Syria war envelops region in "staggering" crisis: aid agency

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, an international aid agency said on Monday. Opposition activists said an air strike on rebel-held territory southwest of Damascus killed 20 people, including women and children, adding to the more than 60,000 people estimated...

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Sri Lanka seals impeachment with new judge

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's president completed the controversial impeachment of the chief justice by choosing a successor Monday, his spokesman said, as lawyers vowed to keep up a battle for judicial independence.President Mahinda Rajapakse nominated a new chief justice who is expected to be confirmed by a parliamentary panel on Tuesday, his spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said.Rajapakse selected...

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Branch makes its conversation threads available to all

Branch home page(Credit:Jennifer Van Grove/CNET)Billed by Twitter's inventors as a new platform for high-quality public discourse, Branch today opened it doors to anyone who wants to fork off into conversations of more than 140 characters in length.Branch is essentially a modern, user-friendly version of the Internet forum. People create "branches" to discuss topics or links and invite their friends...

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George H.W. Bush discharged from hospital

Former US President George H.W. Bush gestures during a commemorative event in Berlin on October 31, 2009. The event under the motto "The Fall of the Wall and Reunification - the Victory of Freedom" was organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. AFP PHOTO DDP/ MICHAEL GOTTSCHALK GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read MICHAEL GOTTSCHALK/AFP/Getty...

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Obama to Congress: 'We Are Not a Deadbeat Nation'

President Obama says the U.S. economy is "poised for a good year" but that progress could be threatened by political brinksmanship over the nation's debt limit."While I'm willing to compromise and find common ground over how to reduce our deficits, America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up,"...

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France bombs Islamist stronghold in north Mali

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French fighter jets pounded an Islamist rebel stronghold deep in northern Mali on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country's north. The attack on Gao, the largest city in the desert region controlled by the Islamist alliance, marked a decisive intensification...

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Assad's removal from power 'impossible': Russia

MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power was not part of past international agreements on the crisis and was impossible to implement."This is a precondition that is not contained in the Geneva communique (agreed by world powers in June) and which is impossible to implement because it does not depend on anyone," news agencies quoted Foreign Minister...

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Apple is done, say teens

Love on the Surface.(Credit:Microsoft/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)When you want to know what's cool, you ask a teenager.You have to ask her nicely or she will scowl you into oblivion or patronize you into a painful purgatory.So I'd like to prepare you for some of this difficulty.Teens have decided that Apple is, like, so over. If you want to be a veritable cooleratus, you want to be...

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McChrystal: I regret not finishing the job in Afghanistan

(CBS News) Amid news that the White House is pushing for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal said today on "Face the Nation" he regrets that he didn't get to finish the job there. "I have regrets that some of the things I was responsible for, I didn't finish," he said, referring to his forced resignation in 2010 over a Rolling Stone article that...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right."He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and,...

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