Tarantino and Pitt: The long-awaited love affair

With Quentin Tarantino’s recent disclosure that Brad Pitt "pulled out a brick of hash" for the pair to smoke during a meeting about Tarantino’s new film "Inglourious Basterds," the two movie icons could today be mistaken for old roomies. However, in an interview with CNN, the charismatic director of “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs” insists that the well-anticipated union was a long time in the making.

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Dolly Parton: ‘I know I’m a bit over-exaggerated’

"Never wear your make up to bed," implore the beauty editors. But Dolly Parton was never one for following conventional advice on looking good. She sets her own standards, from her striking sculptured hair to the bright lashings of eyeshadow caked on a face that she has admitted in the past owes a lot to modern surgery

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Dry conditions, winds leave California open to big fires

Dry conditions and strong winds in California left much of the state vulnerable to massive fires, with blaze-starters ranging from a cooking fire at a drug trafficking operation to a bird flying into a power line. “It really goes to show you that it doesn’t take much with these dry conditions to start a fire,” CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant told CNN Sunday. The fire sparked by a bird hitting a power line ignited a series of blazes in Yuba County, forcing some 1,300 firefighters to the scene and officials to declare evacuations in the town of Dobbins, he said.

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Expected winds, drop in humidty may hamper wildfire effort

An anticipated drop in humidity could hinder the efforts of firefighters battling a 6,800-acre blaze Saturday in Northern California, according to a fire official. Fire officials also expect a north-northeast wind and higher temperatures, all of which would make conditions drier, said Julie Hutchinson, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

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Typhoon survivors find sanctuary in school

In the foothills of the Central Mountain chain in southern Taiwan, a rescue helicopter lowers itself onto an athletic field in the town of Nei Pu. The helicopter doors open and eight typhoon survivors stumble out with their belongings in plastic bags. It is a scene that plays out all day.

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Reporter escapes Taliban death sentence

Zarghon Shah is a man who knows just how lucky he is to be alive. He came face-to-face with the feared Taliban fighters of Pakistan’s Swat Valley, was ordered to be executed and gained a chilling insight into the mind of a fearsome militant who has waged a campaign of terror

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