Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

The weather outside was truly frightful across much of the US and UK this holiday season. In the US, a powerful winter storm whipped up heavy snow, icy winds and a record number of tornadoes in late December, causing at least 15 deaths. ...

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Tennis: Nadal out of Australian Open

MADRID: World number four Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Australian Open on Friday, claiming he was still suffering from the stomach virus which caused him to cancel his plans to return to action in the Gulf this week.Nadal, the 11-time Grand Slam title winner, has also withdrawn from the Qatar Open which starts on Monday and where he was due to play his first official tournament since...

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Apple's Christmas gift - 87 percent leap in app downloads

Apple certainly enjoyed a jolly Christmas, at least based on the number of downloads from its App Store.Data out yesterday from mobile analytics firm Distimo revealed an 87 percent jump in iPhone and iPad app downloads on Christmas Day as compared with the average for the month. Sales from all those downloads rose by 70 percent on December 25. TheiPad seemed to be an especially popular gift this season,...

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

Cento di questi giorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and some of them do. So do other people in various spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so named by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink that outlines these special areas on maps developed over more than a decade. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)In his...

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Did the Exodus of Moses Really Happen?

In the Bible, he is called Moses. In the Koran, he is the prophet Musa.Religious scholars have long questioned whether of the story of a prophet leading God's chosen people in a great exodus out of Egypt and the freedom it brought them afterwards was real, but the similarities between a pharaoh's ancient hymn and a psalm of David might hold the link to his existence.Tune in...

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Photo puzzle: Can you make the connection?

Correctly match up 16 pairs of science-inspired images and enter a draw to win a state-of-the-art Olympus E-PL5 digital cameraMANY of the most fascinating sights in the universe are not evident to the naked eye. Happily, cutting-edge imaging - whether done with a microscope, telescope, MRI scanner or just a camera lens - means these sights are now ours for the seeing.Can you link up 16 intriguing...

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Egypt prosecutor orders probe into opposition "incitement"

CAIRO: Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered a probe into the top three leaders of the opposition on suspicion of trying to incite followers to overthrow President Mohamed Morsi, a legal source said.The prosecutor, Taalat Ibrahim Abdallah, who was appointed by Morsi late last month, signed the order against the leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front, which led protests...

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Galaxy S4: Imagine it impossibly thin, with laser keyboard

A projection of the future Galaxy S4? Or just pure fantasy?(Credit:Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET)The upcoming Galaxy S4 from Samsung is already carrying the weight of the whole Android smartphone world on its shoulders, even though it hasn't been officially announced yet, and we'd be lucky to see it actually available within the next six months.Many are hoping the next flagship phone from Samsung could...

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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star

Green LanternImage courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASAAnother glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings has been captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, as seen in a picture...

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Newtown Shooter's DNA to Be Studied

Geneticists have been asked to study the DNA of Adam Lanza, the Connecticut man whose shooting rampage killed 27 people, including an entire first grade class.The study, which experts believe may be the first of its kind, is expected to be looking for abnormalities or mutations in Lanza's DNA.Connecticut Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver has reached out to University of Connecticut's...

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