#1 — BBC | Swine flu fears ‘will hit Hajj numbers’
The annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage has begun in Saudi Arabia, with officials saying they expect lower numbers mainly because of fears about swine flu.
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#2 — BBC | Philippines ‘poll-related’ deaths reach 57
The death toll from a politically motivated attack in the Philippines has now risen to 57, after 11 more bodies were recovered on Wednesday.
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Times | Gloria Arroyo supporter named as prime suspect in Philippines massacre
#3 — CNN | Fort Hood tightens security procedures
(CNN) — Military brass at Fort Hood, Texas, on Tuesday announced tightened security procedures and the availability of a range of mental health services in the wake of the November 5 shooting spree that killed 13 people on the post.
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#4 — Fox | Obama Shatters Spending Record for First-Year Presidents
President Obama has shattered the budget record for first-year presidents — spending nearly double what his predecessor did when he came into office and far exceeding the first-year tabs for any other U.S. president in history.
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#5 — Fox | McCain Faces Potentially Tough Re-Election Bid, Poll Suggests
John McCain, barely a year after he was the Republican nominee for president, faces a potential threat from within his own party as he gears up for his Senate re-election bid next year.
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#6 — Fox | Russian Navy Eyes Cutting-Edge Warship, Frightening Neighboring Countries
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — French officers on Tuesday showed off a cutting-edge warship to a potential buyer — the Russian navy, whose pursuit of an amphibious assault capacity is frightening some neighboring countries.
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#7 — NY Times | Official Charged With Closing Guantánamo Quits
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department official in charge of closing the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has resigned after only seven months in the job, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
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#8 — NY Times | Lou Dobbs Weighs Senate Run, as a Steppingstone
The Lou Dobbs-for-Senate rumor had barely crested when the Lou Dobbs-for-president rumor suddenly overtook it this week.
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#9 — Times | US ‘drumbeats’ about Iraq invasion were heard months before 9/11
British and US officials held secret discussions about ousting Saddam Hussein two years before invading Iraq and months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, the official inquiry into the war heard yesterday.
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#10 — Telegraph | Wikipedia project ‘losing contributors in record numbers’
Wikipedia is losing tens of thousands of volunteer editors a month, according to a study that suggests the pioneering spirit of the collaborative encyclopaedia is in decline.
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