Talks on Rafale deal progressing well, PM says after meeting French president

NEW DELHI: After his meeting with French President Francois Hollande on Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that discussions for purchase of 126 Rafale fighter aircraft are "progressing well". India and France entered into exclusive negotiations for the purchase of medium multi role combat aircraft last year."Some progress has to be achieved and we hope we can reach a conclusion," said...

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Morning-after pill use up to 1 in 9 younger women

NEW YORK (AP) — About 1 in 9 younger women have used the morning-after pill after sex, according to the first government report to focus on emergency contraception since its approval 15 years ago.The results come from a survey of females ages 15 to 44. Eleven percent of those who'd had sex reported using a morning-after pill. That's up from 4 percent in 2002, only a few years after the pills went...

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Dorner Not IDed, But Manhunt Considered Over

Though they have not yet identified burned remains found at the scene of Tuesday's fiery, armed standoff, San Bernardino, Calif., officials consider the manhunt over for Christopher Dorner, the fugitive ex-cop accused of going on a killing spree."The events that occurred yesterday in the Big Bear area brought to close an extensive manhunt," San Bernardino County Sheriff John...

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Analysis: North Korea nuclear-test drama rehashes old script

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - A North Korean nuclear test draws international condemnation, modest U.N. sanctions and expressions of hope in the United States that China will finally rein in its brazen ally. Beijing chides North Korea, but nothing much happens. The world has seen this movie before and it's likely to witness another rerun after North Korea's third nuclear...

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Pope makes first appearance since shock resignation

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI made his first public appearance Wednesday since the shock announcement of his resignation, sticking with his schedule by presiding over his weekly general audience.Tickets to the event in the Vatican's Paul VI auditorium were issued well in advance, so several thousand pilgrims experienced the historic moment out of sheer luck just two days after the 85-year-old...

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Assam panchayat poll violence toll rises to 15

GOALPARA: The toll in Assam's Goalpara district rose to 15 with violence continuing night-long even as indefinite curfew continued in Krishnai and Mornoi areas today and the army flag-marching affected areas. The toll in the police firing rose from 12 to 15 today, official sources said, without giving details. Defence sources said the army was conducting flag marches and working in close coordination...

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Study questions kidney cancer treatment in elderly

In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away.Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk...

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North Korea conducts third nuclear test, drawing new sanctions threat

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of existing U.N. resolutions, angering the United States and Japan and prompting its only major ally, China, to call for calm. The North said the test had "greater explosive force" than the 2006 and 2009 tests that were widely seen as small-scale. Its KCNA news agency said it had used a "miniaturized"...

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Shocked world media speculates on pope's successor

MANILA: The world's media speculated on whether the next pontiff may come from the developing world, while paying mixed tributes to Pope Benedict XVI following his shock resignation announcement.The 85-year-old Benedict said on Monday that he would step down at the end of this month because of health reasons, becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to resign of his own free will...

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Suryanelli gang-rape case: Kurien writes to Sonia Gandhi, Hamid Ansari

NEW DELHI: Facing the heat after fresh twists in the Suryanelli gang-rape case, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien has written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Chairman of the Upper House Hamid Ansari explaining his position. Sources said he has explained his position to the party president and Ansari amid the Opposition demand for his resignation. He is understood to have explained...

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