Experts tell flatulent flyers: let it rip

WELLINGTON: A group of medical specialists has provided an answer to a dilemma that has faced flyers since the Wright brothers took to the air in 1903 -- is it okay to fart mid-flight? The experts' recommendation is an emphatic yes to airline passengers -- but a warning to cockpit crews that breaking wind could distract the pilot and pose a safety risk. The study concluded that anecdotal...

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1,455 death penalties awarded in India since 2001: National Crimes Records Bureau

NEW DELHI: Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in its report "The State of Death Penalty in India 2013" stated that as per the records of the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, a total of 1,455 convicts or an average of 132.27 convicts per year were given death penalty during 2001 to 2011.During the same period, the highest number of death penalty...

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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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South Korea unveils missile it says can hit North's leaders

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea unveiled a cruise missile on Thursday that it said can hit the office of North Korea's leaders, trying to address concerns that it is technologically behind its unpredictable rival which this week conducted its third nuclear test. South Korean officials declined to say the exact range of the missile but said it could hit targets anywhere in North Korea. ...

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Singapore debaters 3rd in world championship

SINGAPORE: A team of Singapore debaters came in third at the 25th World School Debating Championship (WSDC) in Antalya, Turkey.A total of 50 countries participated in this year's competition between 27 January and 6 February.Darion Jin Hotan from Hwa Chong Institution was ranked fourth for overall performance while Tan Teck Wei from Raffles Institution was ranked 13th.The other members...

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Hyderabad is the world’s second most affordable office market: Survey

BANGALORE: Hyderabad is the world's second most affordable office market after Surabaya in Indonesia, according to a survey, while Chennai and Pune are at fifth and sixth positions, reinforcing India's reputation as among the cheapest destinations for foreign firms to set up operations. "Tier II cities in China and India continue to dominate the list of top-10 most affordable markets globally,"...

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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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State of the Union: Obama Pushes Job Creation

Pursuing an aggressive and diverse early second-term agenda, President Obama turned his focus Tuesday night squarely to the economy, using his State of the Union address to unveil new government initiatives aimed at creating jobs.The defining duty of the new Congress and new administration is to "reignite the true engine of America's economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle...

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North Korean nuclear test draws anger, including from China

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of U.N. resolutions, drawing condemnation from around the world, including from its only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest. Pyongyang said the test was an act of self-defense against "U.S. hostility" and threatened stronger steps if necessary. The test...

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