British retailers start online sales early

British retailers have brought forward their Christmas clearance sales online in the hope that shoppers will log on to buy bargains and offset lackluster spending in stores.Marks & Spencer launched its sale online at midday on Monday, it said on its website, while department store John Lewis said it would cut online prices when its stores close at 1700 GMT. Debenhams has already started its online...

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China may require real name registration for internet access

China may require internet users to register with their real names when signing up to network providers, state media said on Tuesday, extending a policy already in force with microblogs in a bid to curb what officials call rumors and vulgarity.A law being discussed this week would mean people would have to present their government-issued identity cards when signing contracts for fixed line and mobile...

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Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms

 Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites on Tuesday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year's election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office.Rakhmon, a 60-year-old former head of a Soviet cotton farm, has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for 20 years. He has overseen constitutional...

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Netflix suffers Christmas Eve outage, points to Amazon

An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc.'s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows...

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Japan's policy veteran Motegi likely to serve as trade minister: media

 Incoming Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to pick policy veteran Toshimitsu Motegi as trade minister, who will also take charge of energy and other key economic policies, media reported on Tuesday.Motegi, 57, a former policy affairs chief for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will tackle energy problems after last year's Fukushima nuclear crisis, as well as issues such as the U.S.-led...

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Japan new PM Abe wants to correct strong yen trend

 Japan's incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated on Tuesday a pledge to revive the economy by correcting the recent trend towards a stronger yen.Abe is set to be selected as prime minister by lawmakers on Wednesday after leading his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a landslide victory in a lower house election earlier this month.Abe, who spoke after naming a new leadership team for the...

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Japan's incoming PM keeps up pressure on BOJ to attack deflation

- Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept up his calls on Tuesday for the Bank of Japan to drastically ease monetary policy by setting an inflation target of 2 percent, and repeated that he wants to tame the strong yen to help revive the economy.Abe, a security hardliner who will be sworn in as premier on Wednesday, when he is also expected to appoint his cabinet, is prescribing a mix of...

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Egypt says stability key to fixing economy: PM

 Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil said on Tuesday that political stability was crucial to luring back foreign investors and tourists to help plug a yawning budget deficit and heal the country's ailing economy.In a statement hours before the expected announcement of the result of a divisive constitutional referendum, Kandil said President Mohamed Mursi's government was committed to taking...

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Egyptians fret over economy after rancorous vote on constitutiontougher fight in the parliamentary election.

Egyptians fret over economy after rancorous vote on constitutionEgypt prepared to announce on Tuesday the result of a vote on a new constitution that Islamist President Mohamed Mursi hails as a step toward stability in a country beset by political and economic crisis. But critics say that by ramming through the basic law, Mursi has angered his liberal, leftist and Christian opponents, and may have...

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Colts recovering coach returns to team facility

 Chuck Pagano was back at work Monday morning.Three months after taking an indefinite leave to battle leukemia, the Colts' coach was scheduled to meet with players, coaches and reporters as he retook the reins from interim coach Bruce Arians.When Pagano arrived at the team headquarters, he drove past an inflatable Colts player to the side of the driveway with a simple message across the chest...

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NFL-Playoff puzzle nearly complete with one week to go

With one week remaining in the regular season, the National Football League's playoff picture has come into sharper focus with only a few more pieces of the post-season puzzle to be put into place.Much of the remaining drama is focused on the NFC East, where the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will stage a battle royale for the division crown with a ticket to the post-season...

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Playoff puzzle nearly complete with one week to go

 With one week remaining in the regular season, the National Football League's playoff picture has come into sharper focus with only a few more pieces of the post-season puzzle to be put into place.Much of the remaining drama is focused on the NFC East, where the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will stage a battle royale for the division crown with a ticket to the post-season...

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AP source: Dolphins' Smith has knee bruise

A person familiar with the diagnosis says Miami Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith escaped serious injury when he hurt his left knee in the team's victory over Buffalo.An MRI test Monday determined the injury was only a bruise, the person told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Dolphins are not releasing details about the injury.Smith, a fourth-year pro and Miami's best...

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NFL-Pagano joins playoff bound Colts after battle with cancer

The Indianapolis Colts and their fans got an early Christmas gift when head coach Chuck Pagano returned to work on Monday, three months after being forced to the sidelines to battle cancer.Diagnosed with leukemia in late September, Pagano spent the last three months undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy, while his inspired team led by rookie quarterback Andrew Luck battled on the field earning...

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Explainer: Naming of Parts for an Instrument of Civilian Slaughter

The PTAB 2.5M anti-armor bomblet has a cylindrical body with a dome-shaped ballistic cap at its front and it terminates in a four-fin tail unit that is structured in a drum configuration. In its Aug. 2, 2012 online posting, Jane's Air-Launched Weapons noted that the tail unit comes in both short and long versions. The entire bomblet measures 0.87 meters in length, has a body diameter of 60 millimeters...

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Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped. Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday. But...

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Few tests done at toxic sites after superstorm

For more than a month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that the recent superstorm didn't cause significant problems at any of the 247 Superfund toxic waste sites it's monitoring in New York and New Jersey. But in many cases, no actual tests of soil or water are being conducted, just visual inspections. The EPA conducted a handful of tests right after the storm, but couldn't provide...

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Fear, finger-pointing mount over "fiscal cliff"

Some lawmakers voiced concern on Sunday that the country would go over "the fiscal cliff" in nine days, triggering harsh spending cuts and tax hikes, and some Republicans charged that was President Barack Obama's goal. "It's the first time that I feel it's more likely that we will go over the cliff than not," Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If...

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The Most Popular Scientific American Stories of 2012

The top 10 most popular stories published in 2012: 1. Men and Women Can't Be "Just Friends" 2. The World’s Last Worm: A Dreaded Disease Nears Eradication 3. NASA Crushes 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Claims 4. How Hollywood Is Encouraging Online Piracy 5. Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Livingin Mothers’ Brains 6. Psychiatry's "Bible" Gets an Overhaul 7. “Once in a Civilization” Comet to Zip Past Earth...

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"Bennifer" buried as Ben Affleck's star soars

It has taken 10 years of hard work and indie movies, but Ben Affleck finally has moved past his "Bennifer" nightmare. Affleck, 40, once a tabloid staple who risked becoming a laughingstock during his romance with Jennifer Lopez and their movie flop "Gigli," is back on top in Hollywood, winning accolades for his work both in front of and behind the camera. Fifteen years after Affleck shared an Oscar...

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Norman Woodland, co-inventor of bar code, dies at 91

Norman Woodland, co-inventor of the bar code, the inventory tracking tool that transformed global commerce in the 1970s and saved shoppers countless hours on the supermarket checkout line, has died, his daughter said. Woodland, 91, died Saturday from complications related to Alzheimer's disease in Edgewater, New Jersey, said Susan Woodland of New York. Today, five billion products a day are scanned...

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Actor Depardieu hits back at French PM over tax exile

Actor Gerard Depardieu, accused by French government leaders of trying to dodge taxes by buying a house over the border in Belgium, retorted that he was leaving because "success" was now being punished in his homeland. A popular and colourful figure in France, the 63-year-old Depardieu is the latest wealthy Frenchman to seek shelter outside his native country after tax increases by Socialist President...

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Pop star Kelly Clarkson announces engagement

Kelly Clarkson, who became the first contestant to win "American Idol" a decade ago and went on to several chart-topping successes, has gotten engaged to her boyfriend, the singer said in a Twitter message on Saturday. Clarkson, 30, previously revealed she had been dating talent manager Brandon Blackstock since early this year. Blackstock is the stepson of country singer Reba McEntire. "I'M ENGAGED!"...

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Gabby Douglas, Adele among brightest young stars -Forbes magazine

Fashion designer Carly Cushnie, actress Kate McKinnon and videogame creator Kim Swift may not be household names yet, but they are destined to do great things and will be tomorrow's young stars, Forbes magazine said on Monday. Along with Olympic Gold medalist gymnast Gabby Douglas, rapper Wiz Khalifa and researcher Josh Sommer, they have been chosen by the magazine for its "30 Under 30" list of top...

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Wall St clings to hopes for budget deal, but market risks rising

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the United States sails over the fiscal cliff in less than two weeks, it probably will not mean disaster for the stock market, investors said on Friday, but the margin for error is getting dangerously thin. At heart are fears over how long the U.S. economy, the world's largest, can hold up under the brunt of higher taxes and big spending cuts that would be triggered by the...

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Signs suggest better economy if 'cliff' is averted

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fresh signs of a strengthening U.S. economy on Friday suggested that if Congress and the White House can avert the "fiscal cliff," the economic recovery might finally accelerate in 2013. Consumers spent and earned more in November. And for a second straight month, U.S. companies increased their orders for a category of manufactured goods that reflects investment plans. In light of...

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Scenarios: Seven ways the US 'fiscal cliff' crisis could end

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - So what now? The U.S. House of Representatives' rejection of a bill to raise taxes on just 0.18 percent of Americans - those making more than $1 million a year - has raised questions about the Republican-led chamber's ability to approve any plan to avert the looming "fiscal cliff." Unless President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress can forge a deal during the Christmas and...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: A lump of coal for "Fiscal Cliff-mas"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street traders are going to have to pack their tablets and work computers in their holiday luggage after all. A traditionally quiet week could become hellish for traders as politicians in Washington are likely to fall short of an agreement to deal with $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts due to kick in early next year. Many economists forecast that this "fiscal cliff"...

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U.S. judge approves settlement in BP class action suit

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday gave final approval to BP Plc's settlement with individuals and businesses who lost money and property in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The order only addressed the settlement of economic and property damage claims, not a separate medical benefits settlement for cleanup workers and others who say the spill made them sick. BP has estimated that it will pay $7.8...

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Canadian Football Hall of Famer Eagle Keys dies at 89; won three Grey Cups

VANCOUVER - Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee Eagle Keys has died at the age of 89.Keys played centre and linebacker for five years with the Montreal Alouettes (1949-51) and with the Edmonton Eskimos (1952-54), being named to three CFL all-star teams.He became a coach after retiring as a player, starting as an assistant in Edmonton in 1955. He became the Eskimos' head coach in 1959, a job he...

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Vikings still wowed by Peterson's rapid recovery

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — Most days, Adrian Peterson went through rehab drills looking as if he were never injured.No one could've foreseen the rapid recovery Peterson has made since that bionic left knee of his was severely damaged near the end of a lost 2011 season for Minnesota. No one could have predicted these weekly gallops down the field and through the NFL record book.With two games to go,...

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YEARENDER-NFL-New generation of QBs emerge but league faces threats

MIAMI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A new generation of talented quarterbacks emerged in 2012 but a refereeing fiasco, worries over concussions and player behavior all left their mark on the National Football League (NFL).The year was also a tantalizing tale of the Mannings with New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning winning his second Super Bowl title in four years with a win over New England in the same...

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