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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The death toll from severe storms that roared across the South has risen to 173 across five states with Alabama and Mississippi each reporting increases in the number of deaths in their states.

Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the US military continue a large-scale operation to find those still missing in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. The 3-day joint search began on Friday. It covers the Pacific coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. Authorities say 53 bodies had been recovered as of 3 PM on Saturday. An estimated 15,540 people are listed as missing in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, bringing the number of dead or missing to more than 27,000. The toll is expected to rise as search operations are not being conducted in areas 20 kilometers around the...

More than 27,000 people are officially dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11th. According to the National Police Agency, 9,811 people are confirmed dead as of 9 PM on Thursday. The agency says it has received reports of 17,541 people missing. Most of the dead and missing are from the 3 hardest hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima. The number of confirmed deaths in Fukushima totals 839, far smaller than the more than 5,800 in Miyagi and about 3,000 in Iwate. This may be due to the suspension of search operations...

RECOVERY efforts are continuing as authorities confirm 27 bodies have been recovered after a boat crash at Christmas Island. In a statement this evening the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service confirmed at least 27 people are dead. "As at 6pm (AEDT), 41 persons have been recovered from the water, and another person made it to the shore," the statement said. "Tragically, initial reports are that 27 bodies have also been recovered at this stage. "The rescue is being conducted in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions.

Police say all 29 workers missing in a New Zealand coal mine are dead after a second explosion Wednesday that no one could have survived. Explosive and poisonous gases had prevented rescuers from entering the mine to search for the missing men since an initial explosion on Friday at the Pike River Mine. But even if any had survived, the second blast would have killed them, police superintendent Gary Knowles said. "Unfortunately I have to inform the public of New Zealand at 2:37 p.m. today there was another massive explosion underground and based on that explosion no one would have...

The death of a sailor from Florida marks a sad milestone for the President of the United States. Since Barack H. Obama became the Commander in Chief, 900 soldiers have lost their lives. The 900th to die was Edwin Gonzalez, 22, of North Miami Beach, Florida. The Department of Defense says Gonzales was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom as a Hospital Corpsman. He died Oct. 8 from wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Forces, Atlantic, Camp Lejeune, N.C. You can see the list...

KABUL, Afghanistan – Airstrikes and ground operations by NATO and Afghan troops killed dozens of insurgents, including a senior Taliban leader who spearheaded attacks against security forces, the alliance said Thursday as the war in Afghanistan entered its 10th year. Sixteen militants were killed in air raids and ground fighting overnight in the Darqad, Yangi Qala and Khwaja Bahawuddin districts of Takhar province, Gen. Shah Jahan Noori, provincial police chief, told The Associated Press. More than a dozen insurgents were wounded. Northern Takhar has been the scene of escalating military operations in recent days, as NATO and Afghan forces step...

KABUL, Afghanistan – Three U.S. service members were killed in blasts in Afghanistan, bringing the toll for July to at least 63 and making it the deadliest month for American forces in the nearly 9-year-war.

CLEBURNE, Texas - Officials say three people were killed and at least 10 people were missing and about a half-dozen more were injured when a gas line exploded Monday after it was struck by workers. Cleburne city manager Chester Nolen said three people are dead and at least 10 people were missing, Dallas-Fort Worth television station WFAA reported. Johnson County Emergency Management Coordinator Jack Snow told The Associated Press about six people were transported to hospitals. He said officials believe a gas line was struck with a digging machine.

LONDON - British police said the death toll from a shooting spree in northwest England earlier on Wednesday had risen to 12. A taxi driver described as quiet but friendly went on a shooting spree across a picturesque rural area before apparently turning the gun on himself, police said.

MAP OF THE DAY: Tropical Storm Agatha Kills Over 100, And It's Heading For The Gulf Of Mexico Joe Weisenthal Jun. 1, 2010, 8:31 AM The NOAA has predicted a very active hurricane season this year, and the oil disaster in the Gulf only heightens the concern. Things are getting off to a bad start. This weekend, Tropical Depression Agatha killed over 100 in Central America. And look, it's heading through the Gulf of Mexico. Map via MonkeyFister.[snip]

A Libyan plane arriving from South Africa crashed on Wednesday at Tripoli airport killing 105 people, a security official told AFP.

An average of 18 US military veterans are taking their lives every day as the Obama administration and the Pentagon grow increasingly defensive about the epidemic of suicides driven by Washington’s wars of aggression. The stunning figure was reported last week by the Army Times, citing officials in the US Veterans Affairs Department. The department estimates that there are 950 suicide attempts every month by veterans who are receiving treatment from the department. Of these, 7 percent succeed in taking their own lives, while 11 percent try to kill themselves again within nine months. The greatest growth in suicides has...

12 Died at Kim Il Sung Birthday Fireworks By Jung Kwon Ho [2010-04-23 21:58 ] Shenyang, China -- 12 people are reported to have died tragically after falling from the Daedong Bridge in Pyongyang during a rush of citizens trying to leave the fireworks display being held in Kim Il Sung Square on April 15th. The tragedy occurred at a time when a 500-meter radius around the square was crowded with people. A source from Pyongyang explained more on Friday, “After news that the General (Kim Jong Il) would not be participating in the event started circulating immediately after the...

The plane that crashed, killing Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders, ignored Russian air traffic control's instructions, officials said Saturday. The presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 97. Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police. "The cause of the plane crash was apparently an error...

The death toll from the massive explosion at a sprawling coal mine in West Virginia rose to 25 early Tuesday, making it the deadliest U.S. mining disaster in 25 years. Crews halted their efforts to reach four miners still unaccounted for at the Upper Big Branch Mine following the blast Monday afternoon. Concentrations of methane and carbon monoxide inside the mine made it a safety risk for crews to proceed, said Kevin Stricklin of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration at a 2 a.m. briefing to reporters. Officials planned to drill bore holes from the surface 1,200 feet into...

Report: 6 dead in W. Va. coal mine blast 21 unaccounted for; emergency crews on the scene BREAKING NEWS msnbc.com staff and news service reports updated less than 1 minute ago CHARLESTON, W.Va. - An explosion at an underground West Virginia coal mine on Monday killed at least six people and left 21 unaccounted for, a state mining official said. The accident happened around 4:30 Monday afternoon at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, about 30 miles south of Charleston. The West Virginia state police confirmed an "incident," but had no further information.

Quake scares residents from Tijuana to Los Angeles* About 100 injuries reported by Mexican authorities * Quake cracks highway linking Tijuana to Mexicali (Updates with report on injuries, details of damage)TIJUANA, Mexico, April 4 (Reuters) - A major 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the Mexico-California border on Sunday, killing at least one person as it rocked buildings, ruptured a highway and panicked residents from Tijuana to Los Angeles. One person died when a house in Mexicali collapsed, Alfredo Escobedo, director of emergency services in Baja California state, Mexico, said. He said others had been trapped in elevators, retaining walls collapsed...

In regards to socialized medicine - or as Keith Olbermann's selling point puts it "Medicare for all" - studies from RAND and the Employment Policies Institute do not do Democrats and Olbermann any favor. The Employment Policies Institute found that the involuntarily uninsured were only 3 percent more likely to die over a fourteen year period, and found that people enrolled in Medicaid have a much higher mortality rate than the uninsured. As Goodman put it, "In other words, Medicaid enrollment reduces life expectancy rather than increasing it!" Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/anthony-kang/2010/03/19/you-lie-msnbc-lets-dems-false-45-000-uninsurance-deaths-go-unchallenge#ixzz0iqsXGLGq

Feminists like to say they’re fighting for women’s right to choose. The abortion lobby says they just want women to have all of the options, to make the choice of whatever is best for them. Don’t believe it. What they actually want is for women to have abortions. They don’t want women to see ultrasounds because then, they might choose to keep their baby. They don’t want women to know that adoption is an option for them, too. Women are misled to believe that abortion is their only choice, that they have no way out. When a scared, confused, and...