Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling. Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group...

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Cease-Fire Holds Between Hamas and Israel

With a tenuous cease-fire in place and no rocket fire between Israel and Hamas for the first time in more than a week, Palestinians have begun to clean up rubble and damage inflicted by Israeli missiles.People in Gaza filled the streets Thursday morning, inspecting damage to homes and businesses. Overnight, gunfire erupted in the crowded streets of the Palestinian enclave to...

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Clamping campaign finance; Sen. Warner to stay in Congress; turkey talking points (read-this roundup)

Sen. Mark Warner (D) will not seek another term as Virginia governor in 2013. (Win McNamee - GETTY IMAGES) Here’s what the Loop is reading today:Game change? — All that spending in the election has prompted calls for tightening campaign finance rules. But here’s a shocker — no one agrees on how to do it.Still making his mark — Sen. Mark Warner (D) is staying in the Senate and...

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Giant penguin fossils found in Antarctica

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine experts have discovered the fossils of a two-metre (6.5 foot) tall penguin that lived in Antarctica 34 million years ago.Palaeontologists with the Natural Sciences Museum of La Plata province, where the capital Buenos Aires is located, said the remains were found on the icy southern continent."This is the largest penguin known to date in terms of height and body...

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Manmohan, Cabinet learned of Kasab hanging through TV, Shinde says

NEW DELHI: No one from the Union Cabinet or even United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi were kept in the loop about Ajmal Kasab's scheduled hanging on Wednesday morning. Only President Pranab Mukherjee and the home ministry knew of the decision, according to home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.Shinde told NDTV that the UPA chairperson "was not part of the decision" and his Cabinet...

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Thanksgiving 2012 Myths and Facts

Before the big dinner, debunk the myths—for starters, the first "real" U.S. Thanksgiving wasn't until the 1800s—and get to the roots of Thanksgiving 2012.Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipe for Food Coma?Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu are a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.An estimated 254 million turkeys will be raised for slaughter in the U.S. during 2012, up 2 percent from 2011's total, according...

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Bus Explodes in Tel Aviv Amid Truce Talks

A bomb exploded on an Israeli bus near the nation's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, wounding at least 10 people, Israeli officials said today.The bus exploded about noon local time Wednesday in one of the city's busiest areas, near the Tel Aviv museum. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said authorities were investigating whether the bomb had been planted and left on the bus...

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Blazing a legal trail to help improve health care

Ariane Tschumi has spent more than a year in government as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF), taking on challenging assignments at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) designed to develop her leadership skills and give her a window into how government operates. She has worked alongside health-care experts designing model programs intended to better health care and lower...

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Aung San Suu Kyi becomes UNAIDS ambassador

GENEVA: Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been appointed an ambassador of the UN's programme on HIV and AIDS and has been tasked with fighting discrimination against people living with the disease, the agency said Tuesday."It is a great honour to be chosen as a champion for people who live on the fringes of society and struggle every day to maintain their dignity and basic human...

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P Chidambaram feels Congress has advantage in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Union finance minister P Chidambaram feels Congress has a great opportunity to capture power in the forthcoming assembly elections in Karnataka. Addressing the party office-bearers at KPCC office here on Tuesday, he said the split in the BJP (former CM B S Yeddyurappa's decision to quit the BJP) and other problems had provided a perfect platform for the Congress to emerge victorious....

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