CBI finds it difficult to close fodder scam cases

RANCHI: The CBI is facing tough time in taking the five cases of the fodder scam in which two former chief ministers of Bihar, Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra were involved, to their logical end.Special public prosecutors of the CBI dealing the five cases said by using the provisions of law and the loopholes both Prasad and Mishra had dragged the cases for years. Of the 53 cases, the CBI has...

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland."It's quite intriguing....

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Galaxy May Be Full of 'Second Earths'

You may look out on a starry night and get a lonely feeling, but astronomers now say our Milky Way galaxy may be thick with planets much like Earth -- perhaps 4.5 billion of them, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.Astronomers looked at data from NASA's Kepler space telescope in orbit, and conclude that 6 percent of the red dwarf stars in the Milky...

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Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution. The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences....

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Passion in US lower house immigration debate

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers debated plans on Tuesday to build a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants who remade their lives in America but found themselves at the heart of a fierce debate.President Barack Obama and a group of Republican and Democratic senators have submitted plans for reform, but as the House of Representatives took up the issue, there were signs the bipartisan...

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Railways seeks Cabinet nod for two key links to Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI: In a bid to ensure connectivity to coal fields to ensure fuel supply to power plants, railways has sought Cabinet approval for construction of two crucial rail links in Chhattisgarh. Both these projects have been pending for long. The proposed rail links —122-km Gevra Road-Pendra Road and 63-km Raigarh (Mand colliery)-Bhupdeopur stretches — is part of an ambitious project aimed at ensuring...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until...

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Sierra's Family Selling Photos to Cover Funeral, Kids

The family of Sarai Sierra, an amateur New York photographer slain while on a trip to Turkey, put her photos up for sale today and quickly sold enough photographs to pay forher funeral, the woman's brother said today.The photos remain on sale and the profits will now be going to her two young sons, the family said.Sierra, 33, was found bludgeoned to death near a highway in Istanbul...

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Syrian opposition chief says offers Assad peaceful exit

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government on Monday to start talks for its departure from power and save the country from greater ruin after almost two years of bloodshed. Seeking to step up pressure on Assad to respond to his offer of talks - which dismayed some in his own opposition coalition, Alkhatib said he would...

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In mice, gene therapy boosts hope for the deaf

PARIS: Scientists using gene therapy have partially restored hearing and balance in profoundly deaf mice, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.The research, still in its early stages and restricted to lab animals, may open up new avenues for tackling Usher syndrome, an inherited form of human deafness that usually goes hand in hand with blindness.Researchers...

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