Meteor Blast 'Something We Only Saw in Movies'

A day after a massive meteor exploded over this city in central Russia, a monumental cleanup effort is under way.Authorities have deployed around 24,000 troops and emergencies responders to help in the effort.Officials say more than a million square feet of windows -- the size of about 20 football fields -- were shattered by the shockwave from the meteor's blast. Around 4,000...

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Bomb kills 64 in Pakistan's Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Sixty-four people including school children died on Saturday in a bomb attack carried out by extremists from Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority, police said. A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni group, claimed responsibility for the bomb in Quetta, which caused casualties in the town's main bazaar, a school and a computer center. Police said most of the...

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"Argo", "Lincoln" vie for Oscars crown in open race

LOS ANGELES - Steven Spielberg goes into next weekend's Oscars with the most nominations for his presidential "Lincoln" but the momentum is all with Ben Affleck's thriller "Argo" in the Academy Awards home straight.And while the Hollywood veteran and the young pretender vie for the Oscars best picture crown, several other frontrunners remain hard on their heels, in one of the least predictable...

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...

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Exclusive: North Korea tells China of preparations for fresh nuclear test - source

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks, said a source with direct knowledge of the message. Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source, who has direct access to the top levels of...

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Alleged cop killer died from single shot to head

LOS ANGELES: Alleged US cop killer Christopher Dorner died from a single gunshot wound to the head that appeared to be self-inflicted, a coroner said.The doctor who examined the body concluded that "the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head," said San Bernardino County coroner Kevin Lacy, giving details from the results of a six-hour autopsy."We are not yet able to speak...

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Vintage steam engine back on Shimla-Kalka heritage track

SHIMLA: The British era steam engine, KC-520, chugged on the Shimla-Kalka heritage track on Friday, after a gap of four years. The only narrow gauge steam engine, which dates back to 1903, KC-520 towed four chartered coaches, carrying around 25 passengers, mainly foreigners, successfully between Shimla and Kathlighat.Railway officials at the Shimla railway station cordoned off the track when the...

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States' choices set up national health experiment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds?The nation is about evenly split between states that decided by Friday's deadline they want a say in running new insurance markets and states that are defaulting to federal...

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Dorner Confirmed Dead in Autopsy on Cabin Remains

Christopher Dorner, the ex-Los Angeles police officer who declared himself on a killing spree against his former law enforcement colleagues, is dead.Authorities this evening confirmed that remains found after a fiery standoff at a California mountain cabin Tuesday were, in fact, Dorner's."The charred human remains located in the burned out cabin in Seven Oaks have been positively...

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Key U.S. general backs keeping Afghan forces at peak strength

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. general nominated to oversee a vast region that includes Afghanistan on Thursday backed keeping Afghan forces at a peak strength of 352,000, contrary to current plans to shrink them after NATO declares the war over next year. General Lloyd Austin, nominated to lead the U.S. military's Central Command, said at his Senate confirmation hearing that a more...

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COE second open bidding exercise 18 February

SINGAPORE: February's Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) second open bidding exercise opens on Monday at noon.The tender closes on Wednesday at 4pm.The total quota available for this tender exercise is 1,608.Non-transferable categories: Category A : Cars (1,600cc and below) - 333Category B : Cars (1,601cc and above) - 303Category D : Motorcycles 506Transferable categories: Category C...

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They should answer if they can run a government, says Bengal governor

KOLKATA: Under pressure from an angry police force and a stung city, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday reacted in haste and shunted police commissioner R K Pachnanda, making him the scapegoat for the political bungling over sub-inspector Tapas Chowdhury's death.Surajit Kar Purakayastha was named the new police chief.Pachnanda's removal triggered a stinging reaction from governor M K Narayanan,...

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Study: Fish in drug-tainted water suffer reaction

BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.The findings, published online Thursday in...

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Dorner Not IDed, But Manhunt Considered Over

Though they have not yet identified burned remains found at the scene of Tuesday's fiery, armed standoff, San Bernardino, Calif., officials consider the manhunt over for Christopher Dorner, the fugitive ex-cop accused of going on a killing spree."The events that occurred yesterday in the Big Bear area brought to close an extensive manhunt," San Bernardino County Sheriff John...

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Iran suggests progress, but no deal, in U.N. atom talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran indicated that some progress was made in talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday, but that the two sides again failed to finalize an elusive framework deal over the Islamic state's disputed atomic activity. Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said a new meeting would be held, without giving a date....

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Athletics: Paralympic day to top off London Diamond

LONDON: London's Olympic Stadium will stage three days of athletics in July, including one devoted solely to Paralympic competition, British Athletics has announced.The London Anniversary Games, which will take place from July 26-28 and in the process mark a year since the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, will incorporate the annual two-day Diamond League meeting on the Friday and...

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Terror groups in Pak vow to avenge Afzal

ISLAMABAD: In a show of strength in the Pakistani capital, several banned anti-India militant groups, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, on Wednesday vowed to take "revenge" for the execution of Afzal Guru and step up their "jihad" in Jammu and Kashmir. Scores of members of the groups gathered at the National Press Club for a conference organized by the United Jihad Council to...

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Clues to why most survived China melamine scandal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists wondering why some children and not others survived one of China's worst food safety scandals have uncovered a suspect: germs that live in the gut.In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 became sick after being fed infant formula that had been deliberately and illegally tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. There were some lingering puzzles: How did it cause...

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Officer Dies After Dorner Shootout; Cabin on Fire

The remote California mountain cabin in which fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner has barricaded himself in tense standoff with police is on fire, following a shootout with police in which one officer was killed and another wounded.Once the fire started, a single shot was heard from inside the cabin and then flames and a large column of black smoke were seen rising above the...

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North Korean nuclear test draws anger, including from China

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of U.N. resolutions, drawing condemnation from around the world, including from its only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest. Pyongyang said the test was an act of self-defense against "U.S. hostility" and threatened stronger steps if necessary. The test...

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Peru archeologists find ancient temple

LIMA: Peruvian archaeologists have discovered a temple believed to be about 5,000 years old at the ancient archaeological site of El Paraiso in a valley just north of Lima, the Culture Ministry said Tuesday.If the date is confirmed, it would be among the oldest sites in the world, comparable to the ancient city of Caral, a coastal city some 200 kilometres (125 miles) to the north.The discovery,...

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Haryana Roadways staff stir may hit 3500 govt buses too

CHANDIGARH: The call for the roadways employees' strike may hit the government transport services in Haryana on Wednesday.All Haryana Roadways Workers Joint Action Committee, an umbrella body of two trade unions, has given the call for the strike to press the workers' demand of regularization of contractual staff and stop the process of giving 3519 permits to private bus operators in Haryana.A senior...

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Study questions kidney cancer treatment in elderly

In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away.Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk...

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Who's Next? A Look at Likely Successors to Benedict

With 1 billion Catholics worldwide, the face of the church is changing.It's something the cardinal electors may keep in mind when the conclave to elect a new pontiff begins in late March, said Matthew Bunson, general editor of the Catholic Almanac and author of "We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI."RELATED: Pope Benedict XVI Resigns: The StatementThe 117 cardinals who are eligible to vote for the new...

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