Washington set to legalize marijuana use without Justice Department guidance

Adults in Washington state will be able to smoke marijuana legally when it is officially decriminalized Thursday, even though the Justice Department has offered no guidance on the conflict with federal drug laws. Prosecutors throughout the state have begun dismissing hundreds of misdemeanor marijuana cases, according to authorities there, and state and local police are being retrained...

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Shiites headed for big gains in Kuwaiti polls

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait's Shiite minority candidates appeared Saturday set to win around 15 seats of the 50-member parliament in the polls boycotted by the Sunni-dominated opposition, their biggest ever tally.Early results suggested Shiite candidates winning seats in all of the five constituencies, including as many as eight of the 10 seats in the first district, with half of its population...

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FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

NEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest.BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working...

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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

Into the Sea Photograph by Hugh Gentry, ReutersA spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into...

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Police: KC Chiefs Player Killed Girlfriend, Self

Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said."We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman...

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Euro pushes higher; yen falls after stimulus announced

NEW YORK: The euro surged against the dollar Friday, topping the $1.30 level before giving back most of the ground to end only slightly higher.At $1.2982 at around 2300 GMT, it was still the European currency's best level in five weeks, finishing up from $1.2978 late Thursday.There was little news to provoke any firm moves, and analysts said the euro could move lower next week as the Greek...

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Around 40% states still have more than 5% as stamp duty

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) audit into Centre's urban renewal programme - Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) -- has shown that 40% of states and Union Territories have failed to rationalize stamp duty to 5% for property registration. The defaulting states include Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala and Chhattisgarh. High stamp duty discourages...

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Pictures: Bakken Shale Oil Boom Transforms North Dakota

Photograph by Jim Urquhart, ReutersHis overalls caked in mud, roughneck Brian Waldner wrestles with pipe as North Dakota's new horizon unfolds around him. (Related: "Oil Train Revival: Booming North Dakota Relies on Rail to Deliver Its Crude")North Dakota, once a sleepy backwater of the petroleum industry, this year surpassed Alaska as the number two oil producer in the United States. The gush of...

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3 Dead After Attack at Wyo. Community College

Three people are dead after an attack at Casper College, a Wyoming community college, that may have involved a type of bow and arrow.The college was shut down Friday morning after the attack."Emergency Alert: All classes and activities are cancelled today," read a message posted on the school's website.Initial calls came in just after 9 a.m. reporting a "traumatic injury" on...

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Euro benefits from US 'fiscal cliff' hopes

NEW YORK: The euro rose against the dollar Thursday, boosted by hopes that US politicians will find a compromise to avoid the year-end "fiscal cliff" that could jolt the economy into recession.With investors' appetite for risk whetted, the euro bought $1.2978 at 2200 GMT, up from $1.2939 at the same time Wednesday.The European unit rose against the Japanese currency, to 106.58 yen from...

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CPM accuses Congress of allowing disruption in Parliament

NEW DELHI: The CPM on Thursday accused the Congress of allowing disruption of both Houses of Parliament so that it could marshal the numbers in case of a vote on FDI in multi-brand retail. The Lok Sabha was disrupted for four days and Rajya Sabha for five consecutive days as the opposition, including the BJP and Left parties, demanded a discussion and vote on the issue. "The government has agreed...

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Pictures: Inside the World's Most Powerful Laser

Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNLLooking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand...

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Palestinians Win Statehood Status at U.N.

The U.N. General Assembly voted today to approve Palestinians' request to be upgraded to a "non-member observer state," defying opposition by the U.S. and Israel.Before the vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the General Assembly that it "is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine."Of the 193 countries in the General Assembly 138 voted to recognize...

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FCC chief’s successors-in-waiting

(Marvin Joseph - The Washington Post) Rumors have been flying for many months over Julius Genachowski’s successor at the Federal Communications Commission. He hasn’t officially announced a departure, but industry experts are floating several contenders to replace him:Blair Levin, who had worked on Obama’s transition team, was a senior adviser to Genachowski and helped craft the...

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No progress in cliff talks leave dollar-euro flat

NEW YORK: The dollar traded flat against the euro Wednesday after a slight push higher mid-session, as talks continued in Washington on averting the economy-crunching fiscal cliff.At 2200 GMT, the euro bought $1.2939, a hair off the level at the same time Tuesday.Just hours earlier, the euro fell to $1.2881 before rebounding, the swings apparently related to perceptions over whether the...

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Indira Gandhi lent Indian politics the dynastic shift: Ramachandra Guha

BANGALORE: The Congress led by Indira Gandhi fostered a generation of hero worship and dynasty politics after 1969. This inspired many others like Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who started off with noble intentions to fight against caste discriminations, to do the same and has led to a centralization of politics in present India, said Ramachandra Guha, on Wednesday. He was speaking during the launch of...

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Black Hole Blast Biggest Ever Recorded

Astronomers have witnessed a record-breaking blast of gas and dust flowing out of a monster black hole more than 11.5 billion light-years away.The supermassive gravity well, with a mass of one to three billion suns, lurks at the core of a quasar—a class of extremely bright and energetic galaxies—dubbed SDSS J1106 1939. (See "Black Hole Blasts Superheated Early Universe.")"We discovered...

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Dos, Don'ts of Powerball Office Pools

Powerball fever is sweeping the nation.The Powerball jackpot is at a record high of $550 million. And with the winnings so high, everyone is rushing to buy a ticket in the hope that they'll be the lucky winner.A popular means of lotto ticket purchasing is an office pool -- in which a group of colleagues pools their money, buys a slate of tickets together and promises to share the...

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Keeping the financial regulators on their toes

When members of Congress need factual information and insights into the effectiveness of the financial laws put in place after the 2008 economic crisis, they regularly turn to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Orice Williams Brown. Initially as director and now as managing director of the GAO’s financial markets and community investment section, Brown and her staff have issued...

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Euro sags after new Greek debt deal sealed

NEW YORK: The euro fell against the dollar Tuesday following a week of gains after the European Union and IMF reached agreement on recasting Greece's bailout to avert a looming default.But the dollar's gains were limited by signs that negotiations in Washington over the looming fiscal cliff, remained divided on key issues.At 2200 GMT the euro was at $1.2938, down from $1.2971 at the same...

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Mamata to decide on voting over FDI

KOLKATA: With the Congress likely to garner a majority in Parliament over the FDI issue, the Trinamool Congress is yet to carve out its strategy in Parliament, in case Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allows the debate under rule 184. Trinamool leaders have left it to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to decide whether the party will stage a walkout along with parties such as Samajwadi Party and Bahujan...

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Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation IndiaA young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian...

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Egypt Erupts Over Morsi's 'First Step for Tyranny'

Nov 27, 2012 1:33pm Khalil Hamra/AP PhotoCAIRO – Waves of protesters poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square today to protest the far-reaching constitutional declaration made by President Mohammed Morsi last week that has essentially granted him unchecked power.Click here for images of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square.The new declaration frees Morsi from judicial oversight...

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Euro steady as traders await Greek rescue deal

NEW YORK: The euro traded in a narrow range against the dollar Monday in a nervous market awaiting the outcome of a meeting of Greece's creditors on crucial aid for the debt-crushed country.The euro bought $1.2971 at 2200 GMT, slightly down from $1.2973 at the same time Friday.The euro fell against the Japanese currency, to 106.38 yen from 106.90 late Friday, while the dollar fell to 81.98...

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Ex-NSG commando Surender Singh holds forth on 26/11 symbolism

NEW DELHI: Anti-graft crusader Arvind Kejriwal was not the only one to tug at the hearts of people gathered at his party launch on Monday. There was a soldier, who seemed to exemplify the popular slogan 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan.' Ex-NSG commando Surender Singh made his public speaking debut at the gathering, but narrated his plight in an articulate manner. Born in a poor farmer's family in Haryana's...

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Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

High Horse Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.Taken...

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Mom Fears Dad in Boy's Disappearance

The mother of 13-year-old boy Dylan Redwine, who disappeared a week ago during a court ordered visit to his father, fears that the dad may have done something to "remove Dylan from the situation."Dylan Redwine was last seen at the home of his father, Mark Redwine, when he vanished seven days ago."I was married to Mark for a lot of years, and I know the way he reacts to things,"...

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Tidying up the 2012 election

They are still counting votes in Ohio, a process that once seemed as if it might transfix the nation and require the attention of the Supreme Court, but now it’s something more like an asterisk. County elections boards around the state are putting the finishing touches on the democratic process. They must decide which of the more than 200,000 provisional ballots should be accepted and...

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Bread-and-butter issues dominate forum on values

SINGAPORE: A forum for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents to share what societal values and qualities are important to them was dominated by bread-and-butter issues instead. The discussion held at the Woodlands Galaxy Community Club on Sunday was organised as part of the Our Singapore Conversation national project. It was hosted by Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) grassroots...

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Union govt cancels coal block allocated to Himachal Pradesh

SHIMLA: In a major setback to the ambitious plan of the Himachal Pradesh government to draw power through a thermal plant outside the state, the Union coal ministry has cancelled allocation of a coal block to the state. The state government, which wanted to create an additional source of power for winter months when electricity generation from hydro-power generation dips, will lodge a protest after...

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Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling. Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group...

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No Powerball Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million

Nov 25, 2012 10:37am                                                                ...

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