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    Obama begins second term with 51 percent approval: Poll

    President Barack Obama (Carolyn Kaster/AP)President Barack Obama embarks on his second term with half the nation giving him a good performance review, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Friday.

    Fifty-one percent of Americans surveyed Jan. 11-15 approve of how Obama is handling his job, the poll said. Forty-one percent disapprove.

    The Times' Marjorie Connelly notes in her analysis that Obama's approval rating is similar to the one held by former President George W. Bush at the start of his second term, but far below ratings garnered by former President Bill Clinton (60 percent) and former President Ronald Reagan (62 percent) at the beginning of their second terms.

    The "fiscal cliff" negotiations didn't alter public opinion of the president's ability to handle the economy, the poll said. Forty-six percent of adults surveyed said they approve of the president's ability to handle the economy and 49 percent disapprove.

    The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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      Ultimately, many of the photos and cellphone records of Trayvon Martin released online Thursday by George Zimmerman’s defense attorneys – indicating that the slain teenager smoked marijuana, got into fights at school, and had an interest in, and perhaps access to, guns – may be ruled inadmissible in court. But they are already making the rounds in the court of public opinion, which can influence everything from fundraising efforts to the mind-set of potential jurors in Mr. Zimmerman's murder trial.

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    • Golf-I thought of pulling out after 'stupid' Woods remark - Garcia

      VIRGINIA WATER, England, May 22 (Reuters) - Sergio Garcia was so upset by the furore caused by his "fried chicken" jibe at Tiger Woods that he contemplated pulling out of this week's PGA Championship at Wentworth, the Spaniard said on Wednesday. World number 14 Garcia added that his comment, made at the European Tour's Player of the Year awards on Tuesday, was "stupid and out of place" and he regretted it the moment he said it. He also said he had spoken to the heads of the European Tour and U.S. PGA Tour, that they had accepted his apology and there would no punishment for his comment. ...

    • Japan's wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran

      By Linda Sieg and Ruairidh Villar SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - When Masayoshi Matsumoto joined the Japanese army in 1943 and was sent to occupied China as a medic, he thought he was taking part in a righteous war to free Asia from the yoke of Western imperialism. Seven decades later, the 91-year-old retired Christian pastor says it's his mission to speak out about the injustice of the war and the sufferings of women, mostly Asian and many Korean, forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels. "I feel like a war criminal. ...

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