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insurgents hiding along the Pakistani-Afghan border. In Yemen, it has successfully taken out a series of high-ranking al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula leaders and pushed through a political transition. In Somalia, the U.S. has footed the bill for Ethiopian efforts to root out al-Shabab, another al-Qaida-linked group.

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• SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Not long before Notre Dame played Michigan State last fall, word spread that Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te'o had lost his grandmother and girlfriend within hours of each other.
• Te'o never missed a practice and made a season-high 12 tackles, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery in a 20-3 victory against the Spartans. His inspired

play became a stirring story line for the Fighting Irish as they made a run to the national championship game behind their humble, charismatic star.
• Te'o's grandmother did indeed die. His girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, never existed.
• In a shocking announcement Wednesday night, Notre Dame said Te'o was duped into an online relationship with a woman whose "death" from leukemia was faked by perpetrators of an elaborate hoax. The goal of the scam wasn't clear, though Notre Dame said it used an investigative firm to dig into the details after Te'o disclosed them three weeks ago.
• The hoax was disclosed hours after Deadspin.com posted a lengthy story, saying it could find no record that Kekua ever existed. The story suggests a friend of Te'o may have carried out the hoax and that the football player may have been in on it -- a stunning claim against a widely admired All-American who led the most famed program in college football back to the championship game for the first time since 1988.
• ___

• MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- With temperatures well over the 100-degree mark, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka were in no mood to stick around on the searing courts at the Australian Open.
• A dancing Azarenka and an ankle-weary Williams played back-to-back matches

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