Blimps to bolster Washington’s air shield in test

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A pair of big, blimp-like craft, moored to the ground and flying as high as 10,000 feet, are to be added to a high-tech shield designed to protect the Washington D.C. area from air attack, at least for a while.The bulbous, helium-filled “aerostats” – each more than three quarters the length of a football field at 243 feet – are to be stitched into existing defenses as part of...

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Hillary: Secretary of empowerment

Girls hug U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 2010 tour of a shelter run for sex trafficking victims in Cambodia.STORY HIGHLIGHTSDonna Brazile: Clinton stepping down as Secretary of State. Maybe she'll run for presidentShe says as secretary she expanded foreign policy to include effect on regular people She says she was first secretary of state to focus on empowering women and girlsBrazile:...

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Reward increased to $30,000 in Hadiya Pendleton slaying

The best friend of Hadiya Pendleton talks about the moments before her friend was shot in Chicago on January 31, 2013. (Heather Charles, Chicago Tribune) ...

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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - A far-leftist suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, officials said, blowing open an entrance and sending debris flying through the air. The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body after entering an embassy gatehouse. The blast could be heard a mile away. A lower leg and other human remains lay on the street. ...

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S&P 500 posts biggest monthly gain since October 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged lower on Thursday on caution ahead of Friday's all-important jobs report, but the S&P 500 still posted its best monthly gain since October 2011. The benchmark S&P 500 advanced 5.1 percent in January as investors cheered a compromise that temporarily postponed the impact of the "fiscal cliff" and fourth-quarter earnings were better than expected....

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5 Super Bowl ads that enlist viewer help

Advertisers are finding new ways to get viewers into the game during Super Bowl XLVII, which airs on CBS on Sunday. Here are 5 campaigns that enlist viewer help in one form or another.1. Coca-Cola created an online game that pits a troupe of showgirls, biker-style "badlanders" and cowboys against each other in a race to find a Coke in the desert. Viewers are encouraged to vote for their favorite group...

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Sun Grows Super-Hot ‘Dragon Tail’ in Amazing NASA Video

A NASA spacecraft studying the sun has recorded amazing video of a giant plume of super-hot plasma erupting from the star’s surface, only to crash back down hours later.The solar plasma eruption, which NASA scientists nicknamed a “Dragon Tail,” rose up from the sun’s surface today (Jan. 31) and was spotted by the agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a powerful spacecraft that constantly records the...

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Fear and loathing in Egypt's Port Said

Behind the maskScales of justiceMoment of truthFans celebrate Armed and readyRally at the clubPortrait of the deadACABDown with MorsiArmy in controlPort Said women protestAl Masry ultrasThe sound of machine gunsAftermathProtestShots firedEmpty standsHarrowing reminder<<<123456789101112131415161718>>>STORY HIGHLIGHTSChaos erupted in Egypt after 21 people were sentenced to death following...

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Hadiya Pendleton: Slain girl made anti-gang video

Four years ago Hadiya Pendleton, then in sixth grade at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School, made an anti-gang video with fellow students. She was fatally shot this week. ...

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Syria protests over Israel attack, warns of "surprise"

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria protested to the United Nations on Thursday over an Israeli air strike on its territory and warned of a possible "surprise" response. The foreign ministry summoned the head of the U.N. force in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to deliver the protest a day after Israel hit what Syria said was a military research centre and diplomats said was a weapons convoy...

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