CIA chief decries torture in Osama bin Laden hunt movie

WASHINGTON: Acting CIA director Michael Morell said that "Zero Dark Thirty," the Hollywood take on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, exaggerates the importance of information obtained by harsh interrogations.The movie by Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow tells the story of the decade-long search after September 11, 2001 that climaxed in last year's dramatic and deadly raid in...

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No change in Modi visa policy: US

AHMEDABAD: Observing that Gujarat remains an important state for its investment, the United States on Saturday, said it would continue to engage with the state across a broad range of issues including trade, investment, university linkages and peopleto-people exchanges. However, it refrained from making any comment on the Assembly elections in the state, terming it domestic Indian politics, and also...

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

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Urban Advocates Say New Gun Control Talk Overdue

For years, voices have cried in the urban wilderness: We need to talk about gun control.Yet the guns blazed on.It took a small-town slaughter for gun control to become a political priority. Now, decades' worth of big-city arguments against easy access to guns are finally being heard, because an unstable young man invaded an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., with a military-style...

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No new vote in Venezuela if Chavez sworn in late: official

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will not call fresh elections if Hugo Chavez's cancer prevents him from taking office by January 10, the head of Congress said on Saturday, despite a constitutional mandate that the swearing-in take place on that date. Chavez is recovering in Cuba from a six-hour cancer operation that followed his October re-election. The socialist leader has not been heard...

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Strong 6.8 quake strikes off Vanuatu: USGS

SYDNEY: A strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no immediate tsunami warning was issued.The quake struck at a depth of more than 200 kilometres around 2230 GMT Friday some 130 kilometres north of Santo, USGS said."It's quite deep ... so there's no tsunami," said David Jepsen, a seismologist...

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Enormous impact of Food Security Bill on farm sector: Panel

NEW DELHI: The National Food Security Bill (NFSB), in its present form, throws up major operational and financial challenges and would have enormous ramifications on the cereal economy, markets and the farm sector, a government paper has said. The discussion paper by the commission for agricultural costs and prices (CACP) said the long-term feasibility of the strategy under NFSB needed to be...

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.But since then, Big Pharma has been...

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Obama Says He Is 'Ready and Willing' to Get Deal

President Barack Obama says he is "ready and willing" to get a big package done to deal with the "fiscal cliff" and says there's no reason not to protect middle-class Americans from tax increases. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Fiscal Cliff: Boehner Doesn't Have Votes for Plan B Watch Video Next...

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Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February. The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he...

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Dollar steady as investors await fiscal cliff sign

WASHINGTON: The dollar lost a little bit of ground against the euro and was largely flat against the yen in quiet trade on Thursday as investors awaited a clear sign from US "fiscal cliff" talks.The euro stood at $1.3241 towards 2200 GMT, up from $1.3226 late Wednesday. It also rose against the Japanese yen, reaching 111.72 yen compared to 111.59 yen a day earlier.The dollar held steady...

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Kerala high court permits naval guards to visit Italy for Christmas

KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Thursday allowed the two Italian naval guards, accused of fatally shooting two Indian fishermen close to the coast in the Arabian Sea on February 15, to visit Italy to be with their families for Christmas on a bank guarantee of Rs 6 crore (around $1.1 million). The shooting had triggered a major diplomatic stand-off between Indian and Italy, with the police beginning...

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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Obama, Boehner Not Far Apart on 'Cliff'? Not Really

Dec 20, 2012 5:09pm Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo; Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP PhotoThere are some in Washington and around Capitol Hill who keep saying that House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama really aren’t that far apart on the “fiscal cliff” and there will be a deal despite Boehner’s proposal to hold a vote on his “Plan B.”Let’s deconstruct the two parts of...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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US dollar strengthens against yen in nervous trade

NEW YORK: The US dollar strengthened against the yen and slipped slightly against the euro on Wednesday in nervous trade as talks over how to avert the US 'fiscal cliff' dragged on.The dollar rose against the yen, reaching 84.39 yen towards 2300 GMT, down slightly from 84.62 earlier in the day - its highest level in 20 months. Late Tuesday, it finished at 84.19.The euro stood at $1.3226...

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Himachal Pradesh assembly elections 2012: Neck-and-neck contest predicted

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh is all set to decide its political future with counting scheduled on Thursday. The poll fight, which began on November 4 with a record turnout, seems to be a neck-and-neck contest between the ruling BJP government and the Congress party. Since the assembly elections 46 days ago, candidates have been trying to determine voters' mood. While the Congress appears confident...

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering...

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Scammers Could Profit Off Sandy Hook Tragedy

Scammers may be looking to cash in on the public's generosity following the Sandy Hook massacre, the Better Business Bureau warned."It is a challenge to be on guard because public sympathy and emotions are running high," said Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a group that helps charitable donors make informed decisions.Weiner said it's...

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U.S. State Dept officials resign under pressure over Benghazi killings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three senior U.S. State Department officials were asked to resign after an official inquiry harshly criticized their offices for failing to provide adequate security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, before it came under attack in September, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Eric Boswell, the assistant...

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Japan's November trade deficit widens 37.9% on-year

TOKYO: Japan's trade deficit in November expanded 37.9 per cent on-year to $11.3 billion, a record for the month, official data showed Wednesday.The trade shortfall came to 953.4 billion yen, marking the fifth straight month of deficit as it widened from a year-earlier deficit of 691.2 billion yen. Exports fell 4.1 per cent while imports edged up 0.8 per cent.- AFP/fa !-- Zone Tag :...

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Youth shot at near Haryana CM's house

ROHTAK: A BA-II year student of a college was shot at by another youth in the Model Town, in front of a police post on Tuesday. They were involved in a minor dispute some time ago, police said.Sumit Kumar, 19, a resident of Bohar village and a student of Pt Neki Ram Sharma Government College, was going towards the college with his friends when he was shot at by the assailant, who according to police,...

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering...

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