Kelly Clarkson & Fiancé Brandon Blackstock Attend Inaugural Ball

By Maggie Coughlan 01/22/2013 at 11:35 AM EST Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock Courtesy Kelly Clarkson After helping President Barack Obama begin his second term with a powerful rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," Kelly Clarkson celebrated in style.The...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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Wall Street flat near five-year highs, Travelers rallies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed near five-year highs on Tuesday as investors held back from making large bets ahead of earnings from key tech companies. Both the Dow and S&P 500 closed at their highest levels so far in this earnings season, with the gains largely coming on better-than-expected results. But despite bullish statements from major companies, many...

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Algeria says 37 foreigners die in siege led by Canadian

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A total of 37 foreign workers died at an Algerian desert gas plant and seven are still missing after a hostage crisis coordinated by a Canadian, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday. Sellal also said that 29 Islamists had been killed in the siege, which Algerian forces ended by storming the plant, and three had been captured alive. ...

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An Appointment With Kim Dotcom

Paul Spain is the host of the weekly NZ Tech Podcast, one of New Zealand’s leading locally produced podcasts and often appears on TV and video as a commentator on consumer and business technology topics.AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — It’s been said that Kim Dotcom is a villain. Many, particularly those in the film industry and law enforcement, believe it. To others, he is a hero standing up for the rights...

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James Franco Is 'Hit of the Party' at Sundance

01/21/2013 at 11:15 AM EST James Franco and Mario Lopez and Courtney Mazza Neilson Barnard/Getty; Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage The stars arrived by the dozens to Park City, Utah, for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and PEOPLE has the details of their busy weekend.James...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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European shares test two-year highs, yen volatile before BOJ

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares inched towards two-year highs on Monday, as a political attempt to break a budget impasse in the United States and expectations of aggressive Japanese stimulus bolstered the appetite for shares. U.S. House Republican leaders said on Friday they would seek to pass a three-month extension of federal borrowing authority in the coming days to buy time for...

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Veteran jihadist claims bloody Algeria siege for al Qaeda

ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - A veteran Islamist fighter claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda for the Algerian hostage crisis, a regional website reported on Sunday, tying the bloody desert siege to France's intervention across the Sahara in Mali. Algeria said it expected to raise its preliminary death tolls of 23 hostages and 32 militants killed in the four-day siege...

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Google says Wall Street estimates need adjusting

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc issued a rare advisory to Wall Street on Friday that analyst estimates for its fourth quarter financial results are flawed.The world’s No.1 search engine, which reports its quarterly results on Tuesday, said most analysts have not adjusted their estimates to reflect the pending $ 2.35 billion sale of the Motorola Home business.The business must be presented separately...

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