Beijing warns residents after off-the-charts smog

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing schools kept children indoors and hospitals saw a spike in respiratory cases Monday following a weekend of off-the charts pollution in China's smoggy capital, the worst since the government began being more open about air-quality data.City authorities, who began releasing figures about some of the worst kinds of pollutants early last year, ordered many factories to scale back...

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Suspects to appear at Indian gang rape hearing

NEW DELHI (AP) — Defense lawyers say the cases of five men charged in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus are expected to be shifted to a fast track court.A hearing on whether to move the cases was to be held Monday. It had been set for last week but was rescheduled when it turned out that the official list of charges was not completely legible.Five men have been charged...

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Pakistani city prepares for cleric's march

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Thousands of supporters of a fiery cleric who has been calling for election reforms were descending Monday on the Pakistani capital, where authorities have put up barricades and sent riot police into the streets in preparation.The entry of Tahir-ul-Qadri, a mysterious cleric who just recently returned from Canada, into the Pakistani political scene has galvanized supporters looking...

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Pitcher Adams agrees to two-year deal with Phillies

(Reuters) - The Philadelphia Phillies and relief pitcher Mike Adams have agreed to a two-year, $12 million contract, Major League Baseball's website said on Saturday.The deal is pending a physical.Adams, 34, posted a 5-3 record with a 3.27 earned run average in 61 appearances with the Texas Rangers last season.Regarded as one of the major league's top setup men, Adams underwent surgery in October...

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Hamilton to give Angels everything on and off field

during a news conference at the ESPNZone in Downtown Disneyland in Anaheim, California …more (Reuters) - Josh Hamilton was introduced as a member of the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday and the slugger immediately promised to give everything he has to the team on and off the field.A five-time All-Star who overcame drug and alcohol addictions to become one of Major League Baseball's most feared hitters,...

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Baseball-Nationals convince LaRoche to extend Washington stay

Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Washington Nationals finally persuaded Adam LaRoche to put pen to paper on Tuesday after spending the first half of the off-season courting their lead slugger.The free agent inked a two-year deal worth $24 million with an option for a third season, adding solidity to an improving Nationals team and rewarding the franchise for their patience.The 33-year-old had earlier declined...

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AP Exclusive: Richardson pressing NKorean test ban

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that his delegation is pressing North Korea to put a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests and to allow more cell phones and an open Internet for its citizens.Richardson told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview in Pyongyang that the group is also asking for fair and humane treatment for an American...

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Diminishing Returns: The Cold, Hard Truth for CES Smartphones

Sony has a new flagship phone at CES called the Xperia Z, and it is pretty decent. The company has another one, called the Xperia ZL, that’s also fairly nice. They’re both roughly as okay as the flagship Ascend D2 phone that Huawei was showing off in another part of the room.If my descriptors seem lacking, that’s intentional. The truth is that none of these phones seem markedly better than last year’s...

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RIM conducting under-the-radar campaign to promote BlackBerry 10 at CES [video]

RIM (RIMM) isn’t conducting any big press conferences at the Consumer Electronics Show this year and it doesn’t even have a booth, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t working hard to promote BlackBerry 10 in Las Vegas this week. Jeff Gadway, RIM’s senior manager for BlackBerry product marketing, took some time this week to talk with Forbes about his company’s upcoming new smartphone OS and how...

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Fixed mortgage rates rise above record lows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixed mortgage rates rose slightly this week off their record lows. The year ends much like it began, with few people able to take advantage of the best rates in history.Freddie Mac says the average on the 30-year home loan increased to 3.95 percent from 3.91 percent. Last week's rate was the lowest average on records dating to the 1950s.The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage...

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