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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Football: Messi at double as Barcelona make record start

MADRID: Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 5-1 to set a new record start to a La Liga season and open a 14-point gap on bitter rivals Real Madrid who later face a crunch derby with in-form Atletico.Gerard Pique put the Catalan side ahead after 22 minutes followed quickly by Messi's first, which came off defender Fernando Amorebieta on the line, before Adriano Correia...

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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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Oil prices gain ahead of weekend

NEW YORK: Oil prices turned higher in late trade Friday to end with modest gains ahead of the weekend despite growing worries over deficit negotiations in Washington.In New York, West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery added 84 cents to $88.91 a barrel.On the London market, the Brent North Sea contract for January gained 47 cents to $111.23 a barrel.Traders said there was little...

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Cabinet condoles Gujral's death, declares 7-day state mourning

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Friday paid its condolence to the passing away of former PM Inder Kumar Gujral and declared seven-day state mourning as a mark of respect for the departed leader. The national flag will fly half mast on all buildings and there will be no official entertainment during the seven days of state mourning, starting Friday and will be on till December 6. Gujral will be given...

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Pictures: Mysterious Maya Tomb Explored for First Time

Photograph courtesy Héctor Montaño, INAHSporting an elaborate headdress and shield, the Palenque king named Kan Bahlam, or Snake Jaguar, is depicted on one of the tomb walls.Eight other figures are depicted as well, "each probably a different royal ancestor of the tomb occupant," said Stuart."The imagery of nine ancestors seems to have been a theme repeated in other Palenque royal tombs, such as Pakal's...

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Damascus clashes close airport road, telecoms cut

DAMASCUS: Syrian troops mounted an assault on rebels near Damascus on Thursday, closing off the road to the airport before later securing it, authorities said, amid a widespread telecommunications outage.Meanwhile, as UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hinted President Bashar al-Assad would have to step down to allow for a new Syria, a monitoring group said a government air raid on the northern...

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White paper on irrigation a dud, Maharashtra skirts corruption

MUMBAI: The much-awaited white paper on irrigation, which was placed before the state cabinet on Thursday, has turned out to be a dud. As expected, it skirts the core issue of corruption and irregularities in the water resources department, and merely collates data on projects approved in the last decade. Addressing a news conference on Thursday night, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the two-volume...

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Obama Lunches With Romney as 'Cliff' Talks Falter

President Obama and Mitt Romney met face to face today for the first time since the election, breaking bread at the White House as talks over the looming "fiscal cliff" appeared to be faltering on Capitol Hill."I bet it was and is quite tasty," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said of the lunch as it was underway, "because [the chefs] know how to prepare very fine meals."The menu...

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Polar Ice Sheets Shrinking Worldwide, Study Confirms

The polar ice sheets are indeed shrinking—and fast, according to a comprehensive new study on climate change. And the effects, according to an international team, are equally clear—sea levels are rising faster than predicted, which could bring about disastrous effects for people and wildlife.Rising seas would increase the risk of catastrophic flooding like that caused by Hurricane Sandy...

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US makes last-ditch bid to head off Palestinian UN vote

UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Wednesday pressed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas not to seek elevated UN status, but Abbas remained on course to win a new show of international support.Abbas will make the Palestinian case for "non-member observer state" status and indicate his conditions for talks with Israel in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, officials said.He...

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Trinamool unstinting against FDI: Party MP

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress, which started the winter session by attempting a no-confidence motion against the government, is clear that it will do its best to stall FDI in retail from being implemented and vote against the policy decision. In a blog posting, party MP Derek O'Brien said, "The Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, have been the original...

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Powerball 'Strategies' Refuted by Experts

The Powerball jackpot, now a record $550 million, has led to "lotto fever" as millions rush to buy tickets ahead of the 11 p.m. ET drawing, but mathematicians and experts warn that strategies will do little to enhance your chance of winning.Even Richard Lustig, seven-time lottery winner who has written the book, "Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery," says...

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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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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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Football: Blues owner Yeung to go on trial

HONG KONG: Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung will go on trial in Hong Kong on Wednesday on charges of money laundering after the troubled tycoon failed in a bid to have the case postponed.The former hairdresser was arrested and charged in June last year with five counts of "dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence".The exact nature of the...

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IIT-Kanpur flushes rail bio-toilet plan

CHENNAI: Scientists of IIT-Kanpur have thrown the kitchen sink at a high-tech solution to a messy problem: How to keep the world's largest railway network clean and prevent corrosion of lines when train toilets unload waste directly on the tracks. Bio-toilets developed by the Indian Railways and Defence Research and Development Organization have earned praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,...

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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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FAA nominee in the clear after DeMint lifts objection

Sen. Jim DeMint is lifting his hold on an FAA nominee. (Jonathan Ernst - Reuters) After a deep freeze, it looks like things might be moving again in the Senate: Sen. Jim De Mint is no longer blocking the nomination of Michael Huerta to be Federal Aviation Administration administrator. The South Carolina Republican had put a hold on Huerta last summer, reasoning that Republicans...

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Dow, S&P end lower but Apple boosts Nasdaq

NEW YORK: Strong gains by Apple, Facebook and other key tech stocks sent the Nasdaq exchange higher Monday while the Dow and S&P 500 sagged.The US markets were generally feeble on the first session after a slow Thanksgiving holiday week, with the jury still out over how strong the crucial Black Friday holiday sales went for retailers.The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 42.31...

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Rajya Sabha logjam over FDI continues

NEW DELHI: The logjam in Parliament over FDI in multi-brand retail continued on Monday with opposition parties twice forcing adjournment of the Upper House.The morning session started with chairman Hamid Ansari expressing the resolve of the House in fighting terrorism on the 4th anniversary of Mumbai attacks but had to be adjourned shortly as the BJP refused to relent. The main Opposition accused...

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Car Sharing Widens the Lanes of Access for City Drivers

Behind Valencia Street's widened sidewalks and bike lanes, San Francisco has another tool ready to cut traffic and transit crowding. Nestled in the neighborhoods surrounding this longtime transportation corridor are hundreds of parked cars—available for sharing.Brian Scates, creative director at a Silicon Valley startup, rented out his 2000 Audi All-Road last year for $50 to $60 a day,...

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Motor Racing: Show over as Schumacher bids farewell

SAO PAULO: Michael Schumacher bade an emotional farewell to Formula One on Sunday after finishing seventh in his final race, the tumultuous season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.After 21 years, seven drivers' championship triumphs and 91 victories, the 43-year-old recovered from an early puncture to score points in his final outing with the Mercedes team.In an incident-packed race, Schumacher...

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World should follow India’s example: Dalai Lama

KOCHI: Addressing the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church centenary celebration on Sunday Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama said India is an example for the world because many religious sects co-exist in the country even today. "Spiritually, the country occupies a very important place and its tradition is relevant today. Harmony can be more effective if love and compassion are practised in daily...

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No Powerball Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million

Nov 25, 2012 10:37am                                                                ...

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