#1 — BBC | Ukraine begins tense presidential election run-off
Ukrainians are voting in a presidential election run-off, after a bruising campaign and warnings of mass street protests and demonstrations.
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#2 — BBC | Ethiopia jet flight recorder ‘retrieved’ in Lebanon
Lebanese search teams have retrieved a flight recorder from the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed in the Mediterranean, army sources say.
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#3 — BBC | US snowstorm causes power cuts in Washington DC region
Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power in Washington DC and nearby states after a blizzard blanketed the area with record snows.
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#4 — Fox | Moon Base Alpha: If Not U.S., Then Who?
Forty years ago the U.S. raced to plant the first foot on the moon. Now, as India, Russia, South Korea and China compete to return for further exploration, the U.S has all but dropped out — and even Buzz Aldrin thinks that may be okay.
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#5 — Fox | La. Lieutenant Governor Elected New Orleans Mayor
NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor of New Orleans on Saturday, replacing term-limited Ray Nagin and becoming the majority-black city’s first white mayor since 1979.
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#6 — Fox | Experts Say World Food Program’s Afghan Relief Effort Overpriced
The United Nations’ World Food Program, or WFP, is preparing to launch a mammoth, three-year relief operation in Afghanistan this year for 7.4 million people at a cost of $1.2 billion — but less than half of that amount will actually go to purchasing food for the war-ravaged country.
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#7 — Times | Toyota drivers warn of new risk
TOYOTA is facing a raft of legal actions alleging that drivers have been seriously hurt and even killed because of problems with their cars’ electronic throttle control systems.
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#8 — Times | Google leaps language barrier with translator phone
GOOGLE is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages almost instantly — like the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
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#9 — Times | Special forces assassins infiltrate Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan
AMERICAN and British troops poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination.
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Telegraph | Afghanistan: 4,000 British troops set for biggest battle with Taliban
#10 — Telegraph | Foreign student visa numbers to be slashed
The number of foreign students given visas is to be slashed in an attempt to clamp down on widespread abuse of the system.
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A huge piece of the world is going back over to the dark side and little reporting about this tragedy is forthcoming. The past Ukrainian President, Mr. Yushchenko, was the only hope for this former possession of the USSR. The Russian President and his KGB pals did everything they could to bankrupt the new democracy in the Ukraine. The Ukraine was ‘resettled’ with Soviet Citizens after Stalin murdered most of the real Ukrainian residents (during the 1930′s ). The economic starvation (after poison failed to kill Mr. Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution) has worked; people in the Ukraine have chosen nanny state ‘a crust for every mouth, once a week’ over forging their own future by growing their own ‘crusts’. I find this sad turn of events depressing but I thank-you very much for covering the events, Jack.