A Mafia Boss Breaks Silence on an Infamous Assassination

Each year, Italians take part in a mid-summer ritual to honor the victims of the Mafia and speak out against the scourge of organized crime. From Palermo to Torino, politicians, church leaders and youth groups gather to mark the July 19, 1992, assassination of anti-mob magistrate Paolo Borsellino, who was killed along with five bodyguards in a meticulously planned car bombing outside his mother’s apartment in the Sicilian capital

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Couple boogies into spotlight with viral wedding video

Sometimes, the effects of fame can ripple like a stone dropped in a pond. Take the case of Minnesota residents Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson. The couple had a fun idea for their wedding party to do a nontraditional procession to a catchy tune, “Forever” by Chris Brown.

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Hackers target Australian festival showing Uyghur film

Hackers repeatedly attacked the Web site of Australia’s largest film festival Saturday, asking organizers to apologize to the Chinese people for planning to screen a documentary on an exiled Uyghur leader. The attacks were carried out on the opening day of the Melbourne International Film Festival — in what organizers are calling the third phase of a “concerted campaign” to withdraw the film “The 10 Conditions of Love.” The documentary examines the impact on the family of activist Rebiya Kadeer as she fights for greater autonomy of the ethnic minority group, the Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China’s northwest. Kadeer is the president of the World Uyghur Congress, made up of exiled Uyghurs.

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Where the ‘Ladyboys’ Are

Life can be complicated enough for members of the transgender community — the last thing they need is to have to choose between two bathroom doors: male or female. Fortunately for students at the Kampang high school in rural northern Thailand, there’s now a third option. Introduced in May, the third bathroom features a symbol on its door of a human figure divided vertically, its blue side wearing pants and its red side sporting a skirt.

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Analyst: Undersea cable can boost connections

The SEACOM cable being promoted as a computer lifeline for Africa will contribute to social upliftment but not immediately, a telecommunications analyst says. James Hodge, who specializes in competition and regulation, says initially SEACOM will predominantly benefit those already connected. Hodge said it will not initially change the lives of those poor people, sitting in the rural areas without lights or electricity.

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Library fight riles up city, leads to book-burning demand

A fight over books depicting sex and homosexuality has riled up a small Wisconsin city, cost some library board members their positions and prompted a call for a public book burning. The battle has stirred much of West Bend, a city of roughly 30,000 people about 35 miles north of Milwaukee.

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