N Korea may test missile next week: US think tank

SEOUL: Fresh analysis of new satellite imagery confirms apparent North Korean preparations for an imminent long-range missile test -- perhaps as early as next week -- a US think tank said on Friday.Speculation over a new test, following a failed launch in April, has intensified in recent weeks and drew a sharp warning on Thursday from the UN Security Council to Pyongyang.The US-Korea Institute...

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Yeddyurappa in tears as he sets out to quit BJP

BANGALORE: Estranged Karnataka BJP strongman BS Yeddyurappa, who is set to resign from primary membership of the party, became emotional on Friday as he recalled his long association with the party even as he trained his guns at BJP leaders for hatching a "conspiracy" against him. "The party has given everything to me. And I have sacrificed my life to build my previous party (BJP)", he said, fighting...

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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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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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High-powered ‘Fix the Debt’ group draws attention, scrutiny in Washington

In the discussions about the “fiscal cliff” consuming Washington, a powerful new group stands out, touting the virtue of bipartisanship and shared sacrifice. The business leaders who set up the Campaign to Fix the Debt appear nearly every day on network talk shows and have won coveted time with President Obama in pushing for increased tax revenue, reduced government spending, and changes...

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Kai Kai, Jia Jia thrill visitors on Giant Panda Forest opening day

SINGAPORE: The two pandas from China, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, thrilled hordes of visitors on the opening day of the Giant Panda Forest on Thursday.They were active, moving playfully around their enclosure, as visitors snapped photographs and filmed every action of the pandas.Some visitors were at the Singapore Zoo, where the Panda Forest is located, before 8am - one hour before the panda's...

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Caterpillar Fungus Has Anti-Inflammatory Properties

In the Tibetan mountains, a fungus attaches itself to a moth larva burrowed in the soil. It infects and slowly consumes its host from within, taking over its brain and making the young caterpillar move to a position from which the fungus can grow and spore again. Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? But for ailing Chinese consumers and nomadic Tibetan harvesters, the parasite...

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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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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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Hilton chef charged with corruption

SINGAPORE: A senior chef of Hilton Singapore Hotel was charged with two counts of corruption on Wednesday.Go Choon Heng, 41, allegedly accepted a total of about S$4,500 in bribes, in exchange for furthering the business interests of a seafood supplier, Tay Ee Tiong.He's alleged to have committed the offences on 13 March 2009 and 18 June 2009.In exchange, Go allegedly ensured that Hilton...

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