Stock futures flat with data, Fed minutes on tap

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday, ahead of data on the housing market and inflation, as well as minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting. Housing starts and permits for January along with the January producer price index are due at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast the housing starts...

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Police: No inconsistencies in Pistorius account

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A police detective, testifying at Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing Wednesday, said that police have not found anything inconsistent with how the star athlete described his shooting of his girlfriend — a killing that Pistorius says was accidental but which prosecutors call murder.The second day of the bail hearing in a case that has riveted South Africa and much of the world...

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Obama can't kick his legacy down road

By Gloria Borger, CNN Chief Political AnalystFebruary 19, 2013 -- Updated 2122 GMT (0522 HKT)President Obama has a small window of opportunity to get Congress to act on his priorities, Gloria Borger says.STORY HIGHLIGHTSGloria Borger: Prospect of deep budget cuts was designed to compel compromiseShe says the "unthinkable" cuts now have many supportersThe likelihood that cuts may happen shows new level...

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Jesse Jackson Jr., Sandi Jackson expected to plead guilty today

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and his wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, are expected to plead guilty to...

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Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after violent nationwide protests against high power prices, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during Europe's debt crisis. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, a former bodyguard who swept to power in 2009 on pledges to root out corruption and raise living standards in the European Union's poorest...

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Stock futures rise on deals, extend seven-week rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures advanced on Tuesday, indicating the S&P 500 will build on its seven-week winning streak on optimism about M&A activity and before data on the housing market. The S&P 500 <.spx> has risen for seven straight weeks, its longest streak since January 2011, and is up 6.6 percent for the year. The strong start to the year...

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Pistorius says no intentions to kill girlfriend

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius told a packed courtroom Tuesday that he shot his girlfriend to death by mistake, thinking she was a robber. The prosecutor called it premeditated murder.The double amputee said in an affidavit read by his lawyer at his bail hearing that he felt vulnerable because he did not have on his prosthetic legs when he pumped bullets into the locked bathroom door....

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Time to respect Chavez's merits?

By Samuel Moncada, Special to CNNFebruary 18, 2013 -- Updated 1218 GMT (2018 HKT)One Venezuelan official says the reforms enacted in Hugo Chavez's 14-year tenure deserve respect.STORY HIGHLIGHTSDespite perceptions, Hugo Chavez has brought social progress to VenezuelaMoncada: Venezuela's critics have engineered a false narrative of impending disasterVenezuela has used its vast oil reserves to transform...

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Prosecution details 'horrific' murder case against Pistorius

PRETORIA -- "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four handgun...

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Chavez back in Venezuela, on Twitter with 4 million followers

CARACAS (Reuters) - After Hugo Chavez spent two months out of the public eye for cancer surgery in Cuba, the Venezuelan government hailed his homecoming on Monday and said the president had achieved another milestone - four million followers on Twitter. The 58-year-old flew back from Havana before dawn and was taken to a military hospital. No new details were given on his health, and...

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