NASA’s older Mars rover notches another milestone

LOS ANGELES (AP) — All eyes are on the NASA rover Curiosity. It is poised to begin drilling into a Martian rock soon.There’s less attention being paid to another Mars rover — Opportunity. The older rover is quietly embarking on its tenth year of exploration.Compared to Curiosity, Opportunity is smaller and doesn’t carry the same high-tech tools. But since landing in January 2004, it has made many...

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Why Hollande must 'reset presidency'

John Gaffney says Francois Hollande, seen here at the Elysee Palace on January 11, 2013, needs to rethink his presidency.STORY HIGHLIGHTSFrench President Francois Hollande and the country's Socialists are in a strong positionDespite this, Hollande has made little progress since his election, says John GaffneyGaffney: Hollande "like a stunned bunny in the headlights" of economic realityPresident must...

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Obama sworn in for second term in White House ceremony

Singers, musicians, vendors and a veteran parade planner tune up on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, for President Obama's Monday inauguration. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune) ...

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Algeria hostage toll rises with report of Japanese deaths

ALGIERS, Algeria (Reuters) - The hostage death toll from a four-day siege at an Algerian gas plant deep in the Sahara has risen to almost 60, with at least nine Japanese nationals also reported killed in an attack claimed by a veteran Islamist fighter on behalf of al Qaeda. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal is expected to give details at a Monday news conference about one of the...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Earnings, money flows to push stocks higher

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With earnings momentum on the rise, the S&P 500 seems to have few hurdles ahead as it continues to power higher, its all-time high a not-so-distant goal. The U.S. equity benchmark closed the week at a fresh five-year high on strong housing and labor market data and a string of earnings that beat lowered expectations. Sector indexes in transportation...

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Baseball reflects on HOF pair Weaver, Musial

One was born in St. Louis, the other became a star there.Aside from that, Earl Weaver and Stan Musial were about as different as two Hall of Famers could be."Talk about your odd couple," said George Vecsey, the longtime sports columnist for The New York Times who wrote a recent biography of Musial.Weaver was a 5-foot-6 rabble rouser whose penchant for quarreling with umpires belied a cerebral approach...

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Latest Inaugural Forecast: Bit Warmer Than in 2009

Consider it the first fact check of a Barack Obama campaign pledge for his second term: Will he, or Mother Nature, deliver on promised warmer Inauguration Day weather?It’s shaping up as a close call.In September, while campaigning in Colorado, Obama was talking to a potential voter who mentioned he had been one of the hundreds of thousands of people outdoors at Obama‘s bone-chilling first inaugural...

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Why conservatives call MLK their hero

A growing number of conservatives say MLK was a conservative. Many cite five words from King's "I Have a Dream" speech.STORY HIGHLIGHTSConservatives claim that MLK's conservative legacy is ignoredMLK opposed affirmative action, they sayHis self-help message was conservative, one historian saysMLK aide: They are trying to "hoodwink" people(CNN) -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was called a communist,...

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House collapses on South Side; none hurt

A house in the 6300 block of South Evans Avenue was vacant when it collapsed Saturday night, according to the Chicago...

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Algeria ends desert siege with 23 hostages dead

ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - Algerian troops ended a siege by Islamist militants at a gas plant in the Sahara desert where 23 hostages died, with a final assault which killed all the remaining hostage-takers. Believed to be among the 32 dead militants was their leader, Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri, a Nigerien close to al Qaeda-linked commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, presumed mastermind...

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