NHL-League owners approve new labor deal

Jan 9 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League's (NHL) board of governors ratified the tentative labor deal on Wednesday, bringing players one step closer to playing after a four-month lockout that threatened to wipe out the entire season.Requiring a simple majority to pass, league owners voted unanimously to approve the tentative agreement that was agreed to early on Sunday after a marathon 16-hour...

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UPDATE 1-NHL-Maple Leafs fire Brian Burke as general manager

* Maple Leafs failed to make playoffs during Burke's tenure* Toronto placed 13th in the Eastern Conference last season (Adds quotes, detail)TORONTO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Toronto Maple Leafs fired President and General Manager Brian Burke on Wednesday in a shock move just days before the National Hockey League returns to action following a bitter labor dispute with players.Assistant General Manager...

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Maple Leafs fire Brian Burke as general manager

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Maple Leafs fired President and General Manager Brian Burke on Wednesday in a shock move just days before the National Hockey League returns to action following a bitter labor dispute with players.Assistant General Manager Dave Nonis will replace Burke, who is remaining with the Maple Leafs team as a senior advisor."This is a decision the board and myself made collectively,"...

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Samsung forced to reveal Galaxy sales data to Apple

Samsung (005930) was found to have infringed upon six of Apple’s patents this past August and ordered to pay the company $1.05 billion in damages. Apple (AAPL) is also seeking additional damages after its bid to blocks sales of eight Samsung devices failed. In order to asses the damages, Apple requested that Samsung hand over its sales data for its popular Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets....

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Apple may have sold up to 4 million iPhones to businesses in Q4

As we’ve mentioned countless times, it’s a good thing that RIM (RIMM) will release BlackBerry 10 soon, because otherwise Apple (AAPL) and Android will continue to wreck its market share among enterprise users. Benzinga reports that Trip Chowdhry, a managing director at Global Equities Research, has put out a research note estimating that Apple sold between 3 million and 4 million iPhones to businesses...

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Everything You Need to Know About Steubenville High's Football 'Rape Crew'

In the past 24 hours, the story of an alleged rape in the small, football-driven Ohio town of Steubenville has transformed from a local controversy with a curious social-media angle to an all-out Internet crusade, with potential cover-ups, allegations of prosecutors colluding with coaches, disgusting new video, and hackers to the rescue. Here's a primer on what looks like it may become one of the...

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Storm leaves Gaza man dead, Jerusalem snowed in

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. In Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mohammed al-Haj Yousef said …more JERUSALEM (AP) — A Gaza health official says a Palestinian man was electrocuted after being struck by a power cable snapped loose by ferocious winter winds, while a rare snowstorm paralyzed traffic in Jerusalem, its suburbs and the nearby West Bank.Ashraf al-Kidra says the 24-year-old died late Wednesday in...

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Iraqi officials say car bomb near bus stop kills 5

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police say a car bomb explosion near a bus stop has killed five people and wounded 15 others in the capital, Baghdad.The officials say the blast took place on Thursday morning near a bus stop in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah as commuters were gathering to catch rides to different parts of Baghdad. Five minibuses were damaged or burnt in the attack.Medics in a nearby...

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Bad weather strands released Iranians at airport

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Bad weather has stranded Iranians freed by Syrian rebels at an airport in Damascus.A Syrian official says the Iranians left the Damascus Sheraton hotel early Thursday. But the plane to take them home after months in captivity could not take off because of strong winds from a fierce winter storm that has hit the Middle East in recent days.The official spoke on condition of anonymity...

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Soccer-Krasnozhan sacked as Kuban Krasnodar coach

MOSCOW, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Yuri Krasnozhan has been fired as coach of Kuban Krasnodar following a "strategic" disagreement with the club's bosses, the Russian Premier League side said on Tuesday.Krasnozhan's sacking came as a shock to most soccer experts after he had led modest Kuban to fourth place midway through the season - their best position in Russia's top flight."It was a tough decision but...

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Soccer-Buonanotte spares Malaga's blushes against lowly Eibar

MADRID, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Diego Buonanotte saved Malaga from a potential King's Cup humiliation when he scored twice and created another in a 4-1 comeback win at home to third-tier Eibar that put them through to the last eight on Tuesday.Eibar, who are second in their regional section of the Segunda B division and have never played in the top flight, took a surprise lead in the 12th minute of the...

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Soccer-South African morale dented by loss ahead of Nations Cup

CAPE TOWN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - African Nations Cup hosts South Africa suffered a morale-deflating 1-0 defeat at home to a young Norway side on Tuesday in their penultimate warm-up international.Norway, with a team of inexperienced home-based players, scored the only goal from captain Tarik Elyounoussi four minutes before half-time.Elyounoussi took advantage of some slopping defending to net from close...

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Fleetwood Mac Tickets Take Off Online at BuyAnySeat.com

Tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming 34-city North American Tour are creating traffic spikes in search traffic online for seats, said Felina Martinez at ticket marketplace BuyAnySeat.com. The tour kicks off April 4, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio and is the band’s first trek since 2009.Denver, CO (PRWEB) January 03, 2013It’s hard to believe that it has been 45 years since Fleetwood Mac’s first album, and...

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CTIA-The Wireless Association® Selects WMC Global to Provide Short Code Management in Latin America

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CTIA–The Wireless Association® announces the addition of WMC Global to provide key technology services for its Latin American short code registry. WMC Global, a trusted provider of innovative solutions that deliver digital confidence to the mobile marketplace, brings additional firepower to registry services with their unique ability to develop...

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Vt. health exchange gets conditional federal OK

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont has won conditional federal approval for its plan to build a consumer-friendly health insurance marketplace, or exchange.Vermont is now one of 17 states to have gotten word from a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that they are on track to have a health exchange ready for business by Oct. 1.Robin Lunge, Gov. Peter Shumlin's director of health...

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Cricket-Clarke's Australia far from the finished article

SYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Australia wrapped up a home series sweep over supine sub-continental opposition for the second season in a row on Sunday but captain Michael Clarke admits they are a work in progress as they embark on their toughest ever year of test cricket.Fragility in the top order, the retirement of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey from the middle order and injuries to the pace bowling unit...

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Officials search for casualties in Australia fires

HOBART, Australia (AP) — Officials are searching for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said Monday no casualties had yet been reported. But it would take time before officials were certain that no one had died in the blazes that have razed 20,000 hectares (50,000...

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Officials can't rule out casualties after Australian wildfires destroy 100 homes and buildings

HOBART, Australia - Officials are searching for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said Monday no casualties had yet been reported. But it would take time before officials were certain that no one had died in the blazes that have razed 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres)...

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NHL-Vanderbeek gains sole ownership of Devils after refinancing

 New Jersey Devils majority owner Jeff Vanderbeek completed a refinancing of the team's debt on Thursday, assuming full control of the National Hockey League club.Vanderbeek, a former Lehman Brothers executive who purchased the team in 2004, made the announcement as NHL officials and locked out players were meeting in New York trying to thrash out a new collective bargaining agreement in an effort...

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Vanderbeek gains sole ownership of Devils after refinancing

 New Jersey Devils majority owner Jeff Vanderbeek completed a refinancing of the team's debt on Thursday, assuming full control of the National Hockey League club.Vanderbeek, a former Lehman Brothers executive who purchased the team in 2004, made the announcement as NHL officials and locked out players were meeting in New York trying to thrash out a new collective bargaining agreement in an effort...

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NHL, union stay apart much of Thursday

Any momentum gained from a long night of negotiations between the NHL and the players' association seemed to have been lost Thursday when the sides remained mostly apart.A meeting that Commissioner Gary Bettman said would begin at 10 a.m. EST didn't start until several hours later, and then ended quickly.That one hour of talks centered on the reporting of hockey-related revenues by teams, and both...

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