| Felix Baumgartner’s space jump captivates Internet, Twitter Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:18 PM PDT  Felix Baumgartner's record-setting jump from the edge of space captivated millions watching the Red Bull-sponsored event live online via YouTube. And the 43-year-old Austrian skydiver's two-hour, 24-plus-mile balloon ascent and harrowing four-minute freefall in a pressurized spacesuit provided plenty of fodder for those on Twitter. "And you thought your weekend was exciting," Twitter user @wonderwamy [...]
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| Longtime Republican Senate moderate Arlen Specter dies Posted: 14 Oct 2012 01:36 PM PDT  For most of his 30 years as Pennsylvania's longest-serving U.S. senator and prominent moderate in Congress, Arlen Specter was a Republican, though often at odds with the GOP leadership.
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| Koch brothers warn employees of layoffs if Obama re-elected Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:57 PM PDT  Koch Industries, the Wichita, Kan.-based company run by the billionaire Koch brothers, sent a voter information packet to 45,000 employees of its Georgia Pacific subsidiary earlier this month. In it was a letter, dated Oct. 1, from Koch Industries president Dave Robertson implicitly warning that "many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors [...]
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| Obama plans more assertive debate, cites great' prep Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:21 PM PDT  President Barack Obama said on Sunday his debate preparation was "going great" and aides said the Democrat would be more aggressive in his next face off with Mitt Romney after their last encounter gave the Republican challenger a boost. Since that first debate in Denver on October 3, polls indicate Romney has erased Obama's lead heading into the November 6 election. Obama and Romney debate again on Tuesday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The third and final presidential debate will take place on October 22 in Florida. ...
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| World's highest skydive! Daredevil makes record supersonic jump Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:18 AM PDT  This story was updated at 6:19 p.m. EDT.
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| Stevens' dad: Politicizing death would be 'abhorrent' Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:22 PM PDT  Christopher Stevens' father would really like it if everyone stopped trying to turn his son's death into a political issue. Speaking with Bloomberg News' Margaret Talev, Jan Stevens said it would be, "abhorrent" to turn his son's death into a campaign issue. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has faced criticism for politicizing the event from Democrats over comments he made the day after the consulate attacks. ...
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| Endeavour finally reaches permanent LA museum home Posted: 14 Oct 2012 04:35 PM PDT  It was supposed to be a slow but smooth journey to retirement, a parade through city streets for a shuttle that logged millions of miles in space.
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| At CDC, scientists fight to halt a deadly outbreak Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:33 PM PDT  Scattered across the carefully landscaped main campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are the staff on the front lines fighting a rare outbreak of fungal meningitis: A scientist in a white lab coat peers through a microscope at fungi on a glass slide. In another room, another researcher uses what looks like a long, pointed eye dropper to suck up DNA samples that will be tested for the suspect fungus.
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| Stephen Colbert steps out of character to assess Romney Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:49 PM PDT Stephen Colbert--both the faux conservative talk show host and the man himself--sat down for an interview with NBC's David Gregory that aired on Sunday's "Meet The Press." Colbert, the character, was asked who he thinks has the edge in the 2012 presidential race. "Romney, obviously," he said. "Did you see him the other night? That [...] |
| Turkey bans Syrian planes from its air space, rebels gain Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:32 AM PDT  BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Turkey has banned all Syrian aircraft from its air space as it takes an increasingly firm stance against President Bashar al-Assad, while Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had made more gains in a key province near the Turkish border. Human Rights Watch said Syrian government forces had dropped Russian-made cluster bombs over civilian areas in the past week as they battled to reverse rebel advances, an act which rights groups say can constitute a war crime. ...
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| ‘SNL’ skewers VP debate at top of show Posted: 14 Oct 2012 07:54 AM PDT  "Saturday Night Live" devoted its cold-open to the vice presidential debate, skewering Joe Biden's exasperated reactions to Paul Ryan, Ryan and Mitt Romney's vague economic plan, tough moderator Martha Raddatz and the relative insignificance of the debate itself. "Just a reminder, your performance tonight is extremely unlikely to affect the outcome of the election," Raddatz, [...]
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| Putin loyalists likely to win Russia local votes Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:55 PM PDT  President Vladimir Putin's loyalists appeared likely Sunday to retain their hold in thousands of local elections that offered slightly more room for competition, but were marred by opposition claims of widespread vote fraud.
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| East Coast hikers missing in Glacier National Park Posted: 14 Oct 2012 01:11 PM PDT Rescue teams at Glacier National Park searched in wintery conditions and rugged terrain Sunday for two East Coast hikers reported missing by family members. |
| Lonely, hard work on oil rigs, but salaries soaring Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:09 PM PDT  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - What jobs offer the highest pay? Investment banking is up there. So is specialist surgery. But consider this. Slightly over twenty years ago, Johnathan Roberts started work on an oil rig at $5 an hour. Today, the newly appointed operations manager of Norway's Standard Drilling makes about half a million dollars a year. Even accounting for inflation, it's a huge jump for the 45-year-old American. Salaries on oil rigs have soared because of a global boom in offshore drilling. ...
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| Sen. Portman: Romney 'probably' could win without taking Ohio Posted: 14 Oct 2012 07:29 AM PDT  Speaking to me this morning on "This Week," Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney could "probably" win the White House without a victory in the Buckeye State, a feat that no other Republican has accomplished. "Look, he can probably win the...
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| Long after death, Confederate spy honored in Ark. Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:26 AM PDT  The story of David O. Dodd is relatively unknown outside of Arkansas, but the teenage spy who chose to hang rather than betray the Confederate cause is a folk hero to many in his home state.
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| Amphibious vehicle to go on sale soon in U.S. Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:07 AM PDT  Amphibious vehicles could soon be zooming out of James Bond's garage — or pond — and into yours.
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| Card fee 'settlement' just start of big legal battle Posted: 14 Oct 2012 07:04 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Visa, Mastercard and a group of retailers plan to ask a judge this week to approve a landmark settlement of a lawsuit over credit card fees, setting the stage for a battle with Wal-Mart and hundreds of other merchants who say it is a bad deal. Announced in July, the $7.2 billion (4.5 billion pounds) settlement is intended to resolve seven years of antitrust litigation between merchants and credit-card companies and their banks over so-called "swipe fees" that retailers pay to process credit-card transactions. ...
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| Behind the scenes of VP debate with moderator Raddatz Posted: 14 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT  Political Punch State troopers escort moderators of vice presidential debates -- who knew? That was just one of the moments ABC's Martha Raddatz experienced as moderator of Thursday night's vice presidential debate. "I am nervous," said Raddatz, just hours before the debate. "Going through my mind right now is everything that I'm trying to cram into [...]
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| Armstrong might take lie detector test, says lawyer Posted: 14 Oct 2012 03:24 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong may take a lie detector test to clear his name from doping allegations, his lawyer said on Sunday, even though he did not expect the result would change the public's opinion of the American cyclist. Armstrong is set to lose his record seven Tour de France titles after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) published a 1,000 page report on Wednesday that said the retired American took part in and organized doping on his way to his unrivalled success on the Tour. ...
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