Mursi calls December 15 referendum, Islamists rally

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi called a December 15 referendum on a new constitution, hoping to end protests over a decree expanding his powers, as at least 200,000 of his Islamist supporters rallied in Cairo on Saturday. Approval of the constitution drafted by an assembly stacked with Mursi's Islamist allies will override the November 22 decree that temporarily shielded...

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Special envoy to attend hearing in Ionescu's trial

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Special Envoy to Romania, Mr Ong Eng Chuan, will attend the next hearing in the trial of former Romanian diplomat, Silviu Ionescu, when it resumes on December 3.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he will be accompanied by a representative from the Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore.Ionescu, the former Romanian Charge d'Affaires in Singapore, is on trial for...

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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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Asperger's dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term "Asperger's disorder" is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But "dyslexia" and other learning disorders remain.The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation's psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.Full details...

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Wikileaks Case: Guards Deny Intimidating Manning

(Brendan Smialkowski/AFP/Getty Images)Bradley Manning’s former guards testified today that they did not intimidate the man accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified cables to the anti-secrets website Wikileaks during  a Jan. 18, 2011 incident that resulted in Manning being placed on a temporary suicide risk watch.Manning’s attorneys cite the event as a key reason why his pre-trial...

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Egyptians protest after draft constitution raced through

CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested against President Mohamed Mursi on Friday after an Islamist-led assembly raced through approval of a new constitution in a bid to end a crisis over the Islamist leader's newly expanded powers. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Tahrir Square, echoing the chants that rang out in the same place less than...

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S Korea exports rise beyond market forecast

SEOUL: South Korea's exports expanded for a second straight month in November, picking up pace well beyond market expectations, according to the latest government data.Exports grew 3.9 per cent on-year to US$47.80 billion in November as imports rose 0.7 per cent on-year to US$43.32 billion, leaving a US$4.48 billion trade surplus, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.In October, exports...

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Norway seeks jail for Indian couple held for 'scolding' son

OSLO: The Indian couple arrested here in an alleged child abuse case have been charged with "gross repeated maltreatment" of their child for which the prosecution has proposed a minimum sentence of one-year and three months for the parents.According to a statement by Oslo Police Department, the couple have been remanded in custody, as there is reason to fear that they will evade prosecution by returning...

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Kenya village pairs AIDS orphans with grandparents

NYUMBANI, Kenya (AP) — There are no middle-aged people in Nyumbani. They all died years ago, before this village of hope in Kenya began. Only the young and old live here.Nyumbani was born of the AIDS crisis. The 938 children here all saw their parents die. The 97 grandparents — eight grandfathers among them — saw their middle-aged children die. But put together, the bookend generations take care of...

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Could Outgoing Republicans Hold Keys to 'Cliff' Deal?

Nov 30, 2012 1:45pm AP Photo/Carolyn KasterThe outlook for reaching some sort of bipartisan agreement on the so-called “fiscal cliff” before the Dec. 31 deadline is looking increasingly grim. Shortly after noon today, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, appeared before the cameras to say the talks had reached a “stalemate.”But there may be a glimmer...

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Palestinians win de facto U.N. recognition of sovereign state

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long overdue "birth certificate." The U.N. victory for the Palestinians was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined...

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Longer jail term for lawyer who misappropriated clients' money

SINGAPORE: The High Court has imposed a longer imprisonment term for disgraced lawyer Tan Cheng Yew, who misappropriated S$4.82 million of his clients' money.Tan now has to serve 12 years' jail instead of the original nine. Tan was on the run for six years after he misappropriated the money.He was arrested in Munich, Germany, in 2009 and extradited to Singapore. The public prosecutor told...

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Rajya Sabha to debate and vote on FDI in retail

NEW DELHI: The five-day deadlock in Rajya Sabha on the FDI issue ended on Friday after Chairman Hamid Ansari allowed a discussion on the issue under a rule that allows voting. When the House met for the day, Ansari said he has received eight notices for discussion on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail under Rule 168. He said he has admitted the motion and "will allow discussion on the subject under...

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Clinton releases road map for AIDS-free generation

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an ambitious road map for slashing the global spread of AIDS, the Obama administration says treating people sooner and more rapid expansion of other proven tools could help even the hardest-hit countries begin turning the tide of the epidemic over the next three to five years."An AIDS-free generation is not just a rallying cry — it is a goal that is within our reach," Secretary...

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Man Arrested in Fla. Girl's 1993 Disappearance

Police have arrested a 42-year-old man and charged him with murder in the case of a Florida girl who vanished almost 20 years ago.Andrea Gail Parsons, 10, of Port Salerno, Fla., was last seen on July 11, 1993, shortly after 6 p.m. She had just purchased candy and soda at a grocery store when she waved to a local couple as they drove by on an area street and honked, police said.Today,...

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Egypt assembly seeks to wrap up constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - The assembly writing Egypt's constitution said it could wrap up a final draft later on Wednesday, a move the Muslim Brotherhood sees as a way out of a crisis over a decree by President Mohamed Mursi that protesters say gives him dictatorial powers. But as Mursi's opponents staged a sixth day of protests in Tahrir Square, critics said the Islamist-dominated assembly's...

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New feature on cigarettes to show legality

SINGAPORE: From March next year, all cigarettes sold in Singapore must have a new marking to show that they are not contraband or smuggled goods.Besides the letters "SDPC", which stand for Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarette, there will be a series of vertical bars around the cigarette stick.Cigarettes with the extra feature can be sold from December 1. From March 1, cigarettes without the new...

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Rajya Sabha disrupted again

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned till 12 noon as opposition MPs, who have been demanding a debate on the government's move to allow foreign investment in multi-brand retail, again disrupted the house. Opposition MPs were on their feet and shouting slogans as soon as question hour was taken up at 11am. Despite requests from the chair Hamid Ansari to let proceedings continue,...

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons...

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Powerball Numbers Drawn for Nearly $580M Jackpot

5-23-16-22-29-Powerball 6: Those are the winning numbers for an estimated $579 million Powerball jackpot -- the biggest in history.After a feverish day that saw hopeful players buying tickets at the rate of 131,000 every minute, lottery officials in Orlando, Fla., drew the winning sequence shortly after 11 p.m.The results likely will be announced sometime after 2 a.m. Thursday...

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Egyptians challenge Mursi in nationwide protests

CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied on Tuesday against President Mohamed Mursi in one of the biggest outpourings of protest since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow, accusing the Islamist leader of seeking to impose a new era of autocracy. Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths in streets near the main protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square, heart of the uprising that toppled...

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Kim Jong-Un 2012's "Sexiest Man Alive"?

BEIJING: The Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece on Wednesday deleted a story that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un had been named 2012's "Sexiest Man Alive", after it fell for a spoof by US website The Onion.The People's Daily had run the US satirical site's gushing quotes about the "Pyongyang-bred heartthrob" in both Chinese and English as world news, along with a 55-image gallery...

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Rush at gurdwaras as Punjab celebrates Gurpurab

CHANDIGARH: Hundreds of devotees lined up at gurdwaras across Punjab and elsewhere in the country Wednesday to celebrate Gurpurab - the birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev. Tight security arrangements were in place outside famous gurdwaras in Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Talwandi Sabo and other places in Punjab. There was heavy rush of devotees at the Harmandar Sahib, popularly known...

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CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual...

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Study Finds Most Pork Contaminated

Nov 27, 2012 6:24pm A sample of raw pork products from supermarkets around the United States found that yersinia enterocolitica, a lesser-known food-borne pathogen, was present in 69 percent of the products tested, according to a study released today by Consumer Reports.The  bacteria  infects more than 100,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for...

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Euro zone, IMF reach deal to cut long-term Greek debt

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on reducing Greece's debt on Monday in a breakthrough to release urgently needed loans to keep the near-bankrupt economy afloat. After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece's international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40...

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