Vatican Says Pope Benedict Will Resign Feb. 28

Pope Benedict XVI announced today that he will resign Feb. 28, saying his role requires "both strength of mind and body."The pope's decision makes him the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years. A conclave to elect a new pope will take place before the end of March. The 85-year-old pope announced the decision to resign in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals.VIDEO:...

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Many 2011 federal budget cuts had little real-world effect

Late on the night of April 8, 2011, Washington’s leaders announced that they’d just done something extraordinary. They had agreed to cut the federal budget — and cut it big. “The largest annual spending cut in our history,” President Obama called it in a televised speech. To prevent a government shutdown, the parties had agreed to slash $37.8 billion: more than the budgets of the Labor...

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Horsemeat scandal spreads as French retailers pull foods

PARIS: The Europe-wide scandal over horsemeat sold as beef spread Sunday as six French retailers pulled products from their shelves and France promised to have the results of an urgent inquiry within days.A senior British lawmaker meanwhile upped the stakes by calling for a temporary ban on importing EU meat, as a French minister suggested London was threatening food safety standards by...

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21 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants caught

MUMBAI: The Special Branch of the city police arrested 21 Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, including nine women, who were employed in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as labourers, police said. The police conducted raids at Rey Road, Mankhurd and Navi Mumbai's Kalamboli areas and caught the illegal immigrants. "We have been working to trace the illegal immigrants. The accused have been arrested," said a...

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Mars Rover Curiosity Completes First Full Drill

For the first time in history, humans have drilled a hole into rock on Mars and are collecting the powdered results for analysis, NASA announced Saturday.After weeks of intensive planning, the Mars rover Curiosity undertook its first full drill on Friday, with NASA receiving images on Saturday showing that the procedure was a success.Curiosity drilled a hole that is a modest 2.5 inches...

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LAPD Reopens Case of Suspected Cop-Killer's Firing

The Los Angeles Police Department announced today it will reopen the case of the firing of Christopher Dorner, but said the decision was not made to "appease" the fugitive former cop suspected of killing three people.Dorner, a fired and disgruntled former Los Angeles police officer, said in the so-called "manifesto" he released that he was targeting LAPD officials and their...

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Halal beef bak kwa gaining popularity

SINGAPORE: Halal beef bak kwa, also known as 'Dendeng', is quickly becoming an alternative choice this festive season.Dendeng House, for example, sells between 400 to 600 kilogrammes of dendeng daily - up from the usual 200 kilogrammes.The dendeng is seen as an alternative, as prices do not get marked up during the Lunar New Year season.Dendeng buyers also don't have to contend with the...

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Centre targeting political opponents: Mulayam

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today alleged the Congress-led UPA government is more interested in "targeting" its political opponents instead of working for the poor people. "The Centre is trying to threaten in the name of inquiries. The ruling Congress party did not think in the interest of poor and ignores them," Yadav said while addressing party workers here. Giving...

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull

Solar DragonImage courtesy SDO/NASAResembling a dragon's tail, remnants of a solar filament strain to escape the sun's gravity in an image released this week by NASA's Solar Dynamics...

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Blizzard Drops 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 and New Englanders awoke Saturday to more than 2 feet of snow.More than 34 inches of snow fell in Hamden in central Connecticut, and an 82-mph wind gust was recorded down the...

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