Football: Messi at double as Barcelona make record start

MADRID: Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 5-1 to set a new record start to a La Liga season and open a 14-point gap on bitter rivals Real Madrid who later face a crunch derby with in-form Atletico.Gerard Pique put the Catalan side ahead after 22 minutes followed quickly by Messi's first, which came off defender Fernando Amorebieta on the line, before Adriano Correia...

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FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

NEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest.BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working...

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Psychiatrists OK vast changes to diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — For the first time in almost two decades the nation's psychiatrists are changing the guidebook they use to diagnose mental disorders. Among the most controversial proposed changes: Dropping certain familiar terms like Asperger's disorder and dyslexia and calling frequent, severe temper tantrums a mental illness.The board of trustees for the American Psychiatric Association voted Saturday...

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Police: KC Chiefs Player Killed Girlfriend, Self

Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said."We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman...

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Egypt's Mursi calls referendum as Islamists march

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi called a December 15 referendum on a draft constitution on Saturday as at least 200,000 Islamists demonstrated in Cairo to back him after opposition fury over his newly expanded powers. Speaking after receiving the final draft of the constitution from the Islamist-dominated assembly, Mursi urged a national dialogue as the country nears...

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Oil prices gain ahead of weekend

NEW YORK: Oil prices turned higher in late trade Friday to end with modest gains ahead of the weekend despite growing worries over deficit negotiations in Washington.In New York, West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery added 84 cents to $88.91 a barrel.On the London market, the Brent North Sea contract for January gained 47 cents to $111.23 a barrel.Traders said there was little...

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Cabinet condoles Gujral's death, declares 7-day state mourning

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Friday paid its condolence to the passing away of former PM Inder Kumar Gujral and declared seven-day state mourning as a mark of respect for the departed leader. The national flag will fly half mast on all buildings and there will be no official entertainment during the seven days of state mourning, starting Friday and will be on till December 6. Gujral will be given...

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Kenya village pairs AIDS orphans with grandparents

NYUMBANI, Kenya (AP) — There are no middle-aged people in Nyumbani. They all died years ago, before this village of hope in Kenya began. Only the young and old live here.Nyumbani was born of the AIDS crisis. The 938 children here all saw their parents die. The 97 grandparents — eight grandfathers among them — saw their middle-aged children die. But put together, the bookend generations take care of...

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Obama Warns of 'Scrooge Christmas' Without Deal

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks at the Rodon Group, which manufactures over 95% of the parts for K' NEX Brands toys, Nov. 30, 2012, in Hatfield, Pa. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)HATFIELD, Pa. — President Obama today accused Republicans of putting Americans at risk of a “Scrooge Christmas” if they fail to extend middle class tax cuts, telling workers in Pennsylvania that a tax increase would...

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Egyptians protest after draft constitution raced through

CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested against President Mohamed Mursi on Friday after an Islamist-led assembly raced through approval of a new constitution in a bid to end a crisis over the Islamist leader's newly expanded powers. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Tahrir Square, echoing the chants that rang out in the same place less than...

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Damascus clashes close airport road, telecoms cut

DAMASCUS: Syrian troops mounted an assault on rebels near Damascus on Thursday, closing off the road to the airport before later securing it, authorities said, amid a widespread telecommunications outage.Meanwhile, as UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hinted President Bashar al-Assad would have to step down to allow for a new Syria, a monitoring group said a government air raid on the northern...

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White paper on irrigation a dud, Maharashtra skirts corruption

MUMBAI: The much-awaited white paper on irrigation, which was placed before the state cabinet on Thursday, has turned out to be a dud. As expected, it skirts the core issue of corruption and irregularities in the water resources department, and merely collates data on projects approved in the last decade. Addressing a news conference on Thursday night, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the two-volume...

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Clinton releases road map for AIDS-free generation

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an ambitious road map for slashing the global spread of AIDS, the Obama administration says treating people sooner and more rapid expansion of other proven tools could help even the hardest-hit countries begin turning the tide of the epidemic over the next three to five years."An AIDS-free generation is not just a rallying cry — it is a goal that is within our reach," Secretary...

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Obama Lunches With Romney as 'Cliff' Talks Falter

President Obama and Mitt Romney met face to face today for the first time since the election, breaking bread at the White House as talks over the looming "fiscal cliff" appeared to be faltering on Capitol Hill."I bet it was and is quite tasty," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said of the lunch as it was underway, "because [the chefs] know how to prepare very fine meals."The menu...

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Abbas urges U.N. to issue "birth certificate" for Palestine

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urged the U.N. General Assembly to grant de facto recognition to a sovereign state of Palestine by upgrading the U.N. observer status of the Palestinian Authority from "entity" to "non-member state." "Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned...

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US makes last-ditch bid to head off Palestinian UN vote

UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Wednesday pressed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas not to seek elevated UN status, but Abbas remained on course to win a new show of international support.Abbas will make the Palestinian case for "non-member observer state" status and indicate his conditions for talks with Israel in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, officials said.He...

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Trinamool unstinting against FDI: Party MP

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress, which started the winter session by attempting a no-confidence motion against the government, is clear that it will do its best to stall FDI in retail from being implemented and vote against the policy decision. In a blog posting, party MP Derek O'Brien said, "The Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, have been the original...

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons...

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Powerball 'Strategies' Refuted by Experts

The Powerball jackpot, now a record $550 million, has led to "lotto fever" as millions rush to buy tickets ahead of the 11 p.m. ET drawing, but mathematicians and experts warn that strategies will do little to enhance your chance of winning.Even Richard Lustig, seven-time lottery winner who has written the book, "Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery," says...

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Egypt assembly seeks to wrap up constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - The assembly writing Egypt's constitution said it could wrap up a final draft later on Wednesday, a move the Muslim Brotherhood sees as a way out of a crisis over a decree by President Mohamed Mursi that protesters say gives him dictatorial powers. But as Mursi's opponents staged a sixth day of protests in Tahrir Square, critics said the Islamist-dominated assembly's...

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Football: Blues owner Yeung to go on trial

HONG KONG: Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung will go on trial in Hong Kong on Wednesday on charges of money laundering after the troubled tycoon failed in a bid to have the case postponed.The former hairdresser was arrested and charged in June last year with five counts of "dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence".The exact nature of the...

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IIT-Kanpur flushes rail bio-toilet plan

CHENNAI: Scientists of IIT-Kanpur have thrown the kitchen sink at a high-tech solution to a messy problem: How to keep the world's largest railway network clean and prevent corrosion of lines when train toilets unload waste directly on the tracks. Bio-toilets developed by the Indian Railways and Defence Research and Development Organization have earned praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,...

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