Japan, EU to launch free trade talks: report

TOKYO: Japan and the European Union are to hold a summit this month to formally launch negotiations on a huge free trade deal, a report said Sunday.EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso will visit Tokyo in the last week of March to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Nikkei business daily said.The report said the two sides would reach a final accord...

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LG notches 10M worldwide sales of LTE-enabled smartphones

LG Electronics announced today it has sold more than 10 million LTE-capable smartphones worldwide as the company grapples with dwindling market share.The milestone comes a little more than six months after the company announced it had surpassed 5 million sales of LTE-enabled phones."Aggressive pushing forward with 4G LTE technology allows LG satisfy the needs of consumers and is a huge factor in our...

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Body in Fla. sinkhole "not possible to recover"

Updated at 7:20 p.m. ET SEFFNER, Fla. The effort to find the body of a Florida man who was swallowed by a sinkhole under his Florida home was called off Saturday and crews planned to begin demolishing the four-bedroom house. The 20-foot-wide opening of the sinkhole is almost completely covered by the house and rescuers feared it would collapse on them if they tried to search for Jeff Bush, 37....

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Man's Body Recovery Effort Ends; Sinkhole 'Unstable'

Authorities have discontinued the rescue effort for a Florida man who was swallowed by a sinkhole when his home's foundation collapsed and said it is unlikely his body will ever be recovered."We feel we have done everything we can," Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrell said at a news conference this afternoon. "At this point, it's not possible to recover the body."Merell...

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Malaysia threatens 'drastic' steps in Borneo siege

LAHAD DATU, Malaysia: Malaysia threatened Saturday to take "drastic action" against intruding followers of a self-proclaimed Filipino sultan after a tense standoff erupted into a shootout that killed 14 people.Twelve followers of the little-known sultan of Sulu and two Malaysian security personnel were killed in Friday's firefight, police said, as the more than two-week-old siege in a...

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Crave Ep. 111: Man vs. jetpack

Man vs. jetpack, Ep: 111Subscribe to Crave:iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ)A German inventor has built a DIY jetpack, so we hop onboard. Also, we get a first look at "Star Wars" pinball for iOS and Android, and "Star Trek" fans win a major space battle when they vote to name a Pluto moon "Vulcan." All that and more on this week's episode of...

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Fla. man presumed dead after sinkhole opens under his bed

SEFFNER, Fla. A man was missing and feared dead early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa. Jeff Bush is presumed dead after a sinkhole opened under his bed./CBS His brother says Jeff Bush screamed for help before he disappeared. The 36-year-old man's brother, Jeremy Bush, told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother...

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Obama Signs Order to Begin Sequester Cuts

President Obama and congressional leaders today failed to reach a breakthrough to avert a sweeping package of automatic spending cuts, setting into motion $85 billion of across-the-board belt-tightening that neither had wanted to see.President Obama officially initiated the cuts with an order to agencies Friday evening.He had met for just over an hour at the White House Friday...

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US sailors jailed for Okinawa rape: report

TOKYO: Two US sailors who raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October, sparking island-wide anger, were on Friday jailed for nine and 10 years, a report said.The Naha District Court in Okinawa said Christopher Browning, 24, should go to prison for 10 years while Skyler Dozierwalker, 23, should serve nine, Jiji Press reported.Browning and Dozierwalker, who were not stationed in Okinawa,...

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Google compression algorithm Zopfli may lead to faster Internet

Google has released a new data compression algorithm it hopes will make the Internet faster for everyone.Dubbed Zopfli, the open-source algorithm will accelerate data transfer speeds and reduce Web page load times by compressing content up to 8 percent smaller than the zlib software library, Google said in a company blog post today. Named after a Swiss bread recipe, the new algorithm is an implementation...

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Fierce wildfire outside L.A. approached homes

Wildfire approaches homes in Riverside County, Calif., outside Los Angeles, Feb. 28, 2013. / KCBS-TV/CBS RIVERSIDE, Calif. Flames from a ferocious wildfire burned palm trees along residential streets and came very close to homes in Riverside County, but dying winds helped firefighters stop its progress. County Fire spokeswoman Jody Hageman said residents from two streets were told to evacuate...

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Sequestration: Surrender Is in the Air

The budget ax is about to fall, and there's little lawmakers in Washington are doing to stop it.Despite a parade of dire warnings from the White House, an $85 billion package of deep automatic spending cuts appears poised to take effect at the stroke of midnight on Friday.The cuts – known in Washington-speak as the sequester – will hit every federal budget, from defense to education,...

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Resale prices of private homes rebound in January

SINGAPORE: Prices of resale private homes rebounded in January, rising 0.3 per cent, reversing the previous month's 0.2 per cent decline, according to the Singapore Residential Price Index flash estimates published by the Institute of Real Estate Studies at the National University of Singapore.The increase in January was led by price growth in the small unit segment, defined as homes below...

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Viddy doubles length of clips, adds video enhancement tools

Viddy's new iOS app interface.(Credit:Viddy)Social video startup video has released a new iOS app with a bevy of new features to help users enhance the videos they produce and stave off Twitter's upstart video-sharing app Vine.Debuting this evening in Apple's App Store, the new app doubles the size of videos users can upload from 15 seconds to 30 seconds, as well as adding the Vine-like ability to...

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Federal budget cuts free illegal immigrants from detention

(CBS News) -- The federal budget cuts expected to take effect this Friday are not simple. For example, hundreds of illegal immigrants are being released from detention because the administration says it can't afford to keep them. Until recently, Fredi Alcazar was one of those detained. An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Alcazar spent a month in jail after a traffic stop near Atlanta last December....

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Arias Prosecutor Too Combative, Experts Say

He has barked, yelled, been sarcastic and demanded answers from accused murderer Jodi Arias this week.And in doing so, prosecutor Juan Martinez and his aggressive antics may be turning off the jury he is hoping to convince that Arias killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008, experts told ABCNews.com today."Martinez is his own worst enemy," Mel McDonald, a prominent...

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Low-key departure as pope steps down and hides away

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict slips quietly from the world stage on Thursday after a private last goodbye to his cardinals and a short flight to a country palace to enter the final phase of his life "hidden from the world". In keeping with his shy and modest ways, there will be no public ceremony to mark the first papal resignation in six centuries and no solemn declaration ending...

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Japan robot suit gets global safety certificate

TOKYO: A robot suit that can help the elderly or disabled get around was given its global safety certificate in Japan on Wednesday, paving the way for its worldwide rollout.The Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL, is a power-assisted pair of legs developed by Japanese robot maker Cyberdyne, which has also developed similar robot arms.A quality assurance body issued the certificate based on a...

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Ellison buys Hawaiian airline to go with his Hawaiian island

Oracle's Larry Ellison has bought a Hawaiian airline that flies to his Hawaiian airline.(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who last year purchased his own Hawaiian island, bought a small airline that services the island chain.Island Air announced the acquisition in a press release today that noted there would be no staff or operational changes as a result of its sale to Ellison. Financial...

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Two cops, suspect dead in Calif. shootings

Updated 1:50 a.m. EST SANTA CRUZ, Calif. Two police officers were shot and killed Tuesday while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. Santa Cruz police Chief Kevin Vogel says Sgt. Loren Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler were gunned down in mid-afternoon Tuesday as they followed up on a sexual assault investigation. He says Baker was a 28-year...

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Inside Organized Retail Crime Raids

We used to call it shoplifting, but these days the foot soldiers of retail crime rings are known as boosters. Police even have an acronym for these operations: ORC, which stands for Organized Retail Crime."It's just like a Fortune 500 company," said Sergeant Eric Lee of the Gardena Police Department in Gardena, Calif. "All of this is just organized."Watch the full story on "Nightline"...

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KFC cuts suppliers after China chicken scare

SHANGHAI: Fast food giant KFC has cut more than 1,000 farms from its supplier network in China to ensure food safety after a scandal over tainted chicken hurt sales in the key market last year.The issue came to light when China's commercial hub of Shanghai and the northern province of Shanxi said in December that they were investigating KFC suppliers over claims of high levels of antibiotics...

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Facebook pages pop-up exploiting Newtown victims

One of the many Facebook tribute pages created to honor the victims of the Newtown tragedy.(Credit:Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET)Government officials and family members of victims from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have asked Facebook to delete several offensive posts or tribute pages related to the massacre, according to the Associated Press. Authorities have said that many of the Facebook...

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At least 19 tourists die in hot air balloon crash in Egypt

LUXOR, Egypt An Egyptian security official says at least 19 foreign tourists were killed as their hot air balloon crashed near the famed ancient city of Luxor. The casualties included French, British and other nationals. The official says there was a fire and an explosion and that the balloon then plunged from the sky and crashed into sugar cane fields west of Luxor on Tuesday. Luxor is 320 miles...

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Americans Targeted for Allegedly Running Underage Prostitution in Philippines

Arthur Benjamin is sitting at the edge of a small stage, wearing a lavender Hawaiian shirt and nursing a bottle of San Miguel Light beer. The 6-foot-6 mustachioed Texan lazily watches the half dozen or so girls dancing rather unenergetically around the stage's pole."I forgot your gift again, it's in the car," Benjamin says to one of the girls on stage, shouting above the pop music...

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4 ex-SMRT bus drivers involved in illegal strike plead guilty

  SINGAPORE: Four former SMRT bus drivers pleaded guilty in court on Monday and were convicted for inciting and participating in last November's illegal bus strike.He Jun Ling, 32, Gao Yue Qiang, 32, Liu Xiangying, 33, and Wang Xian Jie, 39, had earlier claimed trial with trial dates set for the 4 to 8 March.But last Friday, the four men's lawyers said their clients' decision to...

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New Nokia lineup spans range of budgets, features

The Nokia Lumia 520, in various colors.(Credit:Nokia)Nokia took the wraps off four cell phones today at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain, that run the gamut of entry level handsets to high-end Windows 8 devices.With the entry-level Nokia 105, the Finish handset maker is thinking small. The durable 105 features a an itty-bitty 1.5-inch screen and a 15 euro price tag. Created for cell...

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Michelle Obama makes surprise Oscars appearance

First lady Michelle Obama, on a video screen, announces the winner for best picture along with actor Jack Nicholson at the 85th annual Academy Awards on Feb. 24, 2013, in Hollywood, Calif. / Getty First lady Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the Oscars, opening the envelope that contained the name of the best-picture winner, "Argo." 51 PhotosOscars 2013: Show highlightsAppearing...

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Oscars 2013: 'Argo' Wins Best Picture

"Argo" took home the top prize as best picture at the Oscars Sunday night, with first lady Michelle Obama announcing the winner from the White House."You directed a hell of a film," co-producer Grant Heslov told director and fellow producer Ben Affleck. "I couldn't be more proud of the film and more proud of our director."Affleck was snubbed in the directing category but humbly...

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Cuban leader Raul Castro says he will retire in 2018

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Sunday he will step down from power after his second term ends in 2018, and the new parliament named a 52-year-old rising star to become his first vice president and most visible successor. "This will be my last term," Castro, 81, said shortly after the National Assembly elected him to a second five-year tenure. ...

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Lift-door stickers to drive home fire hazard message

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has unveiled lift-door stickers with fire safety messages as part of a campaign to generate greater public awareness on the dangers of discarding items at common areas such as corridors, lift lobbies, staircases and void decks. One such sticker was unveiled by Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Mr Masagos Zulkifli,...

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Nokia at MWC 2013: Join us Sunday (live blog)

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's keynote address at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, last year.(Credit:Roger Cheng/CNET)BARCELONA, Spain--Will Nokia unleash another Lumia smartphone?Nokia kicks off the first official day of Mobile World Congress with its press conference, and you can get all the news right here. Rather than a high-end superphone, Nokia is expected to unveil a line of more budget-friendly...

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