Obama Promises Faster Transition in Afghanistan

President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that most U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan would end this spring, signaling a quickening troop drawdown that will bring the decade-long war to a close at the end of 2014."Our troops will continue to fight alongside Afghans when needed, but let me say it as plainly as I can: Starting this spring, our troops will...

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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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Captain blames faulty brakes, motor for NY ferry accident

NEW YORK: The captain of a packed ferry that crashed into a New York City pier injuring 74 people blamed malfunctioning brakes and a faulty motor for the accident, US investigators said Thursday."As the boat was coming in, the captain found that the reverse thrust was not operating as anticipated," said Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating...

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Border truce violations almost doubled last year

NEW DELHI: Ceasefire violations, which are now threatening to derail the India-Pakistan peace process, were not long ago, besides being fewer, a very organized affair, with both sides following the rules of the game. As per what had evolved into an informal protocol over the years, each side would warn the other about their firing intent by raising a red flag, and would never fire directly on posts...

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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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Hero Teacher Talks Shooter into Dropping Gun

A California high school teacher is being hailed a hero for talking a 16-year-old shooter into putting down his gun and turning himself in after opening fire on a classroom and wounding another student, police said.The student victim was taken to a nearby hospital and remains in critical but stable condition, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told reporters on Thursday.The...

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Hilda Solis resigns as labor secretary; some others in Cabinet to stay on

The reshuffling of President Obama’s Cabinet gained speed Wednesday when Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced her resignation, but White House officials said three others, including Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., would remain in their jobs. Obama hailed Solis, who presided over a period of high unemployment, as “a tireless champion for working families” during “the worst economic...

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EU leaders want UK in union, but not treaty change

LONDON: European leaders on Wednesday stressed the importance of keeping Britain in the EU, but said they opposed treaty changes demanded by Prime Minister David Cameron."Britain is an essential part of the EU," Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said during a conference in Dublin marking the beginning of his country's six-month presidency of the bloc."Great Britain has great value and is...

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Born of rape, left alone and bereft

BHUBANESWAR/AHMEDABAD: He's just four and is lost and bewildered. Not only is Raghav in a new school in a strange place, he's away from the fond gaze of his doting grandparents. For no fault of his. In 2007, his mother Meera was raped in Khaprakhol area of Balangir in Orissa. Distraught and depressed, she approached local NGO Kalyan when she was two-months pregnant. "We counselled her and convinced...

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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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