Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

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Conn. Victim's Father Remembers 'Loving' Daughter

(Image credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman’s bullets not claimed her life, her father said.“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that’s the kind...

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A normally stoic president sheds tears over mass shooting of ‘our children’

President Obama, so often cool and unemotional, struggled to maintain his composure Friday as he addressed a nation reeling from a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. “The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old,” Obama said partway into a four-minute stateme...

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Hundreds hold vigil after US school massacre

NEWTOWN, Connecticut: Hundreds of people attended a mass Friday night at a church in Newtown, Connecticut, paying tribute to the victims of the elementary school massacre that left at least 27 dead.The church was so packed that dozens of people crowded outside the St. Rose of Lima Catholic church -- just a mile from the Sandy Hook elementary school where the tragedy took place."This is...

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HC allows auction of 25 quarries in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: Around four months after banning all mining activities, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday allowed auction of 25 quarries in various districts of Punjab. While permitting the state to initiate the process of auctioning the mining quarries under a close and strict monitoring mechanism, the court of Justice Rajive Bhalla observed that the system of issuing manual slips for lifting...

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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

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Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well'

Adam Lanza of Newtown, Connecticut was a child of the suburbs and a child of divorce who at age 20 still lived with his mother.This morning he appears to have started his day by shooting his mother Nancy in the face, and then drove her car to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, armed with two handguns and a semi-automatic rifle.There, before turning his gun on himself, he shot...

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Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s 2012 Christmas card: Fiscal cliff, Gretzky in heaven

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen — your Rep. Loretta Sanchez Christmas card for 2012! (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez) Over the past decade, the California Democrat’s wacky holiday greetings have drawn a cult following. “I’ve seen them being sold on eBay,” the congresswoman told us. (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez) Nice topical theme this...

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China shares up over 3% on data, policy hopes

SHANGHAI: Chinese shares were up more than three per cent in afternoon trade on Friday on fresh signs of an economic recovery and hopes new policies will emerge from a key government meeting, dealers said.The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 3.02 per cent, or 62.24 points, to 2,123.72.British banking giant HSBC said on Friday its preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) hit...

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Akhilesh Yadav becomes fourth UP CM to face CBI probe

LUCKNOW: Akhilesh Yadav, the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has now also become the fourth sitting chief minister of the state to face CBI inquiry. The other three include his father and Samajwadi Party(SP) president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) supremo, Mayawati, and former Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) leader Kalyan Singh.While Kalyan has been booked for `communal politics',...

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