Torture tape central to lawsuit against UAE sheikh

On the tape, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan appears to burn with rage. Believing he was cheated in a business deal, the member of the United Arab Emirates ruling family was trying to extract a confession from an Afghan grain dealer. With a private security officer assisting, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan is seen stuffing sand in the Afghan’s mouth.

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Governor Perry’s Tantrum: So What if Texas Secedes?

Happily, it is still possible to visit Texas without a passport — even though the governor seems to be taking the state’s tagline more seriously than ever: “Texas: it’s like a whole other country.” Governor Rick Perry didn’t actually endorse secession when he spoke at an antitax tea party at Austin city hall.

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Orion space capsule previewed on National Mall

It looked as if a spaceship had landed on the National Mall on Monday as NASA showed off a mockup of its new Orion crew module. Before the next U.S. astronauts go to the moon — and maybe eventually to Mars — NASA scientists want to make sure they can return safely

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Texas board comes down on 2 sides of creationism debate

Dueling theories of how the universe was created got a split decision Friday night from the Texas Board of Education, which required examination of "all sides of scientific evidence" in new science standards, but rejected language requiring teachers to teach the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories. The debate pitted proponents of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution against supporters of religion-based theories of intelligent design, or creationism. “Science loses

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