Nationals convince LaRoche to extend Washington stay

inning in Game 4 of their MLB NLDS baseball series in Washington October 11, 2012. …more (Reuters) - The Washington Nationals finally persuaded Adam LaRoche to put pen to paper on Tuesday after spending the first half of the off-season courting their lead slugger.The free agent inked a two-year deal worth $24 million with an option for a third season, adding solidity to an improving Nationals team...

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Baseball-Record earnings for South Korean league

Jan 9 (Reuters) - South Korean baseball underlined its continuing growth by posting a record $33 million in revenue last year, local media reported on Wednesday.Winning gold at the Beijing Olympics and finishing runners-up at the 2009 World Baseball Classic boosted baseball's popularity and attendances crossed the 7 million-mark for the first time last year, Yonhap News agency reported.The league...

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Record earnings for South Korean league

(Reuters) - South Korean baseball underlined its continuing growth by posting a record $33 million in revenue last year, local media reported on Wednesday.Winning gold at the Beijing Olympics and finishing runners-up at the 2009 World Baseball Classic boosted baseball's popularity and attendances crossed the 7 million-mark for the first time last year, Yonhap News agency reported.The league pocketed...

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Samsung's big push for 2013: content, corporates

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics, the global leader in consumer smartphones, is planning two major thrusts in 2013: bulking up mobile content and moving faster into the corporate market dominated by Research in Motion.The South Korean electronics company is investing in devices that enterprise users like corporations will endorse, with a higher level of security and reliability than general...

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ZTE Grand S ‘phablet’ announced with a quad-core CPU and 1080p display

ZTE (0763) on Tuesday became the latest company to showcase a full HD “phablet” at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Android-powered Grand S smartphone comes with a 5-inch 1080p display, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.7GHz and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The handset is also remarkably thin, measuring in at a mere 6.9 millimeters, and also includes 2GB of RAM, 16GB...

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Flextronics looks to Android for manufacturing innovation

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Flextronics International Ltd's recent agreement to take over Motorola Mobility's factories amounts to a big bet by the contract manufacturer on Google Inc's Android ecosystem, a senior executive said."We're doubling down on Android because we believe strongly in Google's innovative capability and ability to be a leader like Microsoft and Apple in iconic hardware," said Mike...

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Credit score focus of new celeb-backed debit card

NEW YORK (AP) — Personal finance media personality Suze Orman is thinking big. She's the   first out of the gate in the fast-growing prepaid debit card market with a card that aims to help its users build a credit score. It's a gamble that could pay off, if it can help create a way measure the creditworthiness of millions who function outside the traditional financial system.The latest...

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Low prices boost SF home sales to 5-year Jan. high

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area reached a five-year high for January, as prices and mortgage rates plunged, a real estate tracking firm reported Thursday.However, many of those purchases involved properties that were subject to foreclosures or short sales, indicating the housing market is far from recovered.The survey by San Diego-based DataQuick also showed the median...

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Why the Slowest Investors Win the Race

Anyone who attended kindergarten remembers Aesop's fable about the tortoise and the hare. The story's moral has implications for investors: Slow but steady wins the race.Hare investors try to sprint to the finish line of a comfortable retirement without girding their portfolios against the perils of volatility — frequent ups and downs in asset value. So they tend to lag far behind tortoise investors,...

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Ichiro's patience snaps with Yankees: report

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki has lost patience with the New York Yankees over a contract extension and has begun talking with other teams, his agent said on Friday.The Yankees have been busy locking up their principle pitchers, paying Hiroki Kuroda $15 million, Andy Pettitte $12 million and Mariano Rivera $10 million, drawing frustration from Ichiro."At the beginning we talked...

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Yankees' Rodriguez to have hip surgery

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will likely miss the start of the 2013 Major League Baseball (MLB) season because of hip surgery, the team said on Monday.The 37-year-old Rodriguez, MLB's active home runs leader, must complete a four-to-six week pre-rehabilitation regimen before having a left hip arthroscopy in January that will require four to six months of recovery,...

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Ex-baseball star Lenny Dykstra sentenced in bankruptcy fraud case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lenny Dykstra, the 1980s World Series hero who pleaded guilty earlier this year to bankruptcy fraud, was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.The 49-year-old former ballplayer - who is already serving time in state prison for grand theft auto, lewd conduct and assault with a deadly weapon - was also ordered...

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Average on 30-year US mortgage stays at 3.55 pct.

 The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage held steady this week, staying slightly above the lowest level on record. Low mortgage rates have aided a modest housing recovery.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan was unchanged at 3.55 percent. In July, the rate fell to 3.49 percent, the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.The average on...

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Ahead of the Bell: Weekly mortgage rates

WASHINGTON (AP) — Loan buyer Freddie Mac reports Thursday on whether mortgage rates are continuing to hold near recent low rates.Last week the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage held steady at 3.55 percent, slightly above the record low of 3.49 percent that was reached in July. Meanwhile, the average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, dipped to 2.85 percent...

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Rate on 30-year mortgage hits record low 3.40 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell again to new record lows. The decline suggests the Federal Reserve's stimulus efforts may be having an impact on mortgage rates.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan dropped to 3.40 percent. That's down from last week's rate of 3.49 percent, which was the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the...

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Rebels in C. African Republic seize another town

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Rebels in Central African Republic seized control of another town on Saturday, just days before they are to begin negotiations with the government in nearby Gabon.Alindao town was taken by rebels of the Seleka alliance, who now control 11 cities and towns, according to residents of a nearby community."In the early morning hours the attackers burst into Alindao...

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Zimbabwe bus crash kills 8

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean police say eight people died in a bus crash that has brought the traffic accident death toll during the holiday period to the highest on record in the southern African nation.Police officials in the second city of Bulawayo said Sunday that eight died and 57 were injured Saturday in western Zimbabwe when their bus, headed for neighboring Botswana, veered off the highway...

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S. Africa sends troops to Central African Republic

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The South African presidency announced Sunday that is sending 400 army troops to Central African Republic to help the country's army as it faces a threat from a coalition of rebel groups.Sending soldiers to Central African Republic is part of South Africa's efforts "to bring about peace and stability in the region," said the announcement by President Jacob Zuma's office.Central...

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