Poison-Based Bacteria Redefines Life As We Know It

Arsenic is an element that is deadly to most living creatures, but bacteria living in California's Lake Mono thrive on it. Today NASA explains how those poison-eating organisms are changing the way we search for extraterrestrial life.

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• Negotiators work on tax deal as House holds vote (AP)
• Jobless claims rise, but trend shows improvement (AP)
• McCain calls study on gays in military flawed (AP)
• Rangel faces almost certain censure (AP)
• Holiday shoppers came out to spend in November (AP)
• Assange's legal options narrow (AP)

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BBC News - Eminem leads Grammy nominations

Eminem is the leading contender for the Grammy Awards with 10 nominations including album of the year. The 38-year-old rapper was followed by Bruno Mars with seven nods, while Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and country group Lady Antebellum all netted six nominations.
UK acts including Florence and the Machine, Mumford and Sons and Susan

BBC News - Web bug reveals browsing history

Porn sites are among those hijacking the history files of visitors to their sites.Porn sites are among the top users of a browser bug that reveals all the places people go online, finds research. Carried out by computer science researchers at UC San Diego the study found 485 sites exploiting the bug. The flaw gives sites access to all the other sites that user has visited.

BBC News - Coca leaves first chewed 8,000 years ago, says research

Peruvian foraging societies were already chewing coca leaves 8,000 years ago, archaeological evidence has shown. Ruins beneath house floors in the northwestern Peru showed evidence of chewed coca and calcium-rich rocks. Such rocks would have been burned to create lime, chewed with coca to release more of its active chemicals.

BBC News - Index finger length prostate cancer clue

Babies are exposed to hormones in the womb. The length of a man's fingers can provide clues to his risk of prostate cancer, according to new research. A British Journal of Cancer study found men whose index finger was longer than their ring finger were significantly less likely to develop the disease. Researchers made the discovery after comparing the hands of 1,500 prostate cancer

BBC News - Carla Bruni praises Pope over condoms on World Aids Day, Dec 02, 2010

Carla Bruni acts as an ambassador for a fund to combat Aids
French first lady Carla Bruni has publicly thanked Pope Benedict for saying the use of condoms to prevent HIV/Aids may be justified.
She said in an interview to mark World Aids Day that she was "astonished, surprised and grateful" for the Pope's remarks, publicised last month.
"I think this is quite an enormous step towards something very new," President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife said.info@als-alexander.org or interalex1@yahoo.com 

BBC Sport - Football - World Cup vote live - decision day

Fifa will name the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Zurich on Thursday, with the US - hoping to stage the tournament for the first time since 1994 - in the running for 2022. Sport

BBC News - Wikileaks: Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa blamed for killings

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to the UK has been disrupted by protesters
A US envoy believed the president of Sri Lanka bore responsibility for an alleged 2009 massacre of Tamils, suggest cables obtained by Wikileaks.The claim was reported in a message from the US envoy in Colombo.It comes as Sri Lanka's parliament was

BBC News - Egypt Muslim Brotherhood 'quits election'

Opposition supporters have reacted angrily after the first round of voting
Egypt's main opposition movement the Muslim Brotherhood says it is withdrawing its candidates from the election run-off, reports say. The Islamist movement, which is banned but runs candidates as independents, failed to win a single seat in Sunday's first round.