Chad says it killed Algeria hostage mastermind in Mali

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad's military said on Saturday. The death of one of the world's most wanted jihadists would be a major blow to al Qaeda in the region and to Islamist rebels already forced to flee towns they had seized in...

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Japan, EU to launch free trade talks: report

TOKYO: Japan and the European Union are to hold a summit this month to formally launch negotiations on a huge free trade deal, a report said Sunday.EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso will visit Tokyo in the last week of March to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Nikkei business daily said.The report said the two sides would reach a final accord...

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BJP cadres should work hard to present alternative to UPA, Narendra Modi says

NEW DELHI: Gujarat chief minister NarendraModi, who is being projected by some in BJP as its prime ministerial face for 2014 elections, today asked his party cadres to work hard to present an alternative to the UPA government. Against the backdrop of the demands for his projection as the party's PM candidate, Modi sought to play down the issue. "Who is the person, or who is the candidate, it does...

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WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

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Man's Body Recovery Effort Ends; Sinkhole 'Unstable'

Authorities have discontinued the rescue effort for a Florida man who was swallowed by a sinkhole when his home's foundation collapsed and said it is unlikely his body will ever be recovered."We feel we have done everything we can," Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrell said at a news conference this afternoon. "At this point, it's not possible to recover the body."Merell...

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Malaysia threatens 'drastic' steps in Borneo siege

LAHAD DATU, Malaysia: Malaysia threatened Saturday to take "drastic action" against intruding followers of a self-proclaimed Filipino sultan after a tense standoff erupted into a shootout that killed 14 people.Twelve followers of the little-known sultan of Sulu and two Malaysian security personnel were killed in Friday's firefight, police said, as the more than two-week-old siege in a...

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India 'closely monitoring' situation in Sri Lanka: Union minister Narayanasamy

CHENNAI: The Centre was "closely monitoring" the situation in Sri Lanka and was taking all steps for the safety of Tamils living there, Union minister V Narayanasamy said on Saturday."India was closely monitoring the situation over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue in the island nation and was taking all steps for their safety", the minister of state in PMO he told reporters here.Responding to a query,...

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WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

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Obama Signs Order to Begin Sequester Cuts

President Obama and congressional leaders today failed to reach a breakthrough to avert a sweeping package of automatic spending cuts, setting into motion $85 billion of across-the-board belt-tightening that neither had wanted to see.President Obama officially initiated the cuts with an order to agencies Friday evening.He had met for just over an hour at the White House Friday...

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US sailors jailed for Okinawa rape: report

TOKYO: Two US sailors who raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October, sparking island-wide anger, were on Friday jailed for nine and 10 years, a report said.The Naha District Court in Okinawa said Christopher Browning, 24, should go to prison for 10 years while Skyler Dozierwalker, 23, should serve nine, Jiji Press reported.Browning and Dozierwalker, who were not stationed in Okinawa,...

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Arun Jaitley's phone was not tapped: Sushil Kumar Shinde

NEW DELHI: Attempts had been made to access Arun Jaitley's phone records but no information had been obtained, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Friday in reference to allegations that the opposition leader's phones had been tapped."This was not the case of phone tapping. The Delhi Police has made some arrests, they said we came to know some person sought to know call record data of Arun Jaitley......

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WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

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Sequestration: Surrender Is in the Air

The budget ax is about to fall, and there's little lawmakers in Washington are doing to stop it.Despite a parade of dire warnings from the White House, an $85 billion package of deep automatic spending cuts appears poised to take effect at the stroke of midnight on Friday.The cuts – known in Washington-speak as the sequester – will hit every federal budget, from defense to education,...

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Resale prices of private homes rebound in January

SINGAPORE: Prices of resale private homes rebounded in January, rising 0.3 per cent, reversing the previous month's 0.2 per cent decline, according to the Singapore Residential Price Index flash estimates published by the Institute of Real Estate Studies at the National University of Singapore.The increase in January was led by price growth in the small unit segment, defined as homes below...

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Assembly polls: Landslide victory for Left in Tripura

AGARTALA: Tripura's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front was Thursday heading for a landslide victory and seemed set to retain power for a fifth straight term. In a virtual status quo, the ruling formations were ahead and appeared to be romping back to power in the assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya where counting of votes was taken up on Thursday. TRIPURA...

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Medicare paid $5.1B for poor nursing home care

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to...

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Arias Prosecutor Too Combative, Experts Say

He has barked, yelled, been sarcastic and demanded answers from accused murderer Jodi Arias this week.And in doing so, prosecutor Juan Martinez and his aggressive antics may be turning off the jury he is hoping to convince that Arias killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008, experts told ABCNews.com today."Martinez is his own worst enemy," Mel McDonald, a prominent...

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Japan robot suit gets global safety certificate

TOKYO: A robot suit that can help the elderly or disabled get around was given its global safety certificate in Japan on Wednesday, paving the way for its worldwide rollout.The Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL, is a power-assisted pair of legs developed by Japanese robot maker Cyberdyne, which has also developed similar robot arms.A quality assurance body issued the certificate based on a...

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Baba Ramdev set to float a political party

CHANDIGARH: Yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, is all set to float a political party to offer 'an option' to the common man in the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections in 2014. Vowing not to contest himself as a candidate, Baba Ramdev said that he would not occupy a position of power himself. Dressed in typical saffron attire, Baba Ramdev, talked to media men before heading to Solan in Himachal Pradesh where...

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Advanced breast cancer edges up in younger women

CHICAGO (AP) — Advanced breast cancer has increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests. The disease is still uncommon among women younger than 40, and the small change has experts scratching their heads about possible reasons.The results are potentially worrisome because young women's tumors tend to be more aggressive than older women's, and they're much less likely to get routine...

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Inside Organized Retail Crime Raids

We used to call it shoplifting, but these days the foot soldiers of retail crime rings are known as boosters. Police even have an acronym for these operations: ORC, which stands for Organized Retail Crime."It's just like a Fortune 500 company," said Sergeant Eric Lee of the Gardena Police Department in Gardena, Calif. "All of this is just organized."Watch the full story on "Nightline"...

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Italy faces stalemate after election shock

ROME (Reuters) - Italy faced political deadlock on Tuesday after a stunning election that saw the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo become the strongest party in the country but left no group with a clear majority in parliament. "The winner is: Ingovernability" was the headline in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, reflecting the stalemate the country would have to confront...

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KFC cuts suppliers after China chicken scare

SHANGHAI: Fast food giant KFC has cut more than 1,000 farms from its supplier network in China to ensure food safety after a scandal over tainted chicken hurt sales in the key market last year.The issue came to light when China's commercial hub of Shanghai and the northern province of Shanxi said in December that they were investigating KFC suppliers over claims of high levels of antibiotics...

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Koop, who transformed surgeon general post, dies

With his striking beard and starched uniform, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop became one of the most recognizable figures of the Reagan era — and one of the most unexpectedly enduring.His nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women's groups and liberal politicians, who complained President Ronald Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon and evangelical Christian from Philadelphia,...

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