Pakistan protesters demand end to killing of Shiites

QUETTA, Pakistan: Thousands of women refused to bury victims of a bloody bombing and a strike shut down Pakistan's biggest city Karachi as protesters across the country demanded protection for Shiite Muslims.Up to 4,000 women began their sit-in in Quetta Sunday evening, a day after a bomb in the city killed 81 members of the minority community including nine women and two girls aged seven...

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Normalcy returns to Kashmir after days of curfew

SRINAGAR: Normalcy returned to Kashmir valley on Monday after nine days of curfew and strike in the aftermath of the execution of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. The markets in Srinagar and other major towns were abuzz with activity as shopkeepers opened their outlets this morning. Government and private offices and other commercial establishments opened as per their normal schedule....

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...

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Meteor Blast Creates Rush to Cash In

The shattered glass and broken walls caused by the massive explosion of a monstrous meteor over this remote, industrial Russian city is not even cleaned up, and people are already trying to cash in.Some residents want to turn this city known mostly for its tank factory into a tourist destination, while others from all around the world are determined to find fragments of the meteorite.Meteor...

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Pakistani governor criticizes security forces after bombing

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A provincial official criticized Pakistani security forces on Sunday after a bombing targeting the Shi'ite Hazara community killed 80 people in the northwestern city of Quetta. "The terrorist attack on the Hazara Shi'ite community in Quetta is a failure of the intelligence and security forces," Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, governor of Baluchistan province, said...

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Briton survived Outback by drinking contact lens fluid

SYDNEY: A British backpacker who endured three days missing in Australia's punishing Outback survived by drinking his contact lens fluid and urine, his mother said Sunday.Samuel Woodhead, 18, was found Friday on the sprawling remote property Upshot Station, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the far-flung central Queensland town of Longreach, from where he had set off on Tuesday.He became...

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Over 50 arrested for stone-pelting after Afzal Guru's hanging

Srinagar: Over 50 youths have been arrested for allegedly being involved in stone-pelting during protests that rocked parts of the Kashmir Valley following execution of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. "Police have arrested 53 persons from different districts of the Valley on the charges of stone-pelting and creating trouble after Guru's hanging," a police spokesman said. Protests...

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States' choices set up national health experiment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds?The nation is about evenly split between states that decided by Friday's deadline they want a say in running new insurance markets and states that are defaulting to federal...

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Carnival Cruise Ship Hit With First Lawsuit

The first lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines has been filed and it is expected to be the beginning of a wave of lawsuits against the ship's owners.Cassie Terry, 25, of Brazoria County, Texas, filed a lawsuit today in Miami federal court, calling the disabled Triumph cruise ship "a floating hell.""Plaintiff was forced to endure unbearable and horrendous odors on the filthy and...

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Exclusive: North Korea tells China of preparations for fresh nuclear test - source

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks, said a source with direct knowledge of the message. Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source, who has direct access to the top levels of...

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