House set to vote on Hurricane Sandy relief package

The House is set to vote Tuesday on $50 billion in relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, a package designed to speed aid to devastated communities in New York and New Jersey, and a vote that could provide an early test of the resolve of Republican deficit hawks. The package is likely to be approved on the strength of votes from Democrats and Republicans who hail from communities hit hard...

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Oil prices fall on weak German, US data

NEW YORK: Oil prices retreated Tuesday after unimpressive economic data out of Germany and the US raised questions about the strength of petroleum demand.Prices of US benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures settled at US$93.28 a barrel, down 86 cents. European benchmark Brent crude futures settled at US$110.30 a barrel, down US$1.58.German gross domestic product shrank by about 0.5 pe...

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Speaker should have expunged abusive proceedings right away: Somnath

CHANDIGARH: Former LokSabha Speaker SomnathChatterjee, who set an example by refusing to follow the party line to vote against the Congress-led government in a crucial July 2008 confidence vote, on Tuesday strongly differed with the handling of the abusive CD row involving Punjab minister BikramMajithia, saying that the expunging of assembly proceedings should not have come as an "afterthought".The...

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Arias Called Boyfriend 4 Times After Killing Him

Jodi Arias tried to cover her tracks after killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, by making a flurry of phone calls to his cell phone and hacking into his voice mailbox, prosecutors alleged today.Phone records presented in court today showed Arias persistently calling Alexander in the days before the killing. Ten calls were made from Arias' cell phone to Alexander's cell...

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long)...

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Obama promises diversity in White House, Cabinet

(Alex Wong - GETTY IMAGES) It seemed President Obama might have been a bit defensive, at his press conference Monday, when he was asked about diversity in his Cabinet picks.His first term had “as diverse... a White House and a Cabinet than any in history,” he said, adding that he “would just suggest that everybody kind of wait until they’ve seen all my appointments... before...

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US student could "doodle" way to college money

SAN FRANCISCO: Google on Monday launched a competition that will let a US student "doodle" his or her way to cash for college along with landing grant money to fund technology education at their grade school.The California-based Internet titan announced its sixth annual "Doodle 4 Google" contest in which students from kindergarten to 12th grade vie to create a winning "doodle," a creative...

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Cold wave persists in Himachal

SHIMLA: Cold wave persisted in most parts of Himachal Pradesh even as mercury rose marginally across the state and stayed close to normal level.The high-altitude tribal areas and other higher hills had mild snowfall while some places in mid and lower hills had light rains with Nadaun in Hamirpur district recording 3 mm of rainfall.While tourist spot Manali recorded minimum temperature of minus 0.4...

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Space Pictures: 7 Ways You Could Blast Off by 2023

Space AvailablePhotograph courtesy Mark Greenberg, Virgin GalacticWhile humans may be running out of unexplored regions on Earth, space remains a deep and intriguing frontier, especially...

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Lance Armstrong Apologizes to Livestrong Staff

Lance Armstrong apologized today to the Livestrong staff ahead of his interview with Oprah Winfrey, a foundation official said.The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin, Texas, headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.Armstrong's...

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