Kenya president rejects lavish pay for legislators

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's President has vetoed legislation in which members of parliament gave themselves a hefty send-off package in a late-evening vote on the last day of session before national elections.Mwai Kibaki Saturday ordered the attorney general to redraft the law to make it compliant with the constitution. The bill adopted Wednesday would give each parliamentarian a nearly $110,000...

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Somali pirates free 3 Syrian hostages

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali official says three Syrian hostages held by Somali pirates have been released after more than two years in captivity.Mohamed Aden Ticey, an administrator based in Adado town in central Somalia, said Saturday no ransom was paid for their release.The three were the last to be freed of the 21 surviving crew of the ship MV Orna, owned by a company in the UAE. One crew...

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French commando killed in Somalia hostage raid

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A raid to free a French intelligence agent held captive in Somalia for three years went horribly wrong, leaving 17 Islamists and at least one French commando dead in a mud-caked farming town deep in militant territory.In the chaotic aftermath of the firefight, the hostage's fate was unclear Saturday. The Islamists denied French claims that he was killed and said they had...

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UPDATE 1-NBA-Paul pulls the strings as Clippers slice up Mavs

(adds quotes, detail)* Crawford returns for Clippers* Mavericks lose fourth straightJan 9 (Reuters) - Chris Paul orchestrated another Los Angeles Clippers triumph with a season-high 16 assists as he pulled the strings in a 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.With the game evenly poised heading into the closing stages, Paul scored or assisted on eight of his team's 10 field goals...

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Paul pulls the strings as Clippers slice up Mavs

(Reuters) - Chris Paul orchestrated another Los Angeles Clippers triumph with a season-high 16 assists as he pulled the strings in a 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.With the game evenly poised heading into the closing stages, Paul scored or assisted on eight of his team's 10 field goals in the fourth quarter to lift the Clippers to a franchise-record 13th straight home win.Los...

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NBA-Varejao faces two months out after operation

Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Cleveland Cavaliers' Brazilian center Anderson Varejao has been ruled out for six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a quadriceps muscle on Thursday, the National Basketball Association team said.Varejao suffered the injury on December 18 against the Toronto Raptors and on Thursday had an operation to repair a small split in his vastus medialis muscle, the Cavaliers...

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Tired of seeing Android sued by everyone, Google cranks up its patent output

Google (GOOG) may hate the patent suit players, but it sure doesn’t hate the patent suit game. As Network World reports, Google ramped up its patent filings last year and was granted 1,151 United States patents in 2012, a 170% increase from the number of patents it was awarded in 2011. By increasing its patent output, Google actually surpassed rival Apple (AAPL), which was granted 1,136 patents on...

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Is BlackBerry back? Strong early BlackBerry 10 demand could signal RIM comeback

After hitting a rough patch that seemed to last for most of 2012, Research In Motion (RIMM) may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. RIM plans to unveil the finished version of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform at a press conference on January 30th, and at least one new smartphone is expected to be revealed during the event. Generating interest in BlackBerry 10 within the crowded...

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Nokia: Q4 mobile phone sales beat own forecast

HELSINKI (AP) -- Nokia Corp. signaled Thursday its smartphone partnership with Microsoft was starting to reap rewards as it revealed that fourth-quarter mobile phone sales exceeded expectations and that its handset business would return to profitability.The Finnish company's share price surged 11 percent to close at €3.32 on Helsinki Stock Exchange.Nokia said it sold 86 million devices in the last...

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New Novel Explores an Unusual Phenomenon in a Remote Valley

Author Helga Brendel's weaves an intricate web of mystery, suspense, folklore, romance, danger and excitement in a tale that will rivet readers from beginning to end.CHAMPION, Alberta (PRWEB) January 10, 2013Constance, Yukon lies approximately one hundred and fifty miles west of Whitehorse and is a remote predominantly native community accessible only by air. Jackson Jacobs spent most of his life...

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