Karzai’s dig at Menendez?

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) (Kevin Lamarque - Reuters) Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is not exactly known for a droll sense of humor. But when new Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) came calling Tuesday in Kabul — his very first stop on his first trip abroad as chairman — Karzai seemed to be trying to tweak Menendez.Menendez has come under...

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Football: Manchester Utd chief executive David Gill to step down

LONDON: David Gill is to step down as chief executive of Manchester United on June 30, the English football giants announced on Wednesday.In a statement on the club's official website, the 55-year-old Gill said his post-season exit would allow the Premier League leaders to "refresh themselves with new management and ideas".United added that executive vice chairman Ed Woodward would replace...

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Violence marks countrywide strike, millions stay away from work

NEW DELHI: Sporadic violence broke out on Wednesday as labour unions began a two-day strike to protest rising prices and government policies to open the economy. Millions of factory and bank employees stayed away from work and public transport was shut down in most big cities after major trade unions called the countrywide strike. A labour leader was fatally crushed when he tried to stop buses from...

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Florida Python Hunt Captures 68 Invasive Snakes

It's a wrap—the 2013 Python Challenge has nabbed 68 invasive Burmese pythons in Florida, organizers say. And experts are surprised so many of the elusive giants were caught.Nearly 1,600 people from 38 states—most of them inexperienced hunters—registered for the chance to track down one of the animals, many of which descend from snakes that either escaped or were dumped into the wild.Since...

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Pistorius Shots Said to Come From High Angle

At the second day of a bail hearing for Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African investigator who arrived at the scene of the Feb. 14 fatal shooting said that Reeva Steenkamp was shot from a high angle, which prosecutors say contradicts the runner's account that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he shot his girlfriend to death.Pistorius, a double-amputee who runs on carbon-fiber...

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Obama’s senior-staff turnover: typical but challenging

(Evan Vucci - AP) As key members of Team Obama move on, a new study finds that President Obama is beginning his second term with less than a third of the senior staff that comprised his original team — a level of turnover that’s pretty typical among modern second terms.The report from the Brookings Institution shows that 71 percent of Obama’s “A-team” has left, compared to 78...

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Companies paying more bills on time

SINGAPORE: Companies are paying more bills on time, according to the Commercial Credit Bureau.The bureau said the number of prompt commercial payments rose to 51.59 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. That is up by a moderate 2.29 percentage points from 49.3 per cent in the previous quarter. Prompt payment means a company has paid at least 90 per cent of its total bills within...

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Govt to appeal against Gwalior court order blocking sites critical of IIPM

NEW DELHI: The government will appeal against Gwalior district court order asking it to block website pages on internet publishing defamatory material about ArindamChaudhuri-ledIIPM institute. "Minister ( Kapil Sibal) has asked the department of electronics and information technology (DEITY) to appeal against Gwalior court order. The order was passed without DEITY made party to it. No notice was...

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Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking

Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of...

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Oscar Pistorius Charged With Premeditated Murder

A South Africa magistrate has charged Olympian Oscar Pistorius with a Schedule 6 offense, meaning that the alleged murder of his girlfriend was preplanned or premeditated.Pistorius, a double-amputee who gained worldwide fame for running on carbon-fiber blades, allegedly shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, four times at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 14. South...

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