Sequester blame game goes on as shutdown looms

President Obama on Saturday called for a "caucus of common sense" to step forward and stop the sequester, which began cutting $85 billion of federal spending out of the economy on Friday. Play VideoSequester to affect all federal agencies "I know there are Republicans in Congress who would rather see tax loopholes closed than let these cuts go through," he said in his weekly address. "And I know...

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Man feared dead in 100-foot sinkhole near Tampa

Last Updated 10:01 a.m. ET SEFFNER, Fla. A man was missing and feared dead early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa. His brother says the man screamed for help before he disappeared. The 36-year-old man's brother told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help."When he got there, there was no bedroom...

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Manning makes sudden admission in WikiLeaks case

Updated at 12:14 p.m. ET FORT MEADE, Md. An Army private charged in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history offered guilty pleas Thursday to 10 of 22 charges against him and a military judge said she would allow the soldier to read a statement explaining his actions. "I believe that if the general public ... had access to the information ... this could spark a domestic debate as...

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Anti-virus firm makes new revelation on Stuxnet

Updated at 11:22 a.m. ET LONDON The sophisticated cyberweapon which targeted an Iranian nuclear plant is older than previously believed, an anti-virus firm said Tuesday, peeling back another layer of mystery on a series of attacks attributed to U.S. and Israeli intelligence. The Stuxnet worm, aimed at the centrifuges in Iran's Natanz plant, transformed the cybersecurity field because it was the...

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At least 19 tourists die in balloon crash in Egypt

Updated 9:02 a.m. EST LUXOR, Egypt A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 19 foreign tourists, a security official said. The death toll rose Tuesday afternoon after a British tourist died of his injuries. It was one of the worst accidents involving tourists in Egypt and is likely to push the key tourism...

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Addressing controversy, Menendez invokes words of MLK

Amid a handful of allegations that threaten to mar his reputation in the Senate, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., continues to maintain his innocence, decrying the accusations as right-wing attempts to "destroy" his career and invoking the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in asserting his faith that justice will win out. Menendez, who was re-elected to his seat in November, has since been hit with allegations...

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NASCAR has some cleaning and explaining to do

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla .With the start of the Daytona 500 just hours away, NASCAR officials still have some cleaning up to do amid growing questions about fan safety. The season opener will go off as planned Sunday less than 24 hours after at least 33 people were injured when a car flew into the fence during a NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway, sending a tire and large pieces of debris sailing...

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White House to give senators Benghazi documents

WASHINGTON The White House has agreed to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents related to the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, a congressional aide told The Associated Press Friday. Republicans had demanded the documents as a condition of voting on the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director. The documents include emails between top national security officials...

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Georgia executes man lawyers claimed was mentally ill

JACKSON, Ga. A 38-year-old inmate convicted of killing two college students in 1995 was executed in Georgia on Thursday, apologizing to the families of both victims before being injected at a state prison. Andrew Allen Cook was pronounced dead at 11:22 p.m., about 14 minutes after he was injected with the sedative pentobarbital. He was the first inmate to be executed since the state changed its...

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Winter storm brings heavy snow to Midwest

Updated at 12:37 p.m. ET ST. LOUIS Blinding snow, at times accompanied by thunder and lightning, bombarded much of the nation's midsection Thursday, causing whiteout conditions, making major roadways all but impassable and shutting down schools and state legislatures. Kansas was the epicenter of the winter storm, with parts of Wichita buried under 13 inches of still-falling snow, but winter storm...

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Pistorius prosecution: Error in "testosterone" testimony

PRETORIA, South Africa The spokesman for the state prosecutor in the Oscar Pistorius case says there was an error in a detective's testimony when he identified a substance police found in the athlete's bedroom as testosterone. 19 PhotosOlympic athlete charged with murderMedupe Simasiku, a spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, said it is too early to identify the substance as...

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Pistorius' account of shooting, in his own words

Oscar Pistorius in court following his bail hearing in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. / AP Photo Oscar Pistorius, the famed double amputee South African Olympian, has been charged by prosecutors with intentionally murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home. Play VideoPistorius: I thought girlfriend was a burglarHe has said it was an accident, that he mistook...

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Jerry Buss, longtime Lakers owner, dead at 80

LOS ANGELES Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers' playboy owner who shepherded the NBA franchise to 10 championships from the `80s Showtime dynasty to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday, his assistant said. Buss died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant. He was 80. 23 PhotosJerry Buss: 1933-2013He'd been hospitalized for cancer, but the immediate cause of death...

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S.A. paper sheds doubt on Pistorius claims

Oscar Pistorius weeps in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb 15, 2013, at his bail hearing in the murder case of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. / AP Photo Double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius has claimed he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp accidentally because he thought she was an intruder, but a report in a major South African newspaper casts some doubt on that scenario....

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Dorner's cause of death revealed

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. Fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner apparently killed himself with a gunshot to the head amid a fierce battle with police, law enforcement officials said Friday. He fired his last shot as the cabin he was holed up in was going up in flames. Police initially weren't sure if Dorner was killed by one of their bullets or by a fire sparked when they launched incendiary tear gas...

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Passengers trade broken-down ship for broken-down bus

(CBS News) Thousands of passengers erupted into cheers Thursday night as the crippled triumph finally pulled up to the dock. As they stepped onto dry land, and into the arms of their loved ones some couldn't contain their excitement. Carnival then chartered a caravan of buses to transport folks out of Mobile, Ala. To add insult to injury, at least one of those buses became stranded on the way to...

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Couple describes Dorner ordeal, unexpected compliment

(CBS News) Police in Southern California are defending their actions in the manhunt for Christopher Dorner. They say they did not intentionally burn down the cabin where he apparently died. Dorner was a suspected killer with a grudge against the Los Angeles Police Department, but two of his final victims say he didn't seem like a bad man. Karen and Jim Reynolds are the owners of Mountain Vista Resort,...

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U.S. faces 2nd wrongful death lawsuit over "Fast and Furious"

A second wrongful death lawsuit has been filed blaming U.S. government officials involved in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives' "Operation Fast and Furious," which allowed thousands of weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Tuesday, the Texas family of fallen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jaime Zapata sued the Justice Department, the Department...

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Poll: 45% approve of Obama's handling of the economy

By Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto, and Fred Backus As President Barack Obama prepares for the first State of the Union Address of his second term, one which will primarily be focused on economic issues, fewer than half of Americans (45 percent) approve of how he's handling the economy, while more (49 percent) disapprove. Overall, Mr. Obama is performing better with 52 percent of...

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"Gunfight" in Delaware courthouse kills 3

Updated 11:04 a.m. ET WILMINGTON, Del. A Delaware State Police spokesman says 3 people have died in a shooting at the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington. Officials described the situation as a "gunfight," reports CBS affiliate KYW-TV in Philadelphia. According to investigators, the gunman entered the lobby of the courthouse, pulled out a gun and opened fire. According to Wilmington Mayor...

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