Major floods sweep northeast Australia

SYDNEY: Two people were missing and the body of a third person was recovered from raging floodwaters as severe storms pounded northeastern Australia on Sunday, forcing more than 1,000 to flee their homes.Army aircraft were deployed in the northern state of Queensland, where storms generated by former tropical cyclone Oswald unleashed punishing rains and localised tornadoes and floodwaters...

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The missing deadline, T-Congress leaders to face heat

HYDERABAD: While AICC general secretary Gulam Nabi Azad's re-iteration on going back on Telangana deadline did not come as a surprise for them on Sunday, the T-protagonists including Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) sought to step up the pressure on Telangana Congress leaders and yet again urged them to quit the party. Even as TRS Chief K Chandrashekar...

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty ImagesIf you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders. Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns...

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Brazil Nightclub Fire: 232 Dead, Hundreds Injured

A blaze raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing 232 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.Police...

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10 police killed in Afghanistan suicide attack: official

KABUL: At least 10 policemen were killed and 18 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in a suicide attack Saturday in a crowded area of the northeast Afghan city of Kunduz, provincial authorities said.The attacker, who was on foot, detonated his explosives next to a group of police officers, according to several sources."We have 10 dead, including the counter terrorism police chief and...

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At his Republic Day reception, President Pranab gives tradition a break

NEW DELHI: As a pleasant winter sun shone on the manicured lawns of the magnificent Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Pranab Mukherjee mingled with dignitaries at a reception he hosted here Saturday, and in a break from tradition, walked up to the guests and exchanged greetings with them.At the traditional reception, or " At Home", the President hosts on the occasion of Republic Day, Mukherjee did away...

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty ImagesIf you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders. Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns...

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Cops Using More Private Cameras to Nab Suspects

Philadelphia detectives were able to quickly make an arrest in the murder and burning of a female pediatrician by viewing surveillance video of nearby stores and a hospital that captured the suspect entering the doctor's home and later getting into his truck.In the hours after Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's body was found strangled and burning in her basement, city's Homicide Task Force...

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Court says Obama exceeded authority in making appointments

President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority when he named three members of the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was on a break last year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that allowing the president to make such appointments as a way around Senate opposition “would wholly defeat the...

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US scholar urges dramatic rethink on Taiwan

WASHINGTON: With Beijing growing in strength, a US scholar is calling for a major rethink on Taiwan in which the island would cut its troop numbers in half and rebrand its army as a self-defence force.The proposal marks a rare break from the conventional view of American and Taiwanese policymakers that the island needs to close the military gap with Beijing, but its author said an opposite...

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