Jay Rockefeller, likely the last of a political dynasty

Uncle Nelson was vice president. Uncle Winthrop a governor. Great-grandfather Nelson a senator. Political bloodlines, he had. But the great American electoral dynasty that abruptly announced its end Friday, or at least signaled what looks to be a long, long pause, always evoked more. That name on the ballot — Rockefeller — meant money. It meant epic-scale success. It meant everything.And...

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100 youth leaders engage in national conversation dialogue

SINGAPORE: Some 100 youth leaders and members from nine youth uniformed organisations engaged in an Our Singapore Conversation dialogue on Saturday morning. The event is part of the Inaugural Young Leaders' Forum organised by the Singapore Scout Association.Education Minister Heng Swee Keat was also present to listen in and have an open dialogue with the participants.Some of the topics...

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Govt will not give in to 'wild calls for revenge': Salman Khurshid

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Saturday the government will not buckle to "wild calls for revenge and reaction" over the killing and beheading of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops.In an interview to a news channel, Khurshid said the heightened border tensions "demands very responsible and sensible and moderate behaviour"."We're not going to be pressurised by wild...

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse CancelmoA fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right."He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan said. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business...

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Bibles used by King, Lincoln to be part of Obama’s second inauguration

Martin Luther King Jr. carried a black leather King James Bible on his journeys as a young pastor starting out in Montgomery, Ala. He turned to this “traveling Bible” for inspiration, his family says, as he fought for freedom and equality. President Obama will put his hand over King’s well-worn Bible at his public swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, the holiday celebrating the...

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SIT hopes to make education system more robust

SINGAPORE : The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) hopes it can help to make the education system more robust and relevant by offering an industry-ready college education with good career prospects.The institute's incoming president Professor Tan Thiam Soon said this will be its true challenge.He was speaking at SIT's inaugural graduation ceremony.Nearly 470 students received their...

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Akhilesh gives Rs 20 lakh to Delhi gang-rape victim's kin

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav Friday gave a cheque of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the young woman who died in Singapore after being gang-raped in Delhi. Yadav told the woman's distraught family in Ballia that although money would never bring her back, it would help sustain them in times to come. He also assured them that the government was doing its best to ensure women's...

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Dreamliner Faces Scrutiny After More Mishaps

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will face more scrutiny today as the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to order a comprehensive review of the plane's design, critical systems and manufacturing.FAA officials have scheduled a news conference for today, during which they plan to announce the agency's intention to perform a special review of the carbon-fiber plane, according...

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Bibles used by King, Lincoln to be part of Obama’s second inauguration

Martin Luther King Jr. carried a black leather King James Bible on his journeys as a young pastor starting out in Montgomery, Ala. He turned to this “traveling Bible” for inspiration, his family says, as he fought for freedom and equality. President Obama will put his hand over King’s well-worn Bible at his public swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, the holiday celebrating the...

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Johor may review procedures for foreigners to buy houses

JOHOR BAHARU, Malaysia: Johor state will review procedures and conditions for foreigners to own houses due to spiralling house prices in the state, especially in Iskandar Malaysia.Bernama news agency quoted Local Government, Housing, Arts, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Ahmad Zahri Jamil as saying that the state Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) was studying ways to tighten the rules...

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Teach Pakistan a lesson like 1965: Hazare

RALEGAN-SIDDHI (Maharashtra): Social activist Anna Hazare Thursday demanded that India should "teach Pakistan a lesson" like it did in 1965 for the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir. "What they have done is simply unacceptable. How can they mutilate and take away the head of our soldier? This cannot be tolerated by any person," Hazare told reporters here....

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Embryonic Sharks Freeze to Avoid Detection

Jane J. Lee Although shark pups are born with all the equipment they'll ever need to defend themselves and hunt down food, developing embryos still stuck in their egg cases are vulnerable to predators. But a new study finds that even these baby sharks can detect a potential predator, and play possum to avoid being eaten.Every living thing gives off a weak electrical field. Sharks can sense...

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Photos: 21 Stars Who've Never Been Nominated for an Oscar

Though Bradley Cooper may be best known for summer blockbusters like "The Hangover" and "The A Team," he's a classically trained actor who's been vying for an Oscar for years. With his role in this year's "Silver Linings Playbook," the 38-year-old could finally get his first shot at Hollywood's most coveted gold trophy. Click through to see 20 more stars who have never been nominated for an Oscar....

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Football: Teenage defender Wisdom signs new Liverpool deal

LONDON: Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom has cemented his emergence as a member of the first-team squad by signing a new long-term contract, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday.The 19-year-old made his debut in the Europa League earlier this season and an injury to left-back Jose Enrique has enabled him to make 14 appearances so far in the current campaign.Liverpool did not reveal...

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34 dead due to unabated cold wave in north India

NEW DELHI: At least 34 more deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh as cold wave conditions continued unabated in North, East and Central parts of the country, even as temperature soared slightly in some places. The national capital witnessed a chilly but sunny morning with the mercury rising a bit during the early hours. There was a shallow fog in the morning hours and the minimum temperature...

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Pictures: Wildfires Scorch Australia Amid Record Heat

Photograph by Jo Giuliani, European Pressphoto AgencySmoke from a wildfire mushrooms over a beach in Forcett, Tasmania, on January 4. (See more wildfire pictures.)Wildfires have engulfed southeastern Australia, including the island state of Tasmania, in recent days, fueled by dry conditions and temperatures as high as 113ºF (45ºC), the Associated Press reported. (Read "Australia's Dry Run" inNational...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Wife Seeks 'Truth'

The wife of a $1 million Chicago lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning told ABC News that she was shocked to learn the true cause of his death and is cooperating with an ongoing homicide investigation."I want the truth to come out in the investigation, the sooner the better," said Shabana Ansari, 32, the wife of Urooj Khan, 46. "Who could be that person who hurt him?"It...

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Asian startups tap on crowd funding for capital

SINGAPORE: Asia-focused private equity raised roughly US$30 billion in 2011 according to a report last year by Private Equity International.However, with more than half of that goes into China and India, startups in the rest of Asia are left with fewer funding options.According to experts, most Asian startups rely on traditional funding sources like government grants and loans from family...

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Pak troops cross LoC, kill 2 Indian jawans brutally

JAMMU: In a gruesome attack, Pakistani troops on Tuesday crossed into Indian territory and ambushed an Army patrol party killing two soldiers whose heads were reportedly chopped off.The attack took place along the Line of Control in Poonch district when Pakistanis came about 100 metres into Indian territory and assaulted the patrol party. Besides killing two Lance Naiks, Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh,...

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Primitive and Peculiar Mammal May Be Hiding Out in Australia

It’d be hard to think of a mammal that’s weirder than the long-beaked, egg-laying echidna. Or harder to find.Scientists long thought the animal, which has a spine-covered body, a four-headed penis, and a single hole for reproducing, laying eggs, and excreting waste, lived only in New Guinea. The population of about 10,000 is critically endangered. Now there is tantalizing evidence that...

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Giffords, Kelly Launch Initiative to Curb Gun Violence

After she was gravely wounded by gunfire two years ago in Tucson, Ariz., former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, imagined a life out of the public eye, where she would continue therapy surrounded by the friends, family and the Arizona desert she loves so much.Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly Speak Exclusively to Diane SawyerBut after the slaughter of 20 first-graders...

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Football: Sturridge hopes Mansfield goal is just the start

LIVERPOOL: Daniel Sturridge has insisted Liverpool fans have still to see the best of him despite taking only seven minutes to score on debut in Sunday's 2-1 FA Cup third round win at Mansfield.The 23-year-old, signed from European champions and FA Cup holders Chelsea last week, got on the end of fellow England international Jonjo Shelvey's through-ball to give Liverpool an early lead...

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Jharkhand's BJP-led government reduced to minority

RANCHI: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Monday withdrew support from the BJP-led Arjun Munda government here over the issue of "rotation of power", reducing it to a minority in the 82-member house and plunging the state into a political crisis. "Today (Monday) we have decided to withdraw support from the government," deputy chief minister Hemant Soren and son of JMM chief Shibu Soren told...

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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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Hagel Nomination Stirs Bipartisan Opposition

Two weeks before his inauguration, and with more "fiscal cliffs" on the horizon, President Obama is embracing a showdown with Congress over his pick to lead the Pentagon in his second term.Obama will nominate former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense at a formal White House announcement later today, administration officials said.The president will...

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After ‘fiscal cliff,’ Obama finishes recharging on Hawaiian holiday

HONOLULU — The place where President Obama vacations each winter is farther from Washington than almost any other place in the United States. So, it is not terribly surprising that less than 45 minutes after Congress passed a bill averting the “fiscal cliff” on Jan. 1, Obama was racing back here. The president’s vacation with his family and friends had already been cut short by the protracted,...

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Obama considers arms sales restrictions: report

WASHINGTON: The administration of President Barack Obama is considering a broad array of measures to curb the nation's gun violence, including more than just a reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.Citing multiple people involved in the administration's discussions, the newspaper said a working group led by Vice...

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Mauritius president turns emotional on visiting ancestral village

WAJIDPUR (Bihar): Mauritius President Rajkeswur Purryag turned emotional Sunday as he set foot in his ancestral village in Bihar's Patna district, over a century and a half after his great-grandfather emigrated from it. "I am visiting this village, the land of my great-grandfather about 150 years after he left it for Mauritus. I am really emotional at the moment," Purryag said a choked voice at...

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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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Gun Show Near Newtown Goes on Despite Anger

A little more than 40 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where last month 20 first graders and six staff members were massacred, gun dealers and collectors alike ignored calls to cancel a gun show, and gathered for business in Stamford, Conn.Four other gun shows with an hour of Newtown, Conn., recently cancelled their events in the wake of the shootings, when 20-year-old...

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