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North Korea launches threatened missile
North Korea has fired three short-range missiles from its east coast. South Korean officials have been carefully monitoring the missile firings as tensions rise again in the Korean Peninsula. The missiles were fired on Saturday morning and afternoon in a north-east direction. Analysts have said the missiles were not as dangerous as the intermediate-range missiles which Pyongyang had ...
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Violence flares throughout Iraq
Violence has erupted in many areas of Iraq. On Saturday morning eight people, including a police officer, his wife and children, were killed by gunmen who also kidnapped ten security force personnel in the Rashid area, south of Baghdad. The gunmen first broke into the home of the local administrator, killing one of his guards. They then moved on to the nearby house of Captain Adnan ...
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Cell phone surveillance powers loosened in US
A federal judge in the US has given law agents permission to track people's mobile phones without a warrant. New York judge Gary Brown has ruled that law enforcement agents can conduct cell phone surveillance against people who forget to turn their phones off. In a written ruling, he said: "Given the ubiquity and celebrity of geo-location technologies, an individual has no legitimate ...
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US general takes action against sexual assault
A top general has warned that Washington is facing a crisis due to the scandal of sexual assaults in the country's military. The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey has called for the Obama administration to heed his warning, saying the country is in danger of losing women soldiers. During the week, US President Barack Obama met with General Dempsey, Defense ...
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France still unsure about gay marriage
France has legalised same-sex marriage, becoming the 14th country to do so. President Francois Hollande signed the bill into law following months of bitter political debate, including a legal challenge by the right-wing opposition. On Friday the Constitutional Council threw out the challenge, allowing the president to sign the documents. The legislation also legalises gay ...
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Cigarette smuggling ring with terror links busted in New York
NEW YORK - Authorities in New York are claiming to have busted a multi-million cigarette smuggling ring and arrested at least 16 Palestinian immigrants having alleged links with known terror organisations. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly Thursday said that the 16 members of the criminal ring in New York City, Albany County and Schenectady County ...
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Obama turns table on Republicans, seeks more money for security at embassies
WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has called for more security at American embassies around the world, urging Congress to help him "as a partner" to fully fund the State Department in this regard. By seeking Congress support for stepping up the security at embassies, Obama has turned the tables on Republicans amid criticism that the government's response to Benghazi attack on a US ...
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Dozens killed in Iraq bomb blasts
BAGHDAD - Scores of people were killed in Iraq Friday, in a day marked by several bombings including two outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba after Friday prayers, killing at least 43 worshipers in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence. One bomb exploded as worshippers were departing the Saria mosque in the city of Baquba while a second ...
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Boston suspect scribbled note in boat while hidding from police
NEW YORK - Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scribbled a note in a boat he hid in while the manhunt was on, saying the attacks were retribution for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, and described the victims as "collateral damage". Tsarnaev wrote the note with a marker in the boat, describing the Boston victims "collateral damage" in the same way Muslims have been ...
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Syria receives advanced cruise missile batteries from Russia
WASHINGTON - Russia has sent advanced anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria in a move that underscores its support to the beleaguered regime of President Bashar Al Assad in the war-torn Arab nation, officials citing credible intelligence reports said here. The New York Times reported Friday that the new missiles sent to Syria have an advanced radar system that makes them "more effective". ...
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Energy Department gives nod for more US LNG exports
WASHINGTON - The Energy Department Friday gave a conditional nod authorizing Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. and FLNG Liquefaction, LLC (Freeport) to set up a second facility for export of domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States. The approval means that gas-hungry markets like Japan and India could start ...
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Minor setback reported on Nippon's test flight of Dreamliner
TOKYO - Japan's All Nippon Airways said Friday a modified Dreamliner had suffered a "minor" setback while conducting a test flight of an aircraft this month, but assured it was not due to overheating of lithium batteries. All Nippon Airways, the Japanese airline that is the largest operator of Boeing's beleaguered Dreamliner, said an electric distribution panel overheated and blackened during ...
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Three days after closure Bangladesh factories reopen
DHAKA - Bangladesh has re-opened hundreds of garment factories after just three days of closure following protests over pay and poor work conditions. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association had called for the re-opening on Friday. The shutdown of factories this week was prompted by worker protests over low pay and poor working conditions sparked by the country's ...
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Developing nations set to dominate global investments says World Bank
WASHINGTON - The share of developing countries led by China and India in global investment is expected to triple by 2030 to three-fifths, from one-fifth in 2000, says the latest edition of the World Bank's Global Development Horizons (GDH) report, which explores patterns of investment, saving and capital flows as they are likely to evolve over the next two decades. Seventeen years from now, ...
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Morrisons signs deal to use Ocado logistics facility
LONDON - Morrisons Supermarkets, one of the major British retail chains, has entered into a 170 million pounds and 25-year agreement with Ocado Group plc ("Ocado"), to acquire its recently opened Dordon Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) in the Midlands, and lease it back with commitment to use its logistics and distribution facilities to start grocery deliveries to customers by January ...
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Eurovision Song Contest Enters Final Stage
Denmark's Emmelie de Forest, seen here performing "Only Teardrops" during dress rehearsal in Malmo ahead of the May 18 final, was tipped as a favorite by ...
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Lapid working to pass civil gay marriage in Israel
Finance Minister Yair Lapid is working to build a "coalition within the coalition" to create a civil alternative to religious marriage in Israel, including gay marriage.In a question and answer session on his Facebook page Thursday night, Lapid told a questioner that he was "definitely" planning on advancing the civil marriage ...
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Family of British girl 5 who drowned in Egyptian hotel pool say they are angry and hurt lifeguards were not on duty and ambulance took FOUR hours to arrive
The grandmother of a five-year-old who drowned in a hotel pool in Egypt told today of her family's 'anger and hurt' that more wasn't done to save ...
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IRS targeting overlooked biggest soft money groups
WASHINGTON There's an irony in the Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on conservative groups. The nation's tax agency has admitted to inappropriately scrutinizing smaller tea party organizations that applied for tax-exempt status. But the IRS largely maintained a hands-off policy with the much larger, big-budget organizations on the left and right that were most influential in ...
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Predicting weather National Weather Service gets a boost
Wednesday's Texas tornadoes gave people just 26 minutes to prepare for impact. That's actually more than double the average warning time. When people have more notice to get into a safe place, there usually are more lives saved when the disaster strikes. That's why the National Weather Service is getting a $25 million bump in its budget to update its computer mapping system. It ...
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Nigeria sets curfew in Boko Haram stronghold
Nigeria's military has declared a 24-hour curfew on a dozen neighbourhoods in a northeastern city that is a stronghold of the armed group Boko Haram. The move in Maiduguri, the main city in Borno state, came as soldiers continued the government's emergency campaign against fighters in the region on Saturday. The military deployed jets and helicopters to carry out air strikes on ...
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Police Officers Are Targets in Wave of Afghan Violence
KABUL, Afghanistan ...
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Man arrested after plane bomb threats
Beijing - Chinese police have arrested a man who allegedly made bomb threats which caused delays or diversions to Shanghai, news reports said on ...
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Ahmadinejad cancels Thailand trip due to busy schedule
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was due to address a water security forum in Thailand has cancelled the trip because of his busy schedule, a member of the president's media office said ...
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Russian plane catches fire upon landing
Plane catches rire upon landing at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport. Russia's deplorable air safety record just got worse. Moscow's Vnukovo Airport was temporarily closed on Saturday morning after a plane carrying about 140 people from the southern Russian city of Stavropol caught fire after landing, a law enforcement source told the Russian news site RIA Novosti. No one was reported ...
Asia Feature
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Asia's largest ever infastructure project
The Trans-Asian Railway has been faltering since it was first proposed in the 1960s by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (ESCAP). Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s the project was hindered by political instability, the wars in Indochina, the reticence of China and a subsequent lack of finance in Asia for mega-projects of this kind.
Now, however, with China emerging as the number two most dominant economy in the world, the project to link two major continents (Asia and Europe) is finding its feet once more and the Chinese are looking into investment opportunities, with some aspects of the project, such as the several thousand kilometers that pass through Thailand, being slated for possible construction in 2013. Read more
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