The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 killed at least 227,898 people. Around a third of these were children. The economy of coastal south-east Asia was devastated, with the loss in some places of two thirds of the boats on which fisherfolk depended. The environment was irreversibly defiled. Since many of the bodies were never found, psychological trauma was compounded by the tradition in many of the areas affected that the dead must always be buried …

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CAIRO, Egypt — It starts off with a single grope, an unfamiliar hand reaching for a buttock, or maybe a breast.

But before there is time to react, the one hand turns into many, grabbing, tearing, stripping, biting — raping.

This is Cairo’s famed Tahrir Square. Once the epicenter of Egypt’s peaceful uprising, where activists plotted an idealistic future, the immense plaza in downtown Cairo is now also something much darker — a hub for mass sexual …

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The oft-reviled Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act (CISPA) will be reintroduced in the US House of Representatives this year, according to Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) who will work with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers on the bill.

Aiming to protect the private sector from cyberattacks, CISPA would allow government agencies to share internet traffic information with technology companies to keep private corporations better informed of looming threats against digital infrastructure.

The original form of the …

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Police fired tear gas on protesters in Egypt as thousands took to the streets after opposition groups called for “Friday of dignity” rallies across the country demanding Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi fulfill the goals of the revolt that brought him to power.

Clashes erupted in several cities and towns in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya, where the health ministry said 28 people had been injured, suffering mainly from tear gas inhalation.

Five people were also hurt …

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The Indian government has failed to curb the rampant sexual abuse of children, especially in schools and state-run child care facilities, a rights group said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its report released on Thursday, cited the recent fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus in December, an attack that shook the conscience of the nation and forced people to introspect on the way women are treated in India.

The outcry forced the …

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(WASHINGTON) — CIA Director-designate John Brennan’s vigorous defense of drone strikes to kill terror suspects — even American citizens — overseas is causing key lawmakers to consider lifting secrecy from what has become an important weapon in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Brennan, President Barack Obama’s top counterterror adviser, was grilled for more than three hours Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee on the drone program he leads, as well as on the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques …

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WASHINGTON — Ahead of a vote on the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bill, the Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican alternative that would have stripped out protections for LGBT victims of domestic violence, removed a key protection for Native American women and shifted the overall focus of VAWA away from women and more toward men.

The GOP proposal, put forward by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), failed by a vote of 34 to 65.

Senate Minority …

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Flanked by police chiefs, big-city mayors and gun control
advocates, a group of California Democratic legislators announced a series of proposals Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said would “once again make California’s gun laws the very toughest in the nation.”

Thursday’s announcement was the latest gun control push from state lawmakers in the wake of December’s mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. The massacre, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults at …

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The revelation came after a news blackout on reporting the existence of the base was broken by two US newspapers. The blackout had been agreed by American media organisations and the Obama administration bceause of the national security issues involved.

The first pilotless CIA mission flown from the base killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric and senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and a deputy in September 2011, reports said.

Another Predator drone strike killed …

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The Federal Bureau of Prisons will hire an independent auditor to review the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons, according to a statement released by the bureau. The move could impact thousands of juveniles in adult facilities who are frequently isolated from adult inmates, sometimes on the pretext of protecting their personal safety.

“The National Institute of Corrections will be awarding a contract in the weeks ahead to retain an independent auditor to examine the …

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