Foreigners still caught in Sahara hostage crisis

ALGIERS (Reuters) - More than 20 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing inside a gas plant on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the desert complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist militants, who threatened to attack other energy installations. Thirty hostages, including at least seven Westerners, were killed during Thursday's assault, along with at least 18 of their...

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Morrisons to launch online kitchenware business

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain‘s fourth largest supermarket group Wm Morrison said on Friday it would extend its online presence in the spring with the launch of a kitchenware website in partnership with specialist Lakeland.The joint venture will be Morrisons‘ third fully transactional website following the launch of wine website MorrisonsCellar.com in November and the purchase of baby care retailer Kiddicare.com...

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Lena Dunham, Mindy Kaling Score Celeb Followers on Twitter

Want to get a celebrity following on Twitter? It's easy – just make 'em laugh. Stars at the Golden Globes recently admitted that humor is what gets them to follow someone on Twitter, with Modern Family writer/executive producer Danny Zuker and Mindy Kaling scoring follows from celebs. "I'm bad at knowing who I'm following. I recognize people from the color of their clothes and their avatar,"...

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Flu remains widespread in US; eases in some areas

Nine more children or teens have died of the flu, bringing the nation's total this flu season to 29, health officials reported Friday.In a typical season, about 100 children die of the flu, so it is not known whether this year will be better or worse than usual.So far, half of confirmed flu cases are in people 65 and older, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.This year's season...

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Wall Street edges lower after disappointing Intel results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on Friday from a five-year high for the S&P 500 as a weak outlook from tech heavyweight Intel offset a better-than-expected quarterly profit at Morgan Stanley. Shares of Intel Corp slumped 6.3 percent to $21.25 a day after it forecast quarterly revenue below analysts' estimates and announced plans for increased capital spending amid slow...

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Algerian forces launch operation to break desert siege

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Twenty-five foreign hostages escaped and six were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces launched an operation to free them at a remote desert gas plant, Algerian sources said, as one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades unfolded. The standoff began when gunmen calling themselves the Battalion of Blood stormed the gas facility on Wednesday morning. They...

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AT&T Offers $100 Off HSPA+ Nexus 7 for a Limited Time

The Nexus 7, made by Asus in partnership with Google, was the first really successful Android tablet that wasn’t made by a bookseller. It brought the hundreds of thousands of games and apps on Google Play (formerly the Android Market) to a wide audience, and it did so at an unheard-of price point: Only $ 199, for a device packing a Tegra 3 processor which made it much more powerful (and better for...

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Mindy McCready's Troubled Life in 5 Clicks

From country music success to a battle with addictions and a penchant for self-harm, retrace how the singer's life has unraveled Credit: Fred Prouser/Reuters/Landov Updated: Wednesday Jan 16, 2013 | 06:00 PM EST By: Mike Fleeman Subscribe Now ...

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Study: NYC better than LA at cutting kids' obesity

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study shows New York City is doing better than Los Angeles in the battle against childhood obesity, at least for low-income children.From 2003 to 2011, obesity rates for poor children dropped in New York to around 16 percent. But they rose in Los Angeles and ended at about 20 percent.The researchers focused on children ages 3 and 4 enrolled in a government program that provides...

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Economy, eBay profit lift Wall Street to five-year high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hitting a five-year intraday high, on improved housing and jobs data as well as better-than-expected results from online marketplace eBay . The data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to a five-year low last week, while groundbreaking for homes rose to the fastest pace...

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