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France Moves To Ban Kids Under 16 From Beauty Pageants

9:44am September 19, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

The bill, which the French Senate approved, is aimed at protecting girls from being sexualized. It's part of a larger measure on women's rights. The legislation still must be approved by the lower house of parliament.

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Exhibit In Scotland Showcases Miniature Books

9:44am September 19, 2013

One of the world's smallest is a version of the nursery rhyme "Old King Cole" — no bigger than a grain of rice. Back in the 1800s, one Scottish publisher discovered that a poorly selling copy of poems by Robert Burns became a bestseller when he miniaturized it.

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Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking cover

Kitchen Time Machine: A Culinary Romp Through Soviet History

9:38am September 17, 2013

Author Anya Von Bremzen's new memoir, Mastering The Art of Soviet Cooking, is a tragic-comic history of a family and a nation as seen through the kitchen window. Everything we ate in the Soviet Union was grown ... by the party state," she says. "So, with the food, inevitably, you ingested the ideology."

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Carlos Mesquita (left) and Filipe Preto invented Vem aí a Troika (Here Comes the Troika), a satirical card game that pokes fun at Portugal's economic crisis and its creditors.

World News

With A Card Game, The Portuguese Get Back At Their Creditors

1:39pm September 16, 2013

by Lauren Frayer

Here Comes the Troika is a satirical card game where players can stash away savings in Swiss bank accounts or fund useless airports or high-speed trains to nowhere. The winner is the one who can hide the most money in offshore accounts, win elections — and avoid the dreaded troika card.

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Engineers Begin Righting Wrecked Cruise Ship

7:09am September 16, 2013

The Costa Concordia is lying on its side in shallow waters off the west coast of Italy. It struck a reef 20 months ago when the captain steered too close to land. Thirty-two people died. On Monday, the task is to begin to slowly rotate the ship to an upright position, using a complex system of chains and underwater platforms and cables.

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The black, long-horned Camargue bull is just one of two breeds of fighting bulls in Europe. The bulls are shown here at the Roman arena in Arles, southern France.

World News

In France's Camargue, Bulls Are A Passion And A Way Of Life

8:00pm September 14, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

The marshy wetlands of the Camargue in southern France are rich in wildlife and folklore. But the region's most stunning icons roams free here: the Camargue bull, one of Europe's last two breeds of fighting bulls. The creatures are taunted and teased, respected and revered.

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New Computer School Makes French Students Teach Themselves

1:25pm September 14, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

The school, simply named 42, requires no high school diploma and no money to apply. It's turning French education on its head, but it may also solve some of the country's most pressing problems.

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An aerial view taken on Aug. 23 shows the Costa Concordia as it lies on its side next to Giglio Island. The wrecked cruise ship will be rolled off the seabed and onto underwater platforms.

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Off The Tuscan Coast, Raising The Ill-Fated Costa Concordia

8:29pm September 13, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

Next week, a salvage crew plans to rotate and raise the Costa Concordia cruise ship, in one of the biggest maritime salvage operations ever undertaken. The huge vessel has been partially submerged off Giglio Island since an accident in January 2012 that killed 32 people.

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Pope Accepts Hand-Me-Down Car

7:25am September 12, 2013

Pope Francis has famously shunned luxury items — including the popemobile. The pope has accepted the keys to a 1984 Renault with nearly 190,000 miles on it. It was a gift from a priest. The pope plans to drive it on Vatican grounds.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to avoid a strike by the U.S.

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What's Driving Russia's Tactical Change On Syria?

7:14pm September 11, 2013

by Corey Flintoff

Until recently, Russia seemed unable or unwilling to do anything to head off a U.S. strike against Syria. Now, it's running with a plan to have Syria place its chemical weapons under international control. The strategy allows nearly all sides to save face politically.

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