Football: Merciless Chelsea humiliate Villa with 8-0 win

LONDON: Rafael Benitez took a big step in his efforts to win over doubting Chelsea fans by overseeing a stunning 8-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday that moved the Spaniard's side back up to third spot.Fernando Torres kick-started the win with his seventh goal in six appearances, while Frank Lampard marked his 500th Premier League start with a goal that made him the club's leading scorer...

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Revealed: NSA targeting domestic computer systems in secret test

Newly released files show a secret National Security Agency program is targeting the computerized systems that control utilities to discover security vulnerabilities, which can be used to defend the United States or disrupt the infrastructure of other nations.The NSA's so-called Perfect Citizen program conducts "vulnerability exploration and research" against the computerized controllers that control...

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Syria activists: Airstrike kills dozens near Hama

BEIRUT A government airstrike killed dozens of people Sunday waiting on line to buy bread in a town near the central city of Hama, anti-regime activists in Syria and media reports said.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "tens of people" were killed in a strike by a fighter jet on Halfaya Sunday. According to some residents as many as 90 people were killed. "There is no way...

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Norquist: Obama, Democrats Using Newtown for 'Political Purposes'

Dec 23, 2012 11:23am (ABC News)National Rifle Association board member and president of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist said on Sunday that President Obama and Democrats are politicizing the Newtown tragedy by pushing for gun control.“We ought to calm down and not take tragedies like this, crimes like this, and use them for political purposes,” Norquist told...

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Vice president quits as Egypt votes on constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's vice-president resigned on Saturday as Egyptians voted in a referendum that is expected to approve a new constitution that lays the foundations for the country's transition to democracy but will strip him of his role. Authorities extended voting by four hours in the second and decisive round of the plebiscite on an Islamist-drafted constitution that the opposition...

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Offbeat game recasts Xmas tune as 'Little Bummer Boy'

If you don't want to be 'LDB Out,' avoid 'Little Drummer Boy' at all costs.(Credit:@Nelz9999)There's a bigger danger this holiday season than ending up on Santa's naughty list. A lump of coal in a Christmas stocking is one thing. What can happen to you if you hear "Little Drummer Boy" is something else altogether. You know the tune: "Come they told me/Pa rum pum pum pum/A newborn King to see/Pa rum...

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Rebels threaten to storm 2 Syrian Christian towns

BEIRUT Rebels have threatened to storm two predominantly Christian towns in central Syria, saying regime forces are using them to attack nearby areas, an activist group said Saturday. It says such an attack could force thousands of Christians from their homes. Russia's foreign minister, meanwhile, said that Damascus has consolidated its chemical weapons into one or two locations to protect them...

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'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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India seeks life sentences for Delhi bus rapists

NEW DELHI: India's government, facing swelling protests over the gang-rape of a female student on a bus, vowed on Friday to press for life sentences for her six attackers and promised stricter policing.Home Secretary R.K. Singh also said the government would pay the medical bills of the 23-year-old victim of the brutal Sunday night attack, who is fighting for her life after suffering serious...

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