Virbhadra Singh to be next Himachal CM: Congress

CHANDIGARH/SHIMLA: Ending the 48-hour mystery after the party staged a comprehensive comeback in the Himachal Pradesh polls, Congress on Saturday finally announced Virbhadra Singh, the win's prime architect, as the new chief minister of the state. "After a meeting with the Congress legislators who reposed the faith in Virbhadra ji and a confirmation by the party chief Sonia Gandhi ji, we announce...

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

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'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether...

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Vice president quits as Egypt votes on constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's vice-president resigned on Saturday as Egyptians voted in a referendum that is expected to approve a new constitution that lays the foundations for the country's transition to democracy but will strip him of his role. Authorities extended voting by four hours in the second and decisive round of the plebiscite on an Islamist-drafted constitution that the opposition...

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Suicide attack kills Pakistan provincial minister, 7 others

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber killed a senior provincial minister and seven other people at a political meeting in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.The bomber struck when around 100 people including the provincial leadership of the Awami National Party (ANP) had gathered at a meeting in the city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa...

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Durg-Bhilainagar, not Delhi, the rape capital of the country

DURG-BHILAINAGAR: Delhi, it seems, is not really the rape capital of India. Chhattisgarh's Durg-Bhilainagar, an urban agglomeration with a population of almost 10 lakh is being billed as the region with the highest incidence of rapes recorded in the country. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the area recorded 5.7 rapes per 100,000 people last year while 2.8 rapes were registered in...

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.But since then, Big Pharma has been...

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Boehner's Take on Fiscal Cliff Deal: 'God Only Knows'

Dec 21, 2012 11:00am Speaker of the House John Boehner bluntly acknowledged Friday morning he did not have the votes to pass his “Plan B” and said the only real solution is a broad agreement to cut spending and reform the tax code. Then he added these words:“How we get there, God only knows.”That about sums up the whole “fiscal cliff” situation after a chaotic Thursday...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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India seeks life sentences for Delhi bus rapists

NEW DELHI: India's government, facing swelling protests over the gang-rape of a female student on a bus, vowed on Friday to press for life sentences for her six attackers and promised stricter policing.Home Secretary R.K. Singh also said the government would pay the medical bills of the 23-year-old victim of the brutal Sunday night attack, who is fighting for her life after suffering serious...

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UP has maximum MLAs facing charges of crimes against women

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh(UP) not only tops in crime rate and politicians with criminal record, it also has maximum number of members of legislative assembly(MLAs) facing charges of crimes against women, including rape. Total 42 MLAs taken together from all the states of the country have declared charges of crimes against women in their sworn affidavits submitted with the Election Commission of India...

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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Winter Weather Threatens Christmas Travel

A pre-Christmas blizzard that is battering at least eight states in the middle of the nation could trip up travelers headed home for Christmas in the coming days.Nearly 20 inches of snow have been reported in Colorado just west of Denver. Nebraska has reported 6-to-10 inches so far. Between 3 and 8 inches have accumulated in Iowa already and more is possible. Snow is falling...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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Spanish lawmakers pass 2013 crisis budget

MADRID: Spanish lawmakers passed 39 billion euros' ($52 billion) worth of unpopular spending cuts Thursday as angry demonstrators urged fresh street protests.The government says the tough cuts in the 2013 budget are needed to fix the public finances of the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy, stricken by the collapse of a construction boom in 2008.As the lower house Congress dominated by...

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