Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

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  Disaster avoided in Vegas casino blaze AP - 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

  LAS VEGAS - Gamblers fled the casino floor as firefighters rushed up flights of stairs, but remarkably no one was seriously injured in a blaze that blackened the top floors of the 32-story Monte Carlo hotel-casino.

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  French police search Societe Generale AP - 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

  PARIS - The chief executive of France's second-largest bank insisted in an interview published Saturday that its actions after discovering a trader had cost it billions in a massive fraud scandal did not fuel turmoil on world markets.

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  Most text messages are saved only briefly AP - 12 minutes ago

  DETROIT - Millions of fingers scurrying over mobile electronic devices probably paused this week as news emerged of a trove of text messages containing flirty and sexually explicit chat between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and a top aide. Even those engaging in more wholesome dialogue would be wise to wonder: Do text messages disappear — like oral conversations — or are they permanently logged somewhere for potential retrieval — like e-mail usually is?

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  Sylvester Stallone defends using HGH AP - 13 minutes ago

  NEW YORK - Sylvester Stallone says he used human growth hormone to get buff for the new "Rambo" movie, and defends its use. "HGH (human growth hormone) is nothing," the 61-year-old actor tells Time magazine in its Feb. 4 issue. "Anyone who calls it a steroid is grossly misinformed."

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  Maria Sharapova wins Australian Open AP - 15 minutes ago

  MELBOURNE, Australia - When Maria Sharapova walked on court for the Australian Open final, she kept thinking about the sage advice of another champion. "Champions take chances, and pressure is a privilege," Billy Jean King had written in a text message that Sharapova saw when she woke up. "I took mine," fifth-ranked Sharapova said after beating Ana Ivanova 7-5, 6-3 Saturday for her third Grand Slam title.

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  South Carolina Democrats vote in White House race Reuters - Sat Jan 26, 3:20 AM ET

  COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - South Carolina Democrats cast votes on Saturday in a bitter presidential nominating race, with Barack Obama leading rival Hillary Clinton in polls and counting on heavy black support to carry him to a needed victory.

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  Obama has South Carolina lead; McCain up in Florida: poll Reuters - Sat Jan 26, 1:35 AM ET

  COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama expanded his lead on rival Hillary Clinton to 15 points heading into South Carolina's bitterly contested presidential primary, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Saturday.

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  Egyptian troops pull back, Gazans flood over border Reuters - 1 hour, 46 minutes ago

  RAFAH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian troops kept their distance from the breached Gaza border on Saturday a day after a security guard was shot in the foot, allowing thousands of Palestinians to stream unhindered into Egypt.

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  NYPD analysis opposed WTC command center site: paper Reuters - Sat Jan 26, 3:48 AM ET

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A detailed 1998 New York Police Department analysis opposed the city's plans to locate its emergency command center at the World Trade Center but then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration overrode the objections, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

• Gunmen abduct U.S. aid worker in Afghanistan Reuters - 7 minutes ago

  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted a U.S. female aid worker on Saturday in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, the provincial governor said.

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  Investigation into SocGen fraud stepped up Reuters - 1 hour, 16 minutes ago

  PARIS (Reuters) - French investigators have stepped up efforts to find out how a self-effacing dealer at Societe Generale ran up a $7 billion loss that hoodwinked his employers, saying he was not on the run and would soon face questioning.

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  Fire strikes Las Vegas hotel-casino Reuters - Fri Jan 25, 7:02 PM ET

  LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Fire forced guests and staff to evacuate the 3,000-room Monte Carlo Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, quickly engulfing parts of the upper floors, facade and roof before being brought under control.

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  Sharapova surges to third grand slam title Reuters - Sat Jan 26, 1:49 AM ET

  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - It was to be the Glam Slam, the squealer versus the squeaker. Instead, Saturday's Australian Open women's final was a battle of brinkmanship and jangling nerves. Ana Ivanovic blinked first and Maria Sharapova was the champion.

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  Annan hits out at 'systematic' Kenya abuses as 15 more killed AFP - 35 minutes ago

  NAIROBI (AFP) - Kofi Annan said Saturday he had witnessed "gross and systematic human rights abuses" on a visit to western Kenya, where 15 more people were killed overnight in the flashpoint town of Nakuru.

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  Egypt keeps border open to allow Gazans to stock up AFP - 2 hours, 10 minutes ago

  RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AFP) - Egypt said on Saturday it would keep allowing Palestinians to cross the breached border and help them stock up on supplies on the fourth day of unfettered access from the Gaza Strip, but tried to limit the flow of people across the entire Sinai peninsula.

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  Obama, Clinton await fates as voting starts in South Carolina AFP - 1 hour, 1 minute ago

  COLUMBIA, United States (AFP) - Democratic voters in South Carolina early Saturday began casting their votes on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a presidential primary scarred by bad blood between the bitter rivals.

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  French police raid Societe Generale rogue trader's apartment AFP - 30 minutes ago

  PARIS (AFP) - Police have raided the apartment of the Societe Generale dealer at the heart of a seven-billion-dollar rogue trader scandal that the French bank's chairman described Saturday as an "accidental fire."

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  Food and water worries are top priorities, say Davos speakers AFP - 19 minutes ago

  DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - Warnings of a water and food crisis seemed incongruous among the lavish hospitality of Davos this year, but the danger was stressed repeatedly to the assembled world elite.

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  World Economic Forum wraps up with warnings for 2008 AFP - 41 minutes ago

  DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - The head of the IMF hammered home the problems facing the world economy in Davos on Saturday, sounding a final gloomy note as the annual gathering of the world's elite wrapped up.

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  China to build 97 new airports by 2020 AFP - Sat Jan 26, 4:41 AM ET

  BEIJING (AFP) - China announced plans Saturday to build nearly 100 new airports by 2020 to cater for soaring demand.

Most Popular Top Stories

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  US scientists close to creating artificial life: study AFP - Fri Jan 25, 4:17 AM ET

  WASHINGTON (AFP) - US scientists have taken a major step toward creating the first ever artificial life form by synthetically reproducing the DNA of a bacteria, according to a study published Thursday.

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  Australian girl changes blood group, immune system Reuters - Thu Jan 24, 8:05 PM ET

  CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian teenage girl has become the world's first known transplant patient to change blood groups and take on the immune system of her organ donor, doctors said on Friday, calling her a "one-in-six-billion miracle."

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  Did SocGen trades trigger market rout, Fed cut? Reuters - Thu Jan 24, 1:53 PM ET

  LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale's shock disclosure of a fraud that lost it $7 billion has left investors wondering about a link between the fiasco and Monday's European stock market rout.

• Las Vegas hotel/casino fire under control Reuters - Fri Jan 25, 5:54 PM ET

  LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Fire forced guests and staff to evacuate the 3,000-room Monte Carlo Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, quickly engulfing parts of the upper floors, facade and roof before being brought under control.

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  Senior Russian spy's secrets revealed in new book Reuters - Fri Jan 25, 10:24 AM ET

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Once a senior KGB officer who says he was driven by patriotism, Sergei Tretyakov says he defected in 2000 because he lost faith in post-Soviet Russia and he's now ready to tell his story for the first time.