Elephant kills NZ zookeeper

New Zealand: A New Zealand zookeeper was crushed to death Wednesday when an elephant sat on her, emergency officials and media reports said. Police confirmed they were called to an incident involving an elephant and its keeper late in the afternoon at Franklin Zoo,

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Global famine if India, Pakistan unleash nukes - study

Deadly, polluting weapons could cause long lasting damage to Earth’s ecosystems:

US: More than a billion people around the world would face starvation if India and Pakistan unleash nuclear weapons -- even if that war is regionally limited, a study released Tuesday warned.

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Battle over EU budget set to turn ugly

BELGIUM: Negotiations over the European Union budget looked set to turn ugly Wednesday as a drive to ramp up 2013 funding ran into a push to impose a decade of austerity on Brussels. The European Commission is expected to call at 1100 GMT for a budget next year of 138 billion euros ($182 billion),

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Son of disgraced Chinese leader Bo breaks silence

CHINA: The son of a disgraced Chinese leader being investigated for abuse of power has broken his silence to deny he enjoyed a lavish lifestyle paid for with the proceeds of corrupt business deals. Bo Guagua, who is currently studying at Harvard in the United States, has come under intense scrutiny since his father Bo Xilai and mother Gu Kailai became implicated in the biggest political scandal to hit China in decades.

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