Search for answers begins in Buffalo plane crash

The pilots of a commuter airliner that crashed late Thursday about 6 miles from a Buffalo, New York, airport discussed "significant ice buildup" on the plane’s wings and windshields before the plane plunged to the ground, killing 50. Continental Connection Flight 3407 was en route from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo Niagara International Airport when it went down about 10:20 p.m. ET Thursday.

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2 would-be passengers feel relief, sadness: ‘It could have been me’

One person credits bad weather and the other a long line. Those are the reasons two would-be passengers did not fly on Continental Connection Flight 3407, which crashed Thursday outside Buffalo, killing all 49 people aboard and one on the ground.

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EU envoy expelled over Chavez ‘dictator’ jibe

A European parliament envoy who was to serve as observer during the upcoming referendum on President Hugo Chavez’s term limits was expelled from Venezuela on Friday after calling Chavez a "dictator". In a statement, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said it had “invited” Luis Herrero, a European Union parliamentarian from Spain, to leave the country in order to preserve a “peaceful climate” before the February 15 referendum

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Lebanon: Thousands mark Hariri’s assassination

Thousands gathered in downtown Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square Saturday to mark the fourth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination, a traumatic event in the nation’s post-civil war history. Hariri died on Feb. 14, 2005 in a powerful explosion that left a 10-foot crater in a street in downtown Beirut, unleashing massive anti-Syria protests in what became known as the Cedar Revolution

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Policy review of war dead coverage nears end

A Pentagon review looking at allowing media coverage of the flag-draped coffins of fallen troops returning to the United States could be ready for the secretary of defense to look over within days, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. The review was ordered by Secretary Robert Gates after President Obama asked for more information on the Pentagon’s longstanding policy of barring media from viewing the coffins as they come into Dover Air Force base in Delaware

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G7 ministers focus on stabilizing world economy

Finance ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations were holding their second and last day of meetings in Rome on Saturday with an agenda squarely focused on the world financial crisis. Italy is hosting the meeting of the Group of Seven in its role as G7 president for 2009. G7 members are the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain, and Canada.

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Making Reading Writing and Recession Work Together

With books tucked neatly on the shelves and a comfy purple-dragon rug in a back-corner nook, the library at San Diego’s Willard B. Hage Elementary School is the perfect place for children to fall in love with reading. Since the start of the school year, however, the library has been off-limits to students, who get to go there only when teachers can escort them and handle the record-keeping

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