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U.S. Monitoring Hizbullah Activities after Series of Bombings and Plots

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said the U.S. is closely monitoring the activities of Hizbullah after a failed bomb plot in Bangkok and attacks on Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia.

Napolitano told lawmakers Wednesday that the Homeland Security Department has contacted Jewish organizations around the country and is working with the FBI and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

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Swiss Craft Janitor Satellites to Grab Space Junk

The tidy Swiss want to clean up space.

Swiss scientists say they plan to launch a "janitor satellite" specially designed to get rid of orbiting debris known as space junk.

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Jolie Hopes her Film Draws Notice to Syria

Angelina Jolie on Tuesday premiered her film "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in Bosnia, where the fictional tale of a romance between a Bosnian Serb man and a Bosnian Muslim woman has shone a spotlight on the ethnic anger still left over from the country's brutal conflict.

Jolie, who arrived in Sarajevo with partner Brad Pitt to attend the screening, greeted the crowd of 5,000 in Bosnian, before acknowledging in English that it would bring back painful memories of the bloody 1992-95 war. As the film ended to a standing ovation, Jolie tearfully said, "To share this with you means the world to me."

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Hitting a Fashion Show? Crazy Heels Required

It's a blustery day — February tends to be that way in New York — and Marian Kihogo, a fashion stylist and blogger from London, is dashing from one runway show to another, from the tents at Lincoln Center to studios and galleries scattered around Manhattan.

As she strides by on her "architectural heels" by Nicholas Kirkwood for Peter Pilotto, the heels hollowed out for artistic effect, this reporter dares to suggest she might be more comfortable in running shoes.

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Tony Bennett Honored on Valentine's Day in SF

More than 1,000 people crammed into San Francisco's City Hall on Valentine's Day to honor singer Tony Bennett and the 50th Anniversary of his famous song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a symphony, children's chorus and the Gay Men's Chorus all sang the famous song to Bennett during a ceremony he attended on Tuesday.

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Threatened Butterfly Vanishes in Last U.S. Refuge

The butterfly known as the Miami blue was once ubiquitous along the Florida coasts. But development and hurricanes shrank its habitat, and the last place it was seen was a state park in the Florida Keys in 2010.

For more than a year, it's been Bahia Honda State Park biologist Jim Duquesnel's mission to determine if the small butterfly, one of the rarest insects in the U.S., is still there, while fending off the iguanas threatening its habitat.

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Honduras Prison Fire Leaves 272 Dead

A fire swept through a prison in Honduras, killing at least 272 inmates, many of them burning to death in their cells, authorities said Wednesday.

Lucy Marder, chief of forensic medicine for the prosecutors' office, gave the death count to reporters in a radio news conference.

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Syria Referendum on New Constitution on Feb 26

Syria's President Bashar Assad has decreed to hold a referendum for a new constitution on February 26, the official SANA state news agency reported on Wednesday.

"President Bashar Assad issued today a decree setting Sunday, February 26, as the date for the referendum on the draft constitution," SANA reported.

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OIC Chief Rejects Military Intervention in Syria

The international community must rule out military intervention as a solution to the Syrian crisis, the leader of a global Islamic group said Wednesday.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said he remained involved in "quiet diplomacy activities" with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the power struggle that has cost around 6,000 lives over the last 11 months. The violence has led to the country's most severe international isolation in more than four decades of Assad family rule.

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U.N. Calls for Aid to Reach Zones Hit by Sudan Unrest

The U.N. Security Council expressed concern Tuesday over food shortages in areas affected by clashes between Sudan and South Sudan and called on Khartoum to allow humanitarian access.

A statement by the council expressed "deep and growing alarm with the rising levels of malnutrition and food insecurity in some areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States in Sudan, which could reach emergency levels if not immediately addressed."

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