provoked protests and rare national debate about violence against women in India, arrived back in New Delhi on Sunday and was cremated at a private ceremony. Scuffles broke out in central Delhi between police and protesters who say the government is doing too little to protect women. But the 2,000-strong rally was confined to...

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E. Timor bids farewell to peacekeepers after 13 years

DILI: The UN ends its peacekeeping mission in East Timor Monday after 13 years of boots on the ground in Asia's youngest nation following a bloody transition to independence.The mission, which saw the presence of some 1,500 UN troops and police, will take down its flag and send home the last of its peacekeepers, including five Portuguese officers, while a "liquidation team" of 79 will...

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TwitPic snared by Google's malware detector

Google tags TwitPic as malware host.(Credit:Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)Google's Web site malware checker identified TwitPic as a security threat today, a classification that has the popular photo site baffled.Instead of the usual archiving and sharing tools they are used to, users attempting to visit TwitPic today are being greeted by a message informing them that the site has been blocked because...

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Report: FAMU ignored rules before hazing death

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. The findings from a year-long investigation show that Florida A&M University officials failed to follow state laws and regulations on hazing.A 32-page report released Friday concludes that the school lacked internal controls to prevent or detect hazing.The report comes from the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system. It ordered the investigation...

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Woman Tied to Gun in NY Firefighter Ambush

Authorities have charged a woman for allegedly providing a convicted killer with the Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle he used when he ambushed four volunteer firefighters and an off-duty cop at a fire scene in upstate New York on Christmas Eve, federal prosecutors said.Dawn Nguyen, 24, was arrested today after allegedly making an illegal purchase of the weapon used by William Spengler,...

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Syria opposition leader rejects Moscow invitation

ALEPPO PROVINCE, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition leader has rejected an invitation from Russia for peace talks, dealing another blow to international hopes that diplomacy can be resurrected to end a 21-month civil war. Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's main international protector, said on Friday it had sent an invitation for a visit to Moaz Alkhatib, whose six-week-old...

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Obama, top lawmakers meet on cliff edge

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama Friday sought a late deal to stop the US economy tumbling off a "fiscal cliff" next week, gathering top congressional leaders for crunch White House talks.Obama is trying to broker a deal to avert huge tax increases and spending cuts due to come into force as the year turns on Tuesday, as dysfunctional Washington reluctantly works through a disrupted...

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LG bringing several sizes of high res displays to CES

As a person what reviews both monitors andtablets, display quality is of particular interest to me. And early next month atCES 2013, LG intends to give me a reason to be excited. However, the company has not confirmed that the following display technologies will be attached to actual products; only that differently-sized, impressively-specced displays will be showcased. And by "showcased" I mean shown...

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Free gun training offered to 200 Utah teachers

(CBS/AP) SALT LAKE CITY - Gun rights advocates plan to offer gun training for 200 Utah teachers Thursday, saying that classroom teachers could stop school shootings by carrying concealed weapons. The Utah Shooting Sports Council said it would waive its $50 fee for concealed-weapons training for the teachers. Instruction featuring plastic guns is set to begin at noon Thursday inside a conference...

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Utah Teachers Flock to Gun Training

The perception of schools as sanctuaries from violence has been "blown up" by recent events and some believe it's time for educators to literally take the situation into their own hands and carry guns."We've had this unwritten code, even among criminals, that schools are off limits. Those are our kids. You don't mess with that," Utah Shooting Sports Council (USSC) Chairman Clark...

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Russia's Putin signals he will sign U.S. adoption ban

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signaled on Thursday he would sign into law a bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children and sought to forestall criticism of the move by promising measures to better care for his country's orphans. In televised comments, Putin tried to appeal to people's patriotism by suggesting that strong and responsible countries should take care...

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Oil prices decline on 'fiscal cliff' deal doubts

NEW YORK: Oil prices declined Thursday amid doubts that an 11th-hour deal on the "fiscal cliff" crisis could be reached by a rapidly approaching end-of-year deadline.New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery, slipped 11 cents to settle at $90.87 a barrel.Brent North Sea crude for February delivery dipped 27 cents to $110.80 a barrel in London trade.With...

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Make the resolution: try a new lens for your camera

Want to experiment? Lensbaby Spark is a cheap special-effects lens for Nikon and Canon mount dSLRs.The most popular reason nonprofessionals buy dSLRs or other types of interchangeable-lens cameras is because they want better photos or faster performance than a point-and-shoot can deliver; the power of manual controls and interchangeable lenses seem to be a secondary concern. Nevertheless, I'm still...

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Fmr. President Bush battling "stubborn" fever

A "stubborn" fever that kept former President George H.W. Bush in a hospital over Christmas has gotten worse, and doctors have put him on a liquids-only diet, his spokesman said Wednesday, describing Bush's condition as guarded to CBS News. Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, had said earlier in the day that the fever had gone away, but he later corrected himself. "It's an elevated fever,...

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Weather Death Toll Up to 6 as Storm Churns North

A killer Christmas storm is churning its way north leaving hundreds of thousands without power and snarling travel plans for people trying to get home after the holiday.Six people have died, mostly in weather related car crashes, as the South was hammered by as many as 34 tornadoes and a lethal coating of sleet and snow that spread from the South into the Midwest.Over 280,000...

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Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said. Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying...

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Pakistan to mark five years since Bhutto murder

LARKANA, Pakistan: Pakistan Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, with her son expected to launch his political career with a speech in the family's ancestral home town.Bhutto, twice elected prime minister, was killed in a gun and suicide attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi, the headquarters of Pakistan's army, on December...

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Samsung plans to ship half a billion handsets in 2013

Samsung has big plans for 2013.(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)This year has been a big year for Samsung, and it looks like the good times will continue well into 2013.According to The Korea Times, the phone manufacturer expects itself to ship over half a billion handsets -- or 510 million to be exact -- next year.In 2012 alone, Samsung shipped an estimated 420 million devices. If we go by next year's projections,...

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