Google removes Maps redirect for Windows Phone

As it said it would, Google has removed a redirect that prevented Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps via the mobile version of Internet Explorer and that instead sent them to Google.com.The redirect generated headlines last week, with various news outlets suggesting that it was not about poor functionality on the part of mobile IE (as Google maintained) but was more about competitive...

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Super Bowls ads selling for more than $4 million

NEW YORK Super Bowl ads have sold for more than $4 million for some 30-second spots for this year's game. All the commercials for the NFL championship Feb. 3 in New Orleans are sold out, CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves said Tuesday. Companies paid an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second spot last year, the previous record for a number that keeps going up. TV's biggest event averaged more than...

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Hospitals Flooded With Flu Patients

U.S. emergency rooms have been overwhelmed with flu patients, turning away some of them and others with non-life-threatening conditions for lack of space.Forty-one states are battling widespread influenza outbreaks, including Illinois, where six people -- all older than 50 -- have died, according to the state's Department of Public Health.At least 18 children in the country...

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Historic old Jeddah awaits life-saving restoration

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - In the heart of Saudi Arabia's sprawling Red Sea port city of Jeddah, centuries-old buildings tilt and buckle above the historic district's narrow alleys, withering away in the absence of decisive action to protect them. The seventh-century historic district, with its mud and coral town houses adorned with ornate wooden balconies, holds the only remnants...

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Questions raised over Japan PM's economic reforms

SINGAPORE: Signs of aggressive economic reforms in Japan under newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have given the Nikkei a lift.Some are even calling it the most exciting piece of news to come out of Japan since the Walkman.But economists warn against being overly bullish. Mr Abe came into power on a campaign promising among other things to make Japanese people proud of themselves...

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Target online price match unlikely to curb 'showrooming'

Target said today that it would match online pricing in all of its stores year-round -- a move deployed by many retailers this holiday season -- in a bid to stop Amazon's "showrooming" effect.In a statement, Target said it will match pricing from Amazon.com, Walmart.com, BestBuy.com and Toysrus.com (including Babiesrus.com). In a nutshell, Target will match prices on items found cheaper elsewhere...

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Concordia capt. "painted worse than bin Laden"

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Costa Concordia disaster, in which 32 people were killed when the cruise ship ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio, the captain of the ship told an Italian newspaper that he "was painted worse than bin Laden." 82 PhotosLuxury cruise ship runs agroundFrancesco Schettino said in an interview with the Turin newspaper La Stampa that he is tormented by...

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Jodi Arias: Who Is the Admitted Killer?

Jodi Arias is a woman that many can't keep their eyes off of--a soft-spoken, small-framed 32-year-old who last year won a jailhouse Christmas caroling contest. But she is also an admitted killer who is now on trial in Arizona for the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.Sitting in a Maricopa County court, Arias, whose trial resumes today, cries every time prosecutors...

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Tunisia frees man held over attack on U.S. consulate in Libya

Tunis (Reuters) - Tunisia has freed, for lack of evidence, a Tunisian man who had been suspected of involvement in an Islamist militant attack in Libya last year in which the U.S. ambassador was killed, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Ali Harzi was one of two Tunisians named in October by the Daily Beast website as having been detained in Turkey over the violence in which Christopher Stevens,...

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Spain fast rail line speeds up Europe links

BARCELONA: Spain launched a new high-speed rail line from Barcelona on Tuesday that officials said will speed up passenger connections to France and boost the economy.Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the president of the Catalonia region Artur Mas rode in the inaugural trip on the new line linking Barcelona with Girona and Figueres near the French border.The...

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