Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denounced international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as "flagrantly biased" on Thursday, casting doubt on how long the U.N.-Arab League mediator can pursue his peace mission. The Syrian Foreign Ministry was responding to remarks by Brahimi a day earlier in which he ruled out a role for President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government and effectively called for...

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Wall Street rises as Alcoa gives lift to earnings season

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Wednesday after Alcoa got the earnings season under way with better-than-expected revenue and an encouraging outlook for the year. Alcoa Inc said it expects global demand for aluminum will continue to grow in 2013, though the company kept a cautious tone as worries lingered over a looming U.S. budget confrontation. Shares of Alcoa, the largest...

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Judgment day for Bonds, Clemens, Sosa at Hall

NEW YORK (AP) — Judgment day has arrived for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa to find out their Hall of Fame fates.With the cloud of steroids shrouding many candidacies, baseball writers may fail for the only the second time in more than four decades to elect anyone to the Hall.About 600 people are eligible to vote in the BBWAA election, all members of the organization for 10 consecutive...

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Montco Ski Resort Owner Persevering Amid January’s Too-Warm Weather

(Rick Buckman, owner of Spring Mountain, stands in front of a snowmaking machine. File photo by Jay Lloyd)Filed underBusiness & Economy, Environment, Heard On, Leisure, Local, Montgomery County, News, Outdoors, Syndicated Local, Tourism, Watch + Listen, WeatherBy John OstapkovichSPRING MOUNT, Pa. (CBS) — Warm winter temperatures may please many of us, but if you run a ski mountain they’re a headache.Out...

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Karzai's U.S. visit a time for tough talk

The last time Presidents Obama and Karzai met was in May in Kabul, when they signed a pact regarding U.S. troop withdrawal.STORY HIGHLIGHTSAfghan President Karzai meeting with President Obama in Washington this weekFelbab-Brown: Afghan politics are corrupt; army not ready for 2014 troop pulloutShe says Taliban, insurgents, splintered army, corrupt officials are all jockeying for powerU.S. needs to...

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Poisoned lottery winner's wife has 'nothing to hide,' attorney says

The widow of a West Rogers Park man who died of cyanide poisoning weeks after winning a $1 million lottery jackpot was questioned...

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Freed Iranians arrive in Damascus after prisoner swap

DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Forty-eight Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in exchange for more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government arrived in central Damascus on Wednesday, a Reuters witness reported. The Syrian government has not referred to the prisoner swap and the whereabouts of the civilian prisoners was not immediately known. Opposition groups...

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Wall Street dips as earnings season begins

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed at the open on Tuesday as an earnings season expected to show sluggish corporate growth gets under way. Profits in the fourth quarter are seen above the previous quarter's lackluster results, but analysts' current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow by 2.8 percent, according...

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'Bama bashes Notre Dame 42-14 in BCS title game

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Barely taking time to celebrate their latest national championship, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are ready to get back to work.That's how they make it look so easy.In what must be an increasingly frustrating scene for the rest of college football, another season ended with Saban and his players frolicking in the middle of a confetti-strewn field. Eddie Lacy ran...

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Ohio gas prices on the way down again

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio gas prices are lower to start the new work week.The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Ohio was $ 3.19 in Monday’s survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That’s 13 cents lower than a week ago, and reverses two straight weeks of rising prices at the pump.Ohio’s prices are well below the national average of $ 3.30, which...

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