Black delegate decides against Va. GOP map

RICHMOND — After a brief flirtation with the GOP’s surprise Virginia Senate redistricting plan, and a fierce backlash from unions, a black House Democrat has soured on supporting it. Del. Onzlee Ware announced on the House floor Friday that he has decided to vote against the new Senate map, which would create a new majority-black district in Southside but also disperse black voting power...

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6.9-magnitude quake hits Japan's Hokkaido

  TOKYO - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 struck off Japan's Hokkaido island late on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.The quake hit at a depth of 103 kilometres (64 miles) at 23:17pm (1417 GMT), about 109 kilometres west of Kushiro, Hokkaido, the USGS said. !-- Zone Tag : Channel News Asia In Text innity_pub = "66368270ffd51418ec58bd793f2d9b1b"; innity_zone...

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400 cases of crime against women disposed of last month: CJI

PATIALA: Over 400 cases of crime against women, including rape cases, have been disposed of in trial courts across the country last month, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir said today. There is need to pay more attention to crimes against women, elderly and children, the Chief Justice told the first convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi National Law University here. Fast-track courts are being...

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, APThe magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg...

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Ala. Standoff: Students Say Suspect Threatened to Kill

A brother and sister who escaped the school bus where a 5-year-old autistic boy was taken hostage by a retired Alabama trucker are speaking out about the standoff and the man who threatened the lives of the children on board."I look up and he's talking about threatening to kill us all or something," 14-year-old Terrica Singletary told ABC's "Good Morning America." "He's like,...

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VA study finds more veterans committing suicide

Every day about 22 veterans in the United States kill themselves, a rate that is about 20 percent higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2007 estimate, according to a two-year study by a VA researcher. The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by...

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Motor Racing: New car but only one driver for Force India

LONDON: Force India unveiled their new car for the forthcoming Formula One season at Silverstone on Friday, but they are still to confirm the identity of British driver Paul di Resta's teammate.The vacancy next to Di Resta is one of only three across the grid for the 2013 season, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 17.French driver Jules Bianchi, the team's...

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One more Yeddyurappa loyalist resign

BANGALORE: One more BJP MLA DN Suresh resigned his assembly on Friday to join rebel camp Karnataka Janata Party ( KJP) headed by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa. Suresh, representing Tarikere assembly segment, joins the list of 12 MLAs who resigned on Tuesday to join Yeddyurappa camp.On finding that Speaker KG Bopaiah was not in Bangalore, Suresh reached out to the Speaker in Kodagu, 250km...

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Sinkhole Swallows Buildings in China

Photograph from AFP/Getty ImagesThe sinkhole that formed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou (pictured) is, unfortunately, not a new occurrence for the country.Many areas of the world are susceptible to these sudden formations, including the U.S. Florida is especially prone, but Guatemala, Mexico, and the area surrounding the Dead Sea in the Middle East are also known for their impressive sinkholes....

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'Terrorist Blast' at US Embassy in Turkey

At least one person was killed in what the State Department called a "terrorist blast" outside the U.S. Embassy in Turkey today.The explosion, which occurred at a checkpoint to the embassy in Ankara in the early afternoon local time, claimed the life of an embassy guard and wounded a Turkish citizen, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardione told reporters. April...

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US consumer spending flat in December

WASHINGTON: US consumers held tight to their wallets in December, the key holiday shopping season, despite a rise in incomes, according to Commerce Department data released on Thursday.Household spending edged up 0.2 percent from November, only half the growth of the prior month and slightly below the consensus estimate of 0.3 percent.Consumer spending, the main driver of the US economy,...

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Omar Abdullah meets PM, seeks security, fund for sarpanches

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought assistance in providing security and honorarium to newly-elected Panches and sarpanches so that panchayati raj institutions are further strengthened.The 42-year-old chief minister also met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Union home minister discussing issues related to...

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New Theory on How Homing Pigeons Find Home

Jane J. Lee Homing pigeons (Columba livia) have been prized for their navigational abilities for thousands of years. They've served as messengers during war, as a means of long-distance communication, and as prized athletes in international races.But there are places around the world that seem to confuse these birds—areas where they repeatedly vanish in the wrong direction or scatter on...

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Obama Prods GOP on Immigration Negotiations

Jan 31, 2013 6:00am                                                                        ...

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Basketball: ABL looking to connect more with fans this season

SINGAPORE: Around 135,000 spectators caught all the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) matches live last season.And new measures are being introduced this season to help increase viewership both on and off the court for the six teams including the Singapore Slingers.The ABL was launched in 2009 and it has raised the profile of the game of basketball.However, there is still a huge market to...

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Wanting dhoti-clad PM may have caused 'Vishwaroopam' ban: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) president M Karunanidhi on Wednesday wondered whether the Tamil Nadu government's ban on Kamal Haasan's movie "Vishwaroopam" was because the actor wanted a dhoti-clad Tamilian as prime minister. In a letter to party cadres, Karunanidhi said some sections of people are of the view that the actor earned the ire of the state government after he said that a...

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Timbuktu’s vulnerable manuscripts are city’s "gold"

French and Malian troops surrounded Timbuktu on Monday and began combing the labyrinthine city for Islamist fighters. Witnesses, however, said the Islamists, who claim an affiliation to al Qaeda and had imposed a Taliban-style rule in the northern Malian city over the last ten months, slipped into the desert a few days earlier. But before fleeing, the militants reportedly set fire to several...

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Gunman Kills Bus Driver, Takes Child as Hostage

A gunman shot and killed a school bus driver in Midland City, Ala., Tuesday afternoon and escaped the scene with a 6-year-old passenger, which has prompted a hostage situation that is still going on this morning.The suspected gunman is identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 60-something military veteran, a police source told ABC News. Dykes and the child are in an underground bunker...

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An appointment no one wants; Barney Frank’s going to be a senator; Anna Wintour’s boyfriend’s tax problem (read-this roundup)

Anna Wintour with Shelby Bryan at a state dinner. (Brendan Hoffman - GETTY IMAGES) Here’s what the Loop is reading today: Ah, no thanks — Here’s one presidential appointment almost no one is jumping at: sitting on that health-care panel on doctor fees and reducing costs. It comes with low pay, plus the risk of political fallout — oh, and you’ll have to go through Senate confirmation,...

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Tampines junction to be reviewed after fatal accident

SINGAPORE: MP for Tampines GRC Baey Yam Keng says authorities will review the junction of Tampines Avenue 9 and Tampines Street 45, following a fatal accident there.Two brothers, aged seven and 13, died after their bicycle collided with a cement truck on Monday evening.The brothers Nigel and Donovan cycled around the Tampines estate frequently.The tragic accident came as a rude shock to...

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UPA government cheating people on Lokpall Bill: Anna Hazare

PATNA: Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday said assurances like the one by Sonia Gandhi that Lokpal Bill would be passed in the budget session of Parliament were being made for the past two years and said intentions of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress president on it were 'not clear'."Such letters and assurances (like the one by Sonia Gandhi) are coming for the past two...

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Space Pictures This Week: Martian Gas, Cloud Trails

Image courtesy SDO/NASAThe sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They've equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the...

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5 Years Later, What's New on Immigration Reform?

The announcement of a proposal for immigration reform inspired renewed excitement for some involved in the fight Monday, but other players in the debate felt a sense of déjà vu.Monday afternoon, senators introduced a framework of changes previewed over the weekend, with President Obama and a secret group from the House of Representatives expected soon to follow suit.The press...

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Bipartisan group of senators to unveil framework for immigration overhaul

A key group of senators from both parties will unveil on Monday the framework of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, including a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants. The detailed, four-page statement of principles will carry the signatures of four Republicans and four Democrats, a bipartisan push that would have been unimaginable just...

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Retail rents in S'pore up 2% in 2012

SINGAPORE: Prices of shop space rose 2.0 per cent in 2012, while rentals dropped marginally by 0.3 per cent according to the latest statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).Yields of retail units have dropped last year, but most market experts Channel NewsAsia spoke to are optimistic about the demand for retail space in Singapore from both investors and retailers. After...

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Supreme Court directs Karnataka to file report on water sharing with TN

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today directed Karnataka to furnish all the information on amount of Cauvery river water shared by it to Tamil Nadu since 1992 and said that out of box thinking is required on the part of warring states to sort out the dispute. A bench of justices R M Lodha and J Chelameswar asked Karnataka to submit its report tomorrow when it will hear the plea on passing intermin direction...

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Doomed Dolphin Speaks to New York's Vibrant Wildlife

By the time New Yorkers spied a dolphin swimming through the superfund sludge of the Gowanus Canal last Friday, it was too late. The marine mammal didn't even survive long enough for a rescue plan to come together. First sighted on Friday afternoon, the dolphin perished at 6:00 p.m.The reason the marine mammal died, and why the dolphin swam up the...

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Gym Turned Into Morgue for Nightclub Fire Victims

Coffins lined a gymnasium in Santa Maria, Brazil, today as family members tried to identify their loved ones after a fast-moving fire tore through a crowded nightclub Sunday morning, killing more than 230 people and injuring hundreds more.A community gym near the popular Kiss nightclub has been converted to a temporary morgue were family members were led in one by one Sunday...

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Senate’s pragmatic ranks depleted by one with Chambliss’s departure

The trio of Southern gentlemen came to the Senate together in 2003, the leading edge of a renegade Republican class set on shaking up the chamber’s staid ways and aggressively promoting the Bush White House’s conservative agenda. Ten years later, Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) are now establishment dealmakers and elder statesmen — roles...

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Syria pledges to end opposition prosecutions

DAMASCUS: Syria's high judicial council has announced a suspension of prosecutions of opposition members so they can join a national dialogue, state media reported on Sunday, without detailing the nature of crimes affected by the ruling.The report comes after Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar had earlier vowed to ease the return of Syrian opposition members living in exile so that they...

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Decision on Telangana deferred yet again

NEW DELHI/ HYDERABAD: A decision on the Telangana statehood demand was deferred today with the Centre and Congress saying there was need for "further consultations" which will take a "little more time" even as pro-Telangana activists intensified their agitation. On the eve of the one-month deadline set by him to arrive at a decision on the contentious issue, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and the...

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty ImagesIf you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders. Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns...

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Authorities: 245 Dead in Brazil Nightclub Fire

A fire swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing at least 245 people and leaving at least 200 injured, police and firefighters said.Police Maj. Cleberson Braida told local news media that the 245 bodies were brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria.That toll would make it one of the deadliest nightclub fires more than...

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