Shaken survivors remember Italy cruise disaster

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy: Shaken survivors and grieving relatives of the 32 victims of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster began arriving on the island of Giglio for a first anniversary commemoration of the tragedy on Sunday."It's terrible coming back here," one survivor, Clara Stara, said in the tiny Italian port where the giant hulk of a ship twice as big as the Titanic still lies keeled...

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President's rule looms large over Jharkhand, no party stakes claim

RANCHI: President's rule loomed large over Jharkhand as no party has staked claim to form government so far after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) withdrew support to the BJP-led government reducing it to a minority. "The Governor separately met the leaders of JMM, Congress and RJD today but did not get any firm assurance from them about formation of government in the near future. A second status report...

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse CancelmoA fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right."He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan said. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business...

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PSA International sees 5.2% increase in container throughput in 2012

SINGAPORE : PSA International has reported an increase in container throughput at its ports worldwide, despite the slowdown in global trade.PSA handled 60.06 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containers last year, a rise of 5.2 per cent from 2011.Throughput at PSA's flagship Singapore terminals rose 6.4 per cent to 31.26 million TEUs.Activity at its terminals elsewhere rose...

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Gujarat HC to monitor CBI investigations in Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case

AHMEDABAD: Granting additional time to CBI for investigating the Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case of 2004, the Gujarat high court on Friday said it would now monitor the probe.The court has asked the agency to submit a progress report by March 15.A division bench of justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari observed that progress in investigation of the Ishrat case was only 'to the extent of 30-40...

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Google and Twitter Help Track Influenza Outbreaks

This flu season could be the longest and worst in years. So far 18 children have died from flu-related symptoms, and 2,257 people have been hospitalized. Yesterday Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a citywide public health emergency, with roughly 700 confirmed flu cases—ten times the number the city saw last year."It arrived five weeks early, and it's shaping up to be a pretty bad...

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Teen to Hero Teacher: 'I Don't Want to Shoot You'

A California teacher'sbrave conversation with a 16-year-old gunman who had opened fire on his classroom bullies allowed 28 other students to quickly escape what could have been a massacre.Science teacher Ryan Heber calmly confronted the teenager after he shot and critically wounded a classmate, whom authorities say had bullied the boy for more than year at Taft Union High School."I...

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Bibles used by King, Lincoln to be part of Obama’s second inauguration

Martin Luther King Jr. carried a black leather King James Bible on his journeys as a young pastor starting out in Montgomery, Ala. He turned to this “traveling Bible” for inspiration, his family says, as he fought for freedom and equality. President Obama will put his hand over King’s well-worn Bible at his public swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, the holiday celebrating the...

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Football: Adebayor included as Africa Cup squads named

JOHANNESBURG: Emmanuel Adebayor will play at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after he was included in Togo's squad as the 16 sides finalised their 23-man squads.Mahamadou Diarra will meanwhile miss the tournament, and a late-minute change left Brown Ideye thrilled and Nigeria team-mate Raheem Lawal devastated.It was all part of the drama ahead of the January 19-February 10 tournament that...

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India says contract on French Rafale jets being fine-tuned

PARIS: India is fine-tuning a contract to buy 126 French-made Rafale fighter jets, foreign minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday, adding that Paris would have to "wait a little" to pop the bubbly.India last year selected Dassault Aviation as its preferred bidder in a USD 10 billion (7.6 billion euro) contract to equip its air force with new fighter jets."We know good French wine takes time...

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Embryonic Sharks Freeze to Avoid Detection

Jane J. Lee Although shark pups are born with all the equipment they'll ever need to defend themselves and hunt down food, developing embryos still stuck in their egg cases are vulnerable to predators. But a new study finds that even these baby sharks can detect a potential predator, and play possum to avoid being eaten.Every living thing gives off a weak electrical field. Sharks can sense...

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Whales Trapped Under Sea Ice Free Themselves

The killer whales trapped under ice in a remote Quebec village reached safety after the floes shifted on Hudson Bay, according to the mayor's office in Inukjuak.Water opened up around the area where the orcas had been coming up for air and the winds seemed to have shifted overnight, creating a passageway to the open water six miles away."This is great news," Johnny Williams,...

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Hong Kong leader survives impeachment bid

HONG KONG: Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers failed in an unprecedented bid on Wednesday to impeach the city's embattled Beijing-backed leader, after they accused him of breaking housing laws and urged him to quit.The city's first impeachment motion, which accused Leung Chun-ying of lying, dereliction of duty and serious breaches of the law in a row stemming from illegal structures at...

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People of integrity not joining politics, says Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Painting none too rosy picture of politics in the country, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said people of character and integrity were not attracted to politics.The apex court noted that the philosopher Plato had the same complaint about ancient Greece."We have men of character and integrity, but they don't join politics", said the apex court bench of Justice AK.Patnaik and Justice Gyan...

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2012: Hottest Year on Record for Continental U.S.

Temperatures across the continental United States soared in 2012 to an all-time high, making last year the warmest year on record for the country by a wide margin, scientists say. (Related: "July Hottest Month on Record in U.S.—Warming and Drought to Blame?")"2012 marks the warmest year on record for the contiguous U.S., with the year consisting of a record warm spring, the second warmest...

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Hospitals Flooded With Flu Patients

U.S. emergency rooms have been overwhelmed with flu patients, turning away some of them and others with non-life-threatening conditions for lack of space.Forty-one states are battling widespread influenza outbreaks, including Illinois, where six people -- all older than 50 -- have died, according to the state's Department of Public Health.At least 18 children in the country...

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India says two soldiers killed in clash with Pakistan troops

SRINAGAR, India: Pakistani troops killed two Indian soldiers on Tuesday near the tense disputed border between the nuclear-armed neighbours in Kashmir and one of the bodies was badly mutilated, the Indian army said.The firefight broke out at about noon on Tuesday (0630 GMT) after an Indian patrol discovered Pakistani troops about half a kilometre (1,600 feet) inside Indian territory, an...

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Pak troops cross LoC, kill 2 Indian jawans brutally

JAMMU: In a gruesome attack, Pakistani troops on Tuesday crossed into Indian territory and ambushed an Army patrol party killing two soldiers whose heads were reportedly chopped off.The attack took place along the Line of Control in Poonch district when Pakistanis came about 100 metres into Indian territory and assaulted the patrol party. Besides killing two Lance Naiks, Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh,...

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Primitive and Peculiar Mammal May Be Hiding Out in Australia

It’d be hard to think of a mammal that’s weirder than the long-beaked, egg-laying echidna. Or harder to find.Scientists long thought the animal, which has a spine-covered body, a four-headed penis, and a single hole for reproducing, laying eggs, and excreting waste, lived only in New Guinea. The population of about 10,000 is critically endangered. Now there is tantalizing evidence that...

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Jodi Arias: Who Is the Admitted Killer?

Jodi Arias is a woman that many can't keep their eyes off of--a soft-spoken, small-framed 32-year-old who last year won a jailhouse Christmas caroling contest. But she is also an admitted killer who is now on trial in Arizona for the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.Sitting in a Maricopa County court, Arias, whose trial resumes today, cries every time prosecutors...

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Obama to nominate Hagel for Defense, Brennan for CIA

President Obama on Monday will nominate former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense and counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan to direct the Central Intelligence Agency, the White House said. The announcement will be made in the East Room of the White House shortly after 1 p.m. The successful nomination of Hagel would add a well-known Republican to the president’s...

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Indonesia police investigate baby-for-sale online ad

JAKARTA: Indonesian police on Monday said they are investigating an advertisement offering two babies for sale at US$1,000 each after it was spotted on the popular auction and shopping website Tokobagus.com."We are still investigating the existence of the online advertisement," Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto told reporters."We have asked Tokobagus how the advertisement came to be posted,...

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No difference between Cong, BJP: CPM

GUWAHATI: Asking the people of Assam to vote against both Congress and the BJP in the upcoming Panchayat polls in the state, CPM today said it would strive to strengthen panchayati raj institution. "The history of the Congress is one of giving false assurances to the electorate and then make more promises to hide their previous failures," CPM state secretary Uddhab Barman told reporters here....

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

Winner: PlacesPhotograph by Nenad SaljicA full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image...

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Hagel Nomination Stirs Bipartisan Opposition

Two weeks before his inauguration, and with more "fiscal cliffs" on the horizon, President Obama is embracing a showdown with Congress over his pick to lead the Pentagon in his second term.Obama will nominate former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense at a formal White House announcement later today, administration officials said.The president will...

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US drones kill 12 Taliban in Pakistan: officials

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: US drones fired a volley of missiles at militant hideouts in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 12 Taliban fighters near the Afghan border, security officials said.The missile attack took place in Babar Ghar village in South Waziristan, a tribal district bordering Afghanistan which is a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants."US drones fired...

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Babus seek zero tolerance towards petty crimes against women

NEW DELHI: If police want to prevent rapes, they will have to show zero tolerance towards petty crimes against women - especially offences like lewd remarks, gesture, sound or act that are aimed at insulting the modesty of a woman. The suggestion, which includes amendment to the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to lower the age bar for defining juveniles from 18 to 16 years, came as part of the 35 key...

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

Winner: PlacesPhotograph by Nenad SaljicA full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image...

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