Earl weakens but still powerful as it smacks NC (AP)

AP - The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 105 mph winds Thursday on North Carolina's dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and perhaps most destructive stop on the storm's projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.

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Immigration agency ponders S.F. opt-out request

U.S. immigration officials said Wednesday they will consider San Francisco s request to opt out of the controversial Secure Communities program that makes it easier for federal authorities to track down and deport...

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Wall Street Market Report
Wall Street Market Report

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Sigma to defend possible legal action
SIGMA Pharmaceuticals to defend any possible legal action over the generic drug marker's capital raising in 2009, it says.

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Canadian parents more lenient than Italians and French (Reuters)
Reuters - Canadian parents are more lenient with their children than mothers and fathers in France and Italy, according to a new study.

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Book says Nazi hunter Wiesenthal worked for Mossad (AP)

AP - A new book claims renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israel's Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries.

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God did not create the universe, says Hawking (Reuters)

Reuters - God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

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Two charged over girls' assaults
TWO Frenchmen have been charged with indecently assaulting five Victorian schoolgirls on an excursion.

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No guarantee I'll back Coalition
INDEPENDENT Bob Katter warns a wish-list of demands sent to Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott should not be interpreted as favouring the Coalition.

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WATCH: Dems Recreate Vitter-Prostitute Encounter In New Web Video | TPMDC
The Louisiana Democratic party has produced an extremely potent video recapping, and even re-enacting, the full history of David Vitter's prostitution scandals. Though the segment is web-only, it's easily the farthest the party has gone to highlight the indiscretions -- a task they usually leave to surrogates, but which they view as the key to unseating him.

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No sign of oil after Gulf platform fire: Coast Guard
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - An oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, but the crew of 13 escaped and there were no signs of an oil spill, the Coast Guard said.

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Satanic Church Wants Religious Equality

This is the best masked TV news interview since 2009's cyberstalking costume store owner .

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Photos: Aftermath of Pakistan's Devastating Floods
Photographer Massimo Berruti documents the aftermath of the worst flooding to strike Pakistan in 80 yearsPhotographs by Massimo Berruti / Agence Vu for TIME

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