Smallest known North American dinosaur found

Canadian researchers say they have discovered the smallest known North American dinosaur, a carnivore that roamed areas of the continent 75 million years ago and weighed less than most modern-day house cats. Hesperonychus elizabethae, a 4.4-pound (2-kilogram) creature with razor-like claws, ran through the swamps and forests of southeastern Alberta, Canada, during the late Cretaceous period, the researchers said. The diminutive dinosaur likely hunted insects, small mammals and other prey, perhaps even baby dinosaurs, said Nick Longrich, a paleontology research associate in the University of Calgary’s Department of Biological Sciences.

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North Korean premier arrives in China

North Korea Premier Kim Yong-Il arrived in China on Tuesday for a five-day visit that coincides with the 60th anniversary celebration of diplomatic ties between the two countries, state media said. The visit is the first for Kim, who was elected in 2007. He is not related to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, who controls the country’s military

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Taliban threaten to kill aid workers as spies

A top Taliban commander has issued a new threat to foreign aid workers, saying that under the insurgent group’s new "constitution" they will execute them as spies or hold them in exchange for the release of Taliban fighters. In an exclusive telephone interview Friday night with CNN, Mohammed Ibrahim Hanafi said the Taliban intelligence wing was actively gathering information on foreign aid workers. “If we get someone, that is how we will deal with it under our new constitution,” he said

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Nine bodies found in common grave near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Nine bodies have been found in a common grave in the desert south of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, according to Chihuahua state prosecutor’s spokeswoman Daniela Gonzalez. Investigators have yet to determine the identities of the seven men and two women found in the grave, Gonzalez said. They have not released information on how they were killed or how long they have been there.

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Family caught in Madoff swindle forced to sell Jewish heirlooms

Elisa Schindler says she is relieved her father, the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler, didn’t live to see the destruction caused by Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff. “Here’s a man who dedicated his entire life to making the world a better place and contrast that with a man who didn’t do that,” she says

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Abducted aid workers released in Darfur

Sudanese authorities have said a team of its doctors abducted Wednesday in Darfur has been released, the medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres said Friday A Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French coordinator were abducted Wednesday night. Two Sudanese workers were also captured and freed, the group said. The incident took place in Serif Umra, the Sudanese province in northern Darfur

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Obama’s Reform Agenda: Is He Trying to Do Too Much?

On the best of days, Washington and Wall Street are as antsy as a boy who plants an acorn and then starts talking about climbing the tree. And these are not the best of days. Under the stress of a global financial disaster and juiced up on the amphetamine of 24-hour cable chatter, America’s axis of money and influence is jittery and nervous and primed for panic

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