Photos of the day from 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics - February 23, 2014

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  Watchdog: Fewer hate groups a political sign

  Southern Poverty Law Center says decline in number comes as more radical ideas go mainstream.

  Reuters55 mins ago
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  Hunt for Ukraine's ex-president reveals little hometown support

  Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - A thin wisp of smoke rises from a chimney in the barricaded residential complex of deposed president Viktor Yanukovych in the eastern city of Donetsk, but Ukraine's most famous fugitive is nowhere to be seen. The cluster of opulent villas, a few kilometres outside the industrial city of Donetsk appears thoroughly deserted apart from that small line of smoke. Donetsk, home to one million residents, sits deep in the heart of the Donbas mining region, where Yanukovych was born in 1950. It is impossible to penetrate the imposing perimeter of Yanukovych's residence here at 65 Rainissa Road, ringed by pine trees and a huge brick and cement wall topped with a metal barrier.

  AFP
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  Teen invents flashlight that could change the world

  Ann Makosinski was just another teenager with another science project when she joined her local science fair in Victoria, Canada, last year. Her invention, a flashlight that is powered solely from hand heat, took second place at the competition. Ann, 16, and her parents, both of whom are HAM radio operators and like to fiddle [...]
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  $10M stash of gold coins found while walking dog

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Northern California couple out walking their dog on their property stumbled across a modern-day bonanza: $10 million in rare, mint-condition gold coins buried in the shadow of an old tree.

  Associated Press26 mins ago
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  Obama and Boehner have first one-on-one in over a year

  Both parties describe first such meeting in more than a year as 'constructive.'

  Associated Press17 mins ago
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  Asiana Airlines docked $500,000 over crash

  First time U.S. has levied fine for inadequate assistance to loved ones of crash victims.

  Associated Press36 mins ago
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  Oyster found off Denmark breaks Guinness record

  A Pacific Oyster found off the coast of Denmark has officially been named the world’s largest, according to Guinness World Records. The oyster measures 13.97 inches in length and 4 inches in width, which is around a size 11 shoe. This large oyster also has...
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  Conductor writes apology to commuters for train that never came

  Michael Shaw distributed 500 copies of a letter apologizing to commuters after telling them to wait for an express train he didn't realize had been canceled. But Metro North said it does not condone Shaw's letter.
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  First Lady watching scoreboards for kids' health

  New rules take aim at marketing of unhealthy food at schools—and at their sporting facilities.

  Associated Press
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  Colo. Girl Scouts can't sell cookies outside pot shops

  In response to a California Girl Scout's ingenious strategy to sell Girl Scout cookies outside of a marijuana dispensary, the Girl Scouts of Colorado issued a statement on its Facebook page effectively barring its members from doing the same.
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  Obama tells Pentagon to plan Afghan pullout

  Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has balked at signing a bilateral security agreement.

  Associated Press34 mins ago
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  Report: Few Army women want combat jobs

  FORT EUSTIS, Va. (AP) — Only a small fraction of Army women say they'd like to move into one of the newly opening combat jobs, but those few who do say they want a job that takes them right into the heart of battle, according to preliminary results from a survey of the service's nearly 170,000 women.

  Associated Press
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  U.S. diplomats tell Obama nominees should know their destinations

  Please, presidents, stop picking big campaign donors to be ambassadors whether or not they know anything about the country where they’d be posted and are clueless about foreign affairs in general.
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  Uganda tabloid outs 'top' homosexuals

  KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan newspaper published a list Tuesday of what it called the country's "200 top" homosexuals, outing some Ugandans who previously had not identified themselves as gay one day after the president enacted a harsh anti-gay law.

  Associated Press
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  California 'lifers' leaving prison at record pace

  Under Gov. Jerry Brown, the state has released nearly 1,400 inmates with life sentences.

  Associated Press
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  43 killed in Nigeria in suspected Boko Haram school attack

  Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram Islamists killed 43 people on Tuesday in an attack on secondary school students as they slept in the latest school massacre to hit Nigeria's troubled northeast. The raid at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) targeted the Federal Government College in the town of Buni Yadi in Yobe state and bore the hallmarks of a similar attack last September in which 40 died. The attackers reportedly hurled explosives into student residential buildings, sprayed gunfire into rooms and hacked a number of students to death. A senior medical source at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital in Yobe's capital Damaturu said the gunmen only targeted male students and that female students were "spared".

  AFP
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  Website of major Bitcoin exchange vanishes

  Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is offline amid reports it suffered a debilitating theft.

  Associated Press
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  'Secrets of the Vatican' exposes church crises

  Pope Francis gave hope to many Catholics, but he also inherited a litany of problems.

• Ukraine: no new government before Thursday

  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A former presidential aide despised by protesters has been shot and wounded, his spokesman said Tuesday, raising fears of retaliation as Ukraine charts a new tumultuous political course.

  Associated Press
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  Pollution worsens in Beijing as statues don masks

  BEIJING (AP) — The smog is so bad even the statues wear masks. Or at least they do in pictures of a campus stunt that circulated online Tuesday as parts of northern China suffered a sixth straight day of severe pollution.

  Associated Press