C. African Republic leader dismisses son

DAMARA, Central African Republic (AP) — The embattled president of Central African Republic has dismissed his son as the country's defense minister.The move late Wednesday comes as President Francois Bozize faces a coalition of rebel groups who are seeking his ouster.National radio announced that his son Francis Bozize will no longer be the defense minister.Chief of Staff Gen. Guillaume Lapo is also...

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Ivory Coast stampede survivors blame barricades

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Survivors of a stampede in Ivory Coast that killed 61 people, most of them children and teenagers, after a New Year's Eve fireworks display said Wednesday that makeshift barricades stopped them from moving along a main boulevard, causing the crush of people.Ivory Coast police said unknown people put tree trunks across the Boulevard de la Republique where the trampling took...

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Tennis-More woe for Sydney organisers after Tsonga withdrawal

SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Fresh off losing their top two men's seeds, Sydney International organisers were left with a nightmare scenario on Saturday when their top two local hopes were drawn against each other in the first round.Just hours after top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and his French compatriot Richard Gasquet withdrew from the Australian Open warmup tournament, Australian number one Marinko...

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Tennis-Li gets Melbourne boost with Shenzhen title

Jan 5 (Reuters) - Top seed Li Na survived a mid-match meltdown to overcome Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-3 1-6 7-5 in the final of the inaugural Shenzhen Open on Saturday, earning the Chinese a seventh career title.World number seven Li, who won the 2011 French Open, looked in danger of disappointing the home fans after surrendering her serve in the first game of the deciding set.Li, who beat fellow Chinese...

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Li gets Melbourne boost with Shenzhen title

Top seed Li Na survived a mid-match meltdown to overcome Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-3 1-6 7-5 in the final of the inaugural Shenzhen Open on Saturday, earning the Chinese a seventh career title. World number seven Li, who won the 2011 French Open, looked in danger of disappointing the home fans after surrendering her serve in the first game of the deciding set. Li, who beat fellow Chinese Peng Shuai...

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Murdoch's KGB-Friendly Series

In August, Rupert Murdoch's FX picked up a Cold War series set in the 1980s titled "The Americans." Liberals might have braced themselves for the worst. It sounded like some kind of Chuck Norris-style "jingoistic" homage to freedom-loving intelligence agents. But this is Hollywood, so the show instead focuses on KGB spies who speak perfect English, working to destroy Reagan-era America, which is not...

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The Truth About Bin Laden

At the very beginning of Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," the audience is told that the movie they are about to see is "based on firsthand accounts of actual events." Then we hear tapes, terrifying if familiar, of those final calls being made by those trapped on 9/11.Then comes the torture.Bigelow has defended the scenes, which leave audience members rooting for our heroes (who are doing the...

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Are We Becoming European?

Following the fiscal cliff melodrama, Senator Richard Shelby appeared on television to declare that we are becoming European. "We're always wanting to spend and promise and spend and borrow but not cut. We've got to get real about this. We're headed down the road that Europe's already on."There's no "heading" about it. We're there. Prof. John J. DiIulio, writing in "National Affairs", outlined the...

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Can John Boehner regain control of the GOP?

Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) narrowly won a second term as Speaker of the House on Thursday, with 12 of his fellow Republicans either voting for somebody else or abstaining from supporting anyone. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fared much better with her Democratic caucus, says Libby Spencer at The Impolitic, and during the roll call she "was actually tied with Boehner several times and at...

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5 hopeful signs the 113th Congress will be better than the last

Dispirited Americans don't appear all that optimistic that the new Congress will get much done, either. Well, buck up, America!With some pomp, a bunch of cute kids, and plenty of entertainment from Vice President Joe Biden, the new Congress was gaveled into session on Thursday. "Welcome 113th Congress!" says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post, summing up the conventional wisdom: "Here's the first...

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