West African army chiefs to approve Mali troops plan

BAMAKO (Reuters) - West African defense chiefs will on Tuesday approve plans to speed up the deployment of African troops against Islamist rebels in northern Mali, with some regional soldiers seen arriving next week. France has already poured hundreds of troops into Mali and carried out days of air strikes in a vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance that combines al...

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Islamists guerrillas flee French air strikes in Mali

BAMAKO: French air strikes forced Islamist guerrillas to flee towns in northern Mali and Paris secured new international support for military action as the militants struck back, seizing a small western town.The Islamists said they had made a "tactical retreat" from Timbuktu and other key towns where they have imposed a brutal version of Islamic law for nearly 10 months.But they struck...

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National Conference may induct Congress MLAs in J&K Cabinet

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah can expand and reshuffle his ministry on Tuesday following a prod from AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday evening. Congress leaders like Saifuddin Soz have been asking for more representation from their party in the Omar-led National Conference coalition government. Abdullah had dropped two Congress ministers, G A Saroori and Peerzada...

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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots

CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal."Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban...

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Arias Denied Guilt Despite Sex Photos, DNA

A defiant Jodi Arias insisted she was innocent of killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander even after a detective told her that he had nude photos of them together on the day he died."Are you sure it's me? Because I was not there," Arias is heard saying in the police interrogation tape played for the Arizona jury today.When Detective Esteban Flores tells Arias she is seen in...

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France bombs Islamist strongholds in north Mali

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French fighter jets pounded Islamist rebel strongholds 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 attacks on Islamist positions near the ancient desert trading town of Timbuktu and Gao, the largest city in the north, marked...

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Benjamin Pwee joins DPP leadership as acting secretary-general

SINGAPORE: Opposition politician Benjamin Pwee has joined the leadership of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)as acting secretary-general.He was co-opted into the Central Executive Committee (CEC) at a closed-door meeting on Sunday, while six other independents were officially accepted as party members and cadres.The DPP's secretary-general, Mr Seow Khee Leng, went on leave from the...

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Bishnoi is a 'fukra', says Haryana speaker

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma's verdict on Sunday upholding the merger of five HJCMLAs with Congress has triggered a war of words between the Speaker and HJCsupremoKuldeepBishnoi. Dubbing the Hisar MP as a "fukra" (loafer), Sharma said, "Bishnoi had said if the Speaker does not decide (the disqualification case soon), he will go to jail. That shows his shallowness, hollowness, lack of...

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest...

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Golden Globes Live Blog: Moore, 'Game Change' Win

The women of the night. Credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/AP Photo.8:48 p.m. ET: Adele scoops up the Globe for best original song for the latest Bond theme, “Skyfall.” Her reaction: “Oh my God! … Honestly, I came for a night out, with my friend Ida, we’re new mums … I literally came for a night out.”8:44 p.m. ET: “Life of Pi” wins for best original score … but J-Lo’s nude dress steals the spotlight....

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