After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast overnight, where more than 650,000 homes and businesses in the densely populated region lost power, roads were impassable and New Englanders awoke Saturday to more than 2 feet of snow.More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut, and an 82-mph wind gust...

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Protests erupt as India executes man for 2001 parliament attack

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India hanged a Kashmiri man on Saturday for an attack on the country's parliament in 2001, sparking clashes in Kashmir between protesters and police who wielded batons and fired teargas. Dozens of people were injured. President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a mercy petition from Mohammad Afzal Guru and he was hanged at 8 a.m. (0230 GMT) in Tihar jail in the capital,...

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Horsemeat 'contamination' could date back to August: Findus

LONDON: French frozen food supplier Comigel told the Findus brand that "the contamination" of processed beef products with horsemeat could date back to August 2012, Findus said in a statement Saturday."Findus want to be absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year," it said in a statement."They were only made aware of a possible August...

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Tihar Jail witnesses hanging after 24 years, Afzal Guru was hanged for eight minutes

NEW DELHI: The Tihar Jail, the largest prison of India, witnessed a hanging on Saturday after 24 years, when the 2001 parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was executed early morning, an official said. Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh, assassins of then prime minister Indira Gandhi were hanged inside the jail in 1989. Afzal Guru is the seventh man hanged inside the prison since 1981, a Tihar Jail official...

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.Blacks were five times more likely than whites...

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in hopes of catching suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again, as laid out in his rambling online manifesto.Police late Thursday night alerted the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding...

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Violence mars funeral of slain Tunisian opposition leader

TUNIS (Reuters) - Police and mourners clashed at the mass funeral on Friday of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis. Braving chilly rain, at least 50,000 people turned out to honor Belaid in his home district of Jebel al-Jaloud in the capital, chanting anti-Islamist and anti-government slogans. It was...

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DPM Teo issues correction to footnote in Population White Paper

SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday issued a corrigendum to the Population White Paper in Parliament to delete a segment of a footnote that classified nursing as a low-skilled job.Mr Teo said, in the Notice of Corrigendum, that he intends to delete the part of Footnote 12 on Page 40 of the White Paper, which said: "Certain low-skilled jobs like personal services,...

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No power cuts in Tamil Nadu from this year end, says Jaya

CHENNAI: Chief minister J Jayalalithaa today said, there will be no power cuts from 2013-end with the state set to realise 3,000 MW by then and her government expeditinga series of projects. Replying to a discussion in the Assembly on the governor's address to the House, she blamed the previous DMK government for acute power shortage in Tamil Nadu and said, during her 2001-06 regime, various power...

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Ex-LA Cop Sought in Shootings of 3 Cops, 2 Slayings

Police in Southern California say they suspect that a fired cop is connected to the shootings -- one fatal -- of three police officers this morning, as well as the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in the suspect's online manifesto.Former police officer Christopher...

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Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problem between them. "Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of...

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S'pore the single largest foreign investor in Iskandar Malaysia

SINGAPORE: Global Capital & Development (GCD), the lead investor of Medini in Iskandar Malaysia's Nusajaya development zone, says the region has attracted some S$2 billion in investments from Singapore since 2006.GCD says investment from Singapore in Iskandar Malaysia is set to soar; Singapore is already the single largest foreign investor in the region. Link (THM) Holdings, a Singapore...

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Congress workers hooliganism in Murshidabad

BEHRAMPORE: A Congress delegation to the Murshidabad district magistrate today turned violent after the latter refused to meet them in his office here. District magistrate Rajiv Kumar refused to accept a memorandum from Congress leaders and instead asked the ADM to receive it, Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharjee said. Congress workers who were sitting in a demonstration in...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until...

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Hostage Taker Waged Firefight With SWAT Agents

Jimmy Lee Dykes, the man who held a 5-year-old boy hostage for nearly a week in an underground bunker in Alabama, had two homemade explosive devices on his property and engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents before they stormed the bunker and killed him, according to the FBI.One explosive device was found inside the bunker and another was located in the PVC pipe negotiators...

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Tunisia protests after government critic shot dead

TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian opposition politician was shot dead on Wednesday, sending protesters onto the streets of cities nationwide two years after the uprisings that swept Tunisia's president from power and inflamed the Arab world. The headquarters of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which rules in a fractious coalition with secularists, was set ablaze after Chokri Belaid, an...

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Population White Paper will benefit S'pore economy: SICC

SINGAPORE: The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) said the Singapore economy will benefit from the many long-term principles outlined in the Population White Paper.In a statement on Wednesday, the SICC pointed out that early planning to build the infrastructure for a growing population will help Singapore maintain its competitive edge.SICC said that while attracting foreign...

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Congress slams fatwa against Kashmir's all-girl band

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday criticised the 'fatwa' against the state's all-girl rock band and supported the Jammu and Kashmir government's stand. "The state government has taken correct steps," Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters here. Stating that the 'fatwa' against the girls' band was a "serious" issue, Alvi said, "There could be no restrictions on an individual's freedom...

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the...

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Iran's Ahmadinejad in Egypt on historic visit

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Egypt on Tuesday on the first trip by an Iranian president since the 1979 revolution, underlining a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state. President Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood politician elected in June, kissed Ahmadinejad as he disembarked from his plane at Cairo airport. The leaders walked down...

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New SAFRA Toa Payoh officially opens

SINGAPORE: President Tony Tan officially opened the new SAFRA Toa Payoh on Tuesday.The facility will provide better facilities to NSmen and their families.The new club features a fencing academy which is a first for all SAFRA clubs.Members can also look forward to a new gym, which will be the biggest among the clubs.There is also an indoor playground for children.The club at Toa Payoh...

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MP minister presents AICC with Advani autobiography

BHOPAL: Reacting sharply to Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed's statement on LK Advani, Madhya Pradesh minister for industries and commerce Kailash Vijayavargiya on Tuesday sent a copy of the former deputy Prime Minister's biography 'My Country My Life' to AICC president Sonia Gandhi. The book went with a letter to the Congress president asking her to pass it down to senior Congress leaders...

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the...

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Ravens Defeat 49ers in Historic, Unusual Super Bowl

The Baltimore Ravens emerged Super Bowl champions after one of the strangest and most incredible Super Bowl games in recent memory.It's the second championship for the Ravens, who pulled out a 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome in New Orleans.The Super Bowl is the biggest spectacle in American sports, and each year becomes the most watched television event...

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Mali Tuaregs seize two Islamist leaders fleeing French strikes

KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels in northern Mali said on Monday they had captured two senior Islamist insurgents fleeing French air strikes toward the Algerian border, and France pressed ahead with its bombing campaign against al Qaeda's Saharan desert camps. Pro-autonomy Tuareg MNLA rebels said they had seized Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed, an Islamist leader who imposed harsh sharia...

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