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The United States and the United Kingdom closed their embassies in Yemen Sunday, pointing to ongoing terrorist threats. The closures came after the two nations pledged to boost counter-terrorism support to the Yemeni government. The American embassy's website said the threats come from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group linked to the failed Christmas Day airplane bombing attempt in the United States. The message in part said, "The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by Al-Qaeda i

The Boston Bruins won against the Philadelphia Flyers at Boston's historic Fenway Park becoming the first home team to win the NHL Winter Classic in front of a crowd of 38,112 Friday. Before the game began, a ceremonial face-off took place between Bruins' legend Bobby Orr and Flyers' legend Bobby Clarke who represented their respective teams as honorary captains. The first period went by with both teams tied scoreless at 0-0. However, fists went flying, in the first ever Winter Classic fight, between the Bruins' Shawn Thornton and the Flyers

A team of researchers from the Thomas Jefferson University's Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories (BFL) in the United States have managed to increase the amount of oil produced by tobacco leaves. Tobacco oil can be very efficiently converted to biofuel, but most oil is located in the seeds, which the plant does not produce many of. Tobacco seeds produce around 40% oil per dry weight but a crop of the plant yields only around 600kg of seeds per acre. The leaves have an oil content of around 1.7–4% oil per dry weight. The oil has previously b

Democratic Republic of Congo's Mount Nyamuragira, the most active volcano in Africa, erupted in the morning hours of Saturday, spilling lava out over its southern flank. The explosion occurred at about 03.45 local time, according to rangers from the Virunga National Park, where the volcano is situated. The warden for the southern sector of Virunga National Park, Innocent Mburanumwe, was a witness to the event. "I first thought [it] was the sound of war. I thought there was fighting again near our park station. Then I saw the mountain was on f

At least sixty people have been confirmed dead after mudslides in southeastern Brazil, mostly on Ilha Grande, caused by torrential rainfall. Rescue efforts are still continuing in the state of Rio de Janeiro for people feared to be buried under houses, which collapsed due to the deluge of mud and rain. Rescuers used shovels and heavy machinery to dig through the rubble. Colonel Jerri Andrade, who is supervising the rescuers, commented on the current status of rescue efforts. "The weather is improving, which helps us with the search, but we wo

The number of newly-laid off US residents has fallen to the lowest level in a year and a half. The Department of Labor reports new unemployment claims totaled 432,000 last week, down 22,000 from the previous week. That is the lowest figure since July, 2008, and a significant reduction from the nearly 700,000 jobs that were being lost each week during the worst stretch of the economic recession in early 2009. Global Insight economist Nigel Gault commented that he thought unemployment is easing. "The trend is clear. It is well established now,

Nearly a quarter of Iceland's voters have signed a petition calling for President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson to veto the bill passed last week to pay €3.8 billion to the United Kingdom and The Netherlands to compensate depositors impacted when the Icesave online bank collapsed in 2008. "I consider it to be a reasonable demand that the economic burden placed on the current and future generations of Icelanders, in the form of a state guarantee for Icesave payments to the UK and Dutch governments, be subject to a national referendum," says the petiti

About 300 new or amended laws took effect at midnight of New Year's Day last Friday in Illinois, ranging from government ethics reform to driving laws. One law that is likely to affect residents' lives the most is a ban on reading or sending text messages through a hand-held device. Drivers who wish to text must put their vehicle on park or neutral while stopped in traffic or on the shoulder. The law also prohibits reading email or surfing the Internet, although using GPS capabilities is still allowed. Breaking this law is considered a primar

At 08:48 local time (2148 UTC), a 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale struck the Solomon Islands on Sunday. The epicenter of the earthquake was 10 kilometers deep (or 6.2 miles deep) and was located 88 kilometers (or 55 miles) south-southeast of the city of Gizo according to preliminary reports. No immediate reports of damage have been reported. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that there was no immediate threat of any tsunamis heading toward Hawaii. The Australian Tsunami Warning Centre has issued no alerts. A possible after

The Chinese economy is likely to overtop the Japanese economy and become the second largest in the world. Li Daokui, Director of the Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE) at the Tsinghua University, states that there is no doubt about what the numbers or the statistics show. China's GDP growth was 9.6% in 2008. Despite predictions about China's GDP being at around 8.6% to 9%, it rose to 9.6%, as stated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected previously that China will overtake Japan s

North Korea said in a statement on Friday that it wants to end its “hostile relationship” with the United States, and that it seeks to focus on six-party talks with the west. The statement released by major state run news outlets, said that the North is committed to "a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula." The United States responded by saying that it will take the statement seriously if the North takes action on its word and returns to the six-party talks. The Korean Peninsula has been split into North and South Korea since the Kor

The Russian government has raised the minimum price for vodka in an effort to combat alcoholism. The new minimum price for a half liter of vodka is now 89 roubles (US$2.94, €2.05), nearly double what it was before the price raise. The time between New Year's day and the Orthodox Christmas (January 7) is often marked with a spike in drinking. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made attempts to stem alcohol consumption in the nation, saying he was shocked that the average Russian drank 18 liters (38 US pints) of pure alcohol each year. The go