French air power stops Mali Islamist advance

BAMAKO: Mali's army took back a key town from Islamist rebels Saturday aided by French air power, opening a dramatic new phase in the conflict that France's leader declared is a battle against terrorism.International momentum to wrest northern Mali back from the control of Al-Qaeda-linked groups built after the French air raids helped reclaim the front-line town of Konna, with Burkina...

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Pakistan mum on brigadier-level talks

NEW DELHI: Almost 24 hours after it was suggested Pakistan was yet to respond to Indian recommendation for a brigadier-level flag meeting along the line of control (LoC), even as Army sources said there has been no major ceasefire violation since Thursday night. According to Army sources, until Saturday evening Pakistan had not responded to the Indian suggestion that both sides hold a flag meeting...

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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. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and,...

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Russia rejects Assad exit as precondition for Syria deal

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia voiced support on Saturday for international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi but insisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to end the country's conflict. Some 60,000 Syrians have been killed during the 21-month-old revolt and world powers are divided over how to stop the escalating bloodshed. Government aircraft bombed...

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Oil prices slip on profit taking

NEW YORK: World oil prices fell Friday as investors booked profits from the previous day's rally amid sluggish global economic growth.New York's main West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract, light sweet crude for February, settled 26 cents lower at $93.56 a barrel.In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February closed at $110.64 a barrel, down $1.25 from Thursday's close."Today...

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Police get Owaisi's custody

NIRMAL: : Nirmal munsif magistrate K Ajesh Kumar on Friday granted the local police five days custody of MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi. Arrested for delivering hate speeches on January 8, Akbaruddin has been lodged in the Adilabad district jail and is on judicial remand till January 22.The Nirmal police had sought 7-day custody of the MLA but the magistrate granted them 5- day custody beginning Saturday....

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Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says."If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Exhumation Approved

A judge has approved the exhumation of the Chicago lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning.Judge Susan Coleman of the Probate Division of the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois today approved the county medical examiner's request to exhume the body of Urooj Khan at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.Khan, 46, died July 20, 2012, from what was initially believed to be natural...

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Obama, Karzai agree to speed up Afghan military transition

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces this year, underscoring Obama's determination to move decisively to wind down the long, unpopular war. Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in White House talks on U.S. demands for...

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Bombs kill 92 in Pakistan's Quetta: police

QUETTA: Bomb attacks killed 92 people in Pakistan's city of Quetta on Thursday, as twin suicide bombers targeted a snooker hall frequented by Shiites in the deadliest single attack in the country for nearly two years.At least 81 people were killed and 121 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the crowded club in an area of the southwestern city dominated by members of...

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India rejects Pak's call for UN probe into border row

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday rebuffed Pakistan's proposal for a UN probe into the border flare-up as a sly attempt to internationalize the issue. After the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, finance minister P Chidambaram said, "We are certainly not going to agree to internationalize the issue or allow the United Nations to hold an inquiry. That demand is obviously rejected out of hand."...

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Flu season strikes early and, in some places, hard

NEW YORK (AP) — From the Rocky Mountains to New England, hospitals are swamped with people with flu symptoms. Some medical centers are turning away visitors or making them wear face masks, and one Pennsylvania hospital set up a tent outside its ER to deal with the feverish patients.Flu season in the U.S. has struck early and, in many places, hard.While flu normally doesn't blanket the country until...

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Jodi Arias' Lies Detailed at Murder Trial

Jodi Arias lied about her relationship with Travis Alexander, where she was when Alexander was killed, and even where she worked as a bartender, according to the case laid out by prosecutors in her murder trial.Prosecutors opened the fifth day of her trial by using Arias' receipts for food, gas and a car rental that essentially tracked her movements in the days before and after...

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String of bombings kill 101, injure 200 in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 101 people were killed in bombings in two Pakistani cities on Thursday in one of the country's bloodiest days in recent years, officials said, with most casualties caused by sectarian attacks in Quetta. The bombings underscored the myriad threats Pakistani security forces face from homegrown Sunni extremist groups, the Taliban insurgency in the northwest...

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US urges India, Pakistan to cool Kashmir tensions

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday called on India and Pakistan to seek to cool tensions after Delhi accused the Pakistani army of beheading one of two Indian soldiers killed in Kashmir."Violence is not the answer for either country," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland insisted."We've been counselling both governments to de-escalate, to work through this issue, to continue...

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Maharashtra plans water trains for drought areas

MUMBAI: With the state witnessing an acute drought, the state government has decided to adopt unprecedented measures. Anticipating that certain parts of Marathwada will go completely dry by March, the state government has drawn up a plan to transport water for drinking in railway wagons. At the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan informed colleagues that initial...

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Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported a tantalizing hint that one day, there might be.Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors...

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Arias Kissed New Beau Day After Killing Boyfriend

Jodi Arias drove to the home of her new romantic interest, kissed him, and laughed with his friends just 24 hours after she stabbed and shot her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander to death, according to court testimony today.Ryan Burns, whom Arias met in the spring of 2008, took the stand today at the start of the fourth day of testimony in the trial.Arias, 32, is accused of murdering...

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Venezuela court endorses Chavez inauguration delay

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top court endorsed the postponement of Hugo Chavez's inauguration this week and ruled on Wednesday that the cancer-stricken president and his deputy would continue in their roles, despite a cacophony of opposition complaints. Critics had argued the 58-year-old's absence from his own swearing-in ceremony on January 10 meant a caretaker president must be...

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Yemen says US drone strikes to continue

SANAA: Yemen's national security chief said on Tuesday that US drone strikes against Al-Qaeda targets will continue as the two governments keep up their counter-terrorism cooperation."The Yemeni-American cooperation, including the use of friendly aircraft, will continue," Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi told reporters in Sanaa."Yemen is one of the countries that joined the international alliance...

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Highway authority files caveat in HC

NEW DELHI: Caught napping by GMR moving Delhi High Court to stop NHAI from encashing the performance security of Rs 260 crore after it served the termination notice on Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project, the highway authority has filed a caveat before the same court against GVK which has also served termination notice for Shivpuri-Dewas stretch. NHAI is also looking into the aspect of "debarring"...

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer."There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer...

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James Holmes' Elaborate Booby Trap Plan Revealed

A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today.FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told a Colorado court about...

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U.S. does not rule out complete pullout from Afghanistan after 2014

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 2014, the White House said on Tuesday, just days before President Barack Obama is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The comments by U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes were the first signal that, despite initial recommendations by the top...

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'Gun Appreciation Day' to be held in US

WASHINGTON: American gun enthusiasts can express their zeal on an upcoming "Gun Appreciation Day" right before Barack Obama is sworn in for a second term as president.A new coalition of gun rights and conservative groups is urging Americans to show support for the right to carry firearms by turning out in large numbers on January 19 at gun stores and firing ranges. Obama's swearing in...

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Alagiri men in shock, but silent on Stalin elevation

CHENNAI: As bouquets and greetings poured in for M K Stalin a day after DMK chief M Karunanidhi's dramatic announcement that his younger son would inherit the throne, there was a tell-tale silence on the Madurai turf of his older brother M K Alagiri on Monday. Sources said the mood in the Union minister's camp was one of shock, disappointment and despondency rather than anger. If silence in the...

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Organ donations fall in Germany after scandal

BERLIN (AP) — Organ donations have dropped sharply in Germany following a scandal over alleged corruption at several transplant clinics.The German Foundation for Organ Transplantation says the number of organs donated fell almost 13 percent to 3,917 last year, the lowest figure in a decade.Several German clinics are being investigated over allegations that doctors manipulated waiting lists to help...

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Cops Break Down as They Describe Aurora Horror

Two veteran police officers broke down on the stand today during a preliminary hearing for accused movie theater gunman James Holmes, with one officer choking up when he described finding the body of a 6-year-old girl inside the theater.Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard needed a moment to compose himself as he described finding the little girl, Veronica Moser Sullivan, in the blood splattered...

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Five accused in India rape case charged in court

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Five men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student were read the charges in a near-empty courtroom on Monday after the judge cleared out lawyers for bickering over whether the men deserved a defense. The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died two weeks after being gang-raped and beaten on a moving bus in New Delhi, then thrown bleeding onto the street. Protests...

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