Earl weaker, still powerful, winds hit Outer Banks (AP)

AP - Forecasters say Hurricane Earl is weakening as it passes over North Carolina's Outer Banks but is still packing powerful winds as it heads 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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Park rapist's sentence slashed
A MAN who raped a teenager on Christmas day and then carjacked a woman's vehicle has had a year slashed from his sentence.

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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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Cop plan will end attacks - Libs
UPDATE 9.34am: THE opposition says a plan to put armed guards on stations would have prevented last night's vicious bashing.

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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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