Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions WHY buy second-hand? For physical goods, the appeal is in the price – you don't mind the creases in a book or rust spots on a car if it's a bargain. Although digital objects...

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MPs, businesses hope Budget will address cost of living, labour crunch

SINGAPORE: Ahead of the delivery of Singapore's Budget on Monday, cost of living and labour crunch are among some issues MPs and businesses hope will be addressed.Several MPs Channel NewsAsia spoke to said that a key concern especially amongst the sandwiched class is the cost of living in the country.As for the elderly residents, they are concerned about healthcare costs, said the MPs.On...

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Police identify Las Vegas shooting suspect

By Greg Botelho, CNNupdated 10:29 PM EST, Sat February 23, 2013Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, 26, suspected in a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, is still at large, police said. STORY HIGHLIGHTS The suspect fired from his Range Rover at a Maserati in Las Vegas, police say 26-year-old Ammar Harris is at large, though his car has been impounded, they add The Maserati's driver was shot, then hit...

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Daytona crash sends car parts flying, injuring fans

Updated at 9:35 p.m. ET DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. At least 33 fans were injured Saturday during a NASCAR race when a car flew into the fence at Daytona International Speedway, hurling a tire and large pieces of debris into the stands. The accident happened on the last lap of the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the eve of Sunday's Daytona 500, which officials said would go on as scheduled. The crash...

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Las Vegas Strip Shooting Suspect ID'd

Las Vegas police identified a suspect today in a shooting on the strip that caused a Maserati to hit a taxi and burst into flames, killing three people.Ammar Harris, 26, has been named a suspect in the Thursday skirmish that killed three people, including rapper Kenny Clutch.The altercation between Harris and Clutch, 27, whose legal name was Kenneth Cherry Jr., is believed to...

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Rusty rocks reveal ancient origin of photosynthesis

SUN-WORSHIP began even earlier than we thought. The world's oldest sedimentary rocks suggest an early form of photosynthesis may have evolved almost 3.8 billion years ago, not long after life appeared on Earth. A hallmark of photosynthesis in plants is that the process...

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China reports second fatal case of bird flu this year

BEIJING: A man in southwestern China has died of bird flu, health authorities said Saturday, becoming the second fatality from the H5N1 virus this year.The 31-year-old died in hospital in the city of Guiyang on Friday, the Guizhou province health department said in a statement, adding that no other human cases of avian flu had been reported in the province.Another city resident, a 21-year-old...

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Obama administration to high court: End marriage law

Edith Windsor (shown with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in December), is at the center of the upcoming Supreme Court case.STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe Justice Department files first in a series of legal briefs involving two big casesSupreme Court will hear arguments next month on Defense of Marriage Act Lawyers for House GOP say they should be able to defend the marriage law in courtU.S. still deciding...

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Pentagon grounds F-35 fleet after engine crack found

Updated 9:03 PM ET WASHINGTON The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane. The problem was discovered during what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., of an F-35A, the Air Force version of the sleek new plane. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the F-35, which...

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Cyberattacks Bring Attention to Security Reform

Recent accusations of a large-scale cyber crime effort by the Chinese government left many wondering what immediate steps the president and Congress are taking to prevent these attacks from happening again.On Wednesday, the White House released the administration's Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets as a follow-up to the president's executive order. The strategy...

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Mood-sensing smartphone tells your shrink how you feel

PEOPLE with anxiety, depression or stress are often asked to record their mood changes throughout the day, helping psychologists fine-tune their treatment. But they often forget, recording only sparse information at best. Now an emotion-sensing smartphone app that automatically generates someone's "mood diary" could give psychologists...

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Cricket: Hyderabad Test still on, says Australia chief

SYDNEY: Australia plan to play the second Test against India in Hyderabad as scheduled next week despite deadly bomb attacks in the city on the eve of the Test series opener, reports said on Friday.The twin blasts on Thursday killed 14 people and wounded dozens more in a busy neighbourhood in the southern Indian city, raising questions over whether Australia would play the second Test...

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Rapper among dead in Las Vegas shooting, crash

STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Kenneth Cherry Jr., a rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was killed, his lawyer saysGunfire and a fiery crash kill 3 in the heart of Las Vegas StripCasino visitor describes seeing "fireball" from Caesars PalacePolice are looking for a black Range Rover Sport with large black rimsLas Vegas (CNN) -- A shooting and a fiery crash left three people dead in the neon heart of the Las Vegas...

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Christians, threatened by Syrian war, flee to Lebanon

(CBS News) BEIRUT - A few of the many Syrian rebel groups are connected to Islamic radicals. Christians, who've lived in Syria for 2,000 years, are fleeing right next door. A convent in the mountains of Lebanon is a refuge for Syrian Christians who have been forced from their homes and their country. Syria rife with reports of sectarian kidnappingsU.S. Ambassador to Syria: "Americans can't fix this...

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Arias Challenged On Pedophilia Claim

Accused murderer Jodi Arias was challenged today by phone records, text message records, and her own diary entries that appeared to contradict her claim that she caught her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, looking at pictures of naked boys.Arias had said during her testimony that one afternoon in January 2008, she walked in on Alexander masturbating to pictures of naked boys....

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Higgs may spell doom, unless supersymmetry saves us

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter(Image: CERN)Is the Higgs boson a herald of the apocalypse? That's the suggestion behind a theory, developed more than 30 years ago, that is back in the headlines this week. According to physicists, the mass of the Higgs-like particle announced last summer supports the notion that our universe is teetering on the edge of stability, like a pencil balanced...

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Oscar hopeful Haneke fears failure with Mozart

MADRID: Although he is nursing hopes of an Oscar, Austrian film-maker Michael Haneke says he feels doomed to failure with his latest project -- a staging of a Mozart opera in Spain."Amour", Haneke's film about an ageing couple that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, is up for five Oscars on Sunday, including for best film and best director.First, however, the 69-year-old faces another...

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Woman's corpse found in LA hotel's water tank

By Alan Duke, CNNupdated 8:51 PM EST, Wed February 20, 2013STORY HIGHLIGHTSElisa Lam disappeared from the hotel on January 31Canadian's body was found in a Cecil Hotel water tank TuesdayPolice investigating deathLos Angeles (CNN) -- Tourists staying at a Los Angeles hotel bathed, brushed teeth and drank with water from a tank in which a young woman's body was likely decomposing for more than two weeks,...

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Sequestration could mean across-the-board pain

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - The entire economy is headed for trouble in just eight days -- when massive across-the-board cuts in the federal budget are scheduled to kick in automatically. The cuts were designed to be so deep and harmful, that they would force the president and Congress to find a better way. But they haven't. Just for example, there would be $46 billion cut from the Defense Department...

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Arias Leaves Stand After Describing Killing, Her Lies

Jodi Arias stepped down from the witness stand today after mounting an emotional effort to save herself from death row, insisting to the Arizona jury that an explosive fight with ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander led to his death, and that her lies about killing him masked deep regret and plans to commit suicide.Arias, 32, will now face what is expected to be a withering cross-examination...

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Today on New Scientist: 19 February 2013

Doctors would tax sugary drinks to combat obesity Hiking the price of fizzy drinks would cut consumption and so help fight obesity, urges the British Academy of Medical Royal CollegesSpace station's dark matter hunter coy about findings Researchers on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which sits above the International Space Station, have collected their first results - but won't reveal them...

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