Analysis: Modi's Gujarat growth model might not work across India

SURAT, India (Reuters) - Turning a single Indian state with a long tradition of entrepreneurship and a solid political majority into an investor-friendly economic powerhouse is one thing.Replicating that experience across a diverse country of 1.2 billion would be a tougher prospect for Narendra Modi, whose leadership of booming Gujarat state has led to his being touted as a potential candidate to...

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Lawyer: 3 Delhi rape suspects to plead not guilty

NEW DELHI (AP) — Three of the suspects in the brutal rape and killing of a young woman on a New Delhi bus will plead not guilty, their lawyer said Thursday, hinting that police had tampered with evidence in the attack that has transfixed India."They are innocent," said Manohar Lal Sharma, who said he took the case in part to confront the police over "how manipulated evidence is placed for fixing...

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Storm leaves Gaza man dead, Jerusalem snowed in

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. In Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mohammed al-Haj Yousef said …more  JERUSALEM (AP) — A Gaza health official says a Palestinian man was electrocuted after being struck by a power cable snapped loose by ferocious winter winds, while a rare snowstorm paralyzed traffic inJerusalem, its suburbs and the nearby West Bank. Ashraf al-Kidra says the 24-year-old...

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Will game live up to hype in BCS championship?

MIAMI (AP) — Sometimes, the buildup to a game can overwhelm what actually happens on the field.Certainly, No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama would have to play nothing less than a classic to live up to all the hype for Monday night's BCS championship.Before either team stepped on the field in balmy South Florida, this was shaping up as one of the most anticipated games in years, a throwback to the...

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ASU tops No. 25 Kent St. 17-13 in GoDaddy.com Bowl

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Arkansas State's offense was held in check Sunday night after piling up big numbers this season. It was the defense that led the Red Wolves to a breakthrough victory.Ryan Aplin threw for 213 yards and a touchdown, J.D. McKissic caught 11 passes for 113 yards and Arkansas State edged No. 25 Kent State 17-13 to win the GoDaddy.com Bowl.Arkansas State's usually prolific offense struggled...

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Nuggets survive Kobe fireworks to ice Lakers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Denver Nuggets dropped the stumbling Los Angeles Lakers further into the doldrums on Sunday with a 112-105 win despite some fourth-quarter fireworks from Kobe Bryant.Ty Lawson scored 21 points and 10 assists and Danilo Gallinari hit five of his 20 in the final seconds to kill the Lakers' rally and send them to a third successive defeat.The Lakers (15-18) left with more...

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Venezuela's Chavez fighting severe lung infection

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is being treated for "respiratory deficiency" after complications from a severe lung infection, his government said, pointing to a deepening crisis for the ailing 58-year-old president.Chavez hasn't spoken publicly or been seen since his Dec. 11 operation in Cuba, and the latest report from his government Thursday night increased speculation...

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Egypt prosecutors investigate popular TV comedian

Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities.Lawyer Ramadan Abdel-Hamid al-Oqsori charged that TV host Bassem Youssef insulted President Mohammed Morsi by putting the Islamist leader's image on a pillow and parodying his speeches.The...

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Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank

TAMOUN, West Bank (AP) — An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, residents said, leaving at 10 Palestinians wounded.Israeli army raids into Palestinian areas to seize activists and militants are fairly common. The raids are normally coordinated with Palestinian security forces, and suspects are usually...

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Syrian rebels attack air base in the north

BEIRUT (AP) — Rebels attacked a sprawling air base in northern Syria on Wednesday as the opposition expanded its offensive on military airports in an attempt to sideline a major weapon in the hands of President Bashar Assad's forces.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel assault on the Taftanaz base was preceded by heavy shelling of the area, and the fighters appeared...

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Dozens killed, wounded in airstrike near Damascus

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian warplane blasted a gas station near Damascus Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of people and igniting a huge fire in what could be one of the bloodiest attacks in weeks during the 22-month civil war.Activists said a single Russian-built MiG fighter fired a missile that hit the gas station, setting off an inferno in the eastern suburb of Mleiha. Black smoke billowed from...

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Egyptian officials fly to UAE to discuss arrests

CAIRO (AP) — Two senior Egyptian officials flew to the United Arab Emirates Wednesday to discuss the arrest of 11 Egyptians accused of forming a Muslim Brotherhood cell in the emirate, Cairo airport officials said.A statement from Egypt's president said one of the envoys, Essam el-Haddad, presidential adviser for foreign affairs and international cooperation, was carrying a letter from President Mohammed...

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Prosecutor killed in Guatemala along with 6 others

 Guatemala's attorney general dispatched a special team Monday to investigate the slaying of a federal prosecutor and six other people in an attack near the Mexican border.Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz said she was sending prosecutors and investigators to the area of northern Guatemala where Irma Yolanda Olivares, who worked in one of the prosecutor's regional officers, was slain along with...

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Pardon for pope's butler who stole papers expected

The Vatican has summoned journalists for a briefing on what Italian news reports say is an expected pardon for Pope Benedict XVI'S former butler, who stole the pontiff's personal papers and leaked them in a bid to expose the "evil and corruption" in the Catholic Church.Paolo Gabriele was arrested May 23 after Vatican police found heaps of papal documents in his Vatican City apartment. He was convicted...

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Pope stresses family values as gay marriage gains

The pope pressed his opposition to gay marriage Friday, denouncing what he described as people eschewing their God-given gender identities to suit their sexual choices — and destroying the very "essence of the human creature" in the process.Benedict XVI made the comments in his annual Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches of the year. He dedicated it this...

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Margaret Thatcher in UK hospital after operation

 Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is recuperating at a hospital after an operation to remove a bladder growth, a friend said Friday.The 87-year-old Thatcher went to see her doctor after experiencing some discomfort and subsequently had the growth removed, according to longtime adviser Tim Bell.The operation was "completely satisfactory," Bell said. He said he couldn't go into detail...

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Margaret Thatcher in hospital after operation

 Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the country's first woman elective leader, is in hospital recovering from surgery to remove a growth on her bladder, a source close to the family said on Friday.After experiencing pain in her bladder earlier in the week, he 87-year-old went to hospital where she underwent a minimally invasive operation, Tim Bell, a public relations executive who...

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Budget deficit worsens, credit rating at risk

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's budget deficit worsened in November, data showed on Friday, increasing the risk it will lose its top-notch credit rating and overshoot this year's borrowing forecast.The data - which showed public sector net borrowing, excluding financial sector interventions, hit 17.5 billion pounds last month - is gloomy news for Britain's coalition government.Deficit reduction and preserving...

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UK prosecutors consider charges over royal hoax call

LONDON (Reuters) - British detectives investigating the death of a nurse found hanged after she took a prank phone call at a hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate have passed an evidence file to prosecutors, police said on Saturday.Public prosecutors must decide whether the case is strong enough to bring charges over a stunt that was condemned around the world and fuelled concerns...

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Prince William to spend Christmas with the in-laws

LONDON (AP) — Prince William will spend Christmas with his pregnant wife Kate and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury, royal officials said Saturday.That means a family Christmas for the Duchess of Cambridge, who was recently hospitalized after suffering from severe morning sickness.A statement from St. James' Palace, William's official residence, didn't go into much detail,...

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