Defiant Assad Vows to Hold Firm in Syria

President Bashar Assad called on Syrians to defend their country against religious extremists seeking to destroy the nation, dismissing any prospect of dialogue with the "murderous criminals" he says are behind the uprising even as he outlined his vision for a peaceful settlement to the civil war.In a one-hour speech to the nation in which he appeared confident and relaxed, Assad...

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Al Gore stands to gain about $70 million after selling Current TV to al-Jazeera

Al Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against global warming, may gross about $70 million from the sale of his Current TV network to al-Jazeera, the cable channel funded in part by oil-rich Qatar. Al-Jazeera will pay about $500 million for Current TV, including the stake held by Gore, 64, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The network is one...

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A*STAR develops instant speech-to-speech translator

  SINGAPORE: Singaporeans can now speak to its neighbours in Asia without having to worry about language barriers, thanks to a new instant translator, developed by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).The software detects users' speech on a handphone and translates it to the desired language.The new speech-to-speech translator project is a collaboration of eight...

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Cold claims 16 more lives as north India shivers, toll 100

NEW DELHI: North India reeled under icy conditions Saturday with 16 people dying of the intense cold in Uttar Pradesh Friday, officials said Saturday. Over a hundred people have died so far in the bitter cold in India. Authorities ordered closure of all schools in Lucknow up to Class 8 till Jan 13. The regional Met Office said the minimum temperature in Lucknow was 2.1 degrees Celsius Saturday,...

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

Winner: PlacesPhotograph by Nenad SaljicA full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image...

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Debt Limit Negotiating Tactic? No Negotiating

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk away from the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AnalysisNew for 2013: In the Washington, D.C. fiscal wars we’ve gone from everything must be on the table to politicians declaring...

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Trio of budget-related measures could affect federal workforce in coming months

The penchant of Congress to govern by brinksmanship continues. The 113th Congress was sworn in Thursday and there’s little reason to think it will behave any better than the 112th. That’s not good for the nation as a whole and it’s particularly rough on federal agencies and their workers. Instead of providing wise counsel and establishing priorities as good leaders do, Congress sets...

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France seeks to grill Swiss shooter over Britons' murders in Alps

GENEVA: French police investigating the murder of a British-Iraqi family in the Alps have asked to question a Swiss gunman who killed three women in his home village, police in Switzerland said Friday.The police in the neighbouring French region of Haute-Savoie made the request to their colleagues in the Swiss canton of Valais, where on Thursday the gunman went on a shooting spree, a spokesman...

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Over 700,000 children in Himachal to get polio drops

SHIMLA: Over 700,000 children will be administered polio drops in a two-round campaign beginning this month in Himachal Pradesh, an official said here Friday. More than 5,850 booths, each catering to a population of 125, would be set up for the pulse polio immunization campaign to be carried out Jan 20 and Feb 24, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Ali R. Rizvi said in a statement....

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Chelsea Clinton Raises Profile During Mom's Illness

While Hillary Clinton was in the hospital it was daughter Chelsea -- not the secretary of state or the former president Bill Clinton -- who spoke for the family.She, along with the State Department, doled out what little information the family wanted to share in a series of tweets and when her mother was released from the hospital, it was Chelsea who delivered the thanks on...

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