The Obama administration is struggling to keep the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, on its side as it carefully tries to open talks with the Taliban. Yet the video showing such a desecration — a possible war crime — is likely to weaken the American position with both. The Taliban and Mr. Karzai each pointed to the images as evidence of American brutality, a message with broad appeal in Afghanistan, where word of the video was slowly spreading on Thursday.

Senior military officials in Kabul and at the Pentagon confirmed that the video was authentic and that they had identified the Marines as members of the Third Battalion, Second Marines, which completed a tour of Afghanistan this fall before returning to its base at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The officials did not release the Marines’ names but said one wore a corporal’s uniform.

Pentagon officials said the video had been made between March and September 2011, when the Marine battalion was stationed in Helmand Province, a strategic Taliban heartland and a center of the opium poppy trade. The officials said that they did not know the precise location shown in the video but that it had probably been made in the northern part of the province, where the battalion had been operating. Seven of the approximately 1,000 Marines in the battalion were killed during the seven-month deployment.

The Taliban reaction out of Afghanistan was muted. “This is not the first time we see such brutality,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters. He added that “the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange.”

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who led the outpouring of Afghan outrage and is ambivalent about U.S.-led talks with the Taliban, may use the incident to delay talks. “This act by American soldiers is completely inhumane and condemnable in the strongest possible terms,” said the President, who rarely resorts to such strong language after Taliban atrocities.

Previous American military mistakes – especially air strikes that killed civilians – have sparked major, angry, anti-American demonstrations in the mountain-ringed capital and brought harsh denunciations from Mr. Karzai.

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NASA

“This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth’s twin,” Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist said in a statement. “Kepler’s results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA’s science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe.”

Kepler-22b has several Earth-like characteristics: The new planet’s temperature is around 72 degrees Fahrenheit and its radius is 2.4 times Earth’s. The planet completely orbits its star, which is similar to our sun, every 290 days, just 75 days shy of an Earth year.

But how close is the new Earth really?

Since one light year is the equivalent nearly six trillion miles, it would take 22 million years to travel 600 light years on a space shuttle and visit Kepler 22-b with our current technology.

But while we won’t be able to visit this Kepler-22b, scientists say another planet like it and closer to it could be discovered in this lifetime. The Kepler telescope has already detected hundreds of new planets.

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The National Retail Federation says 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites between Thanksgiving Day and Sunday.

So what sort of Web-only deals are out there? Here are a few from some major retailers.

Best Buy

Best Buy is the largest bricks-and-mortar consumer electronics retailer out there, but it doesn’t shy away from Cyber Monday. Among the price cuts: a 55-inch Samsung LED-backlit TV, normally $1,500, is selling for $999.99, the HTC Titan running Windows Phone and the HTC Wildfire S running Android are both free with a new two-year contract, point-and-shoot cameras are $40 to $80 off, a number of laptops are on sale including a 15.6-inch Toshiba Satellite for $279.99.

Amazon

Discounted goods on Amazon.com can be found pretty much all year. So while a sale is nothing new for the online retail giant, the company is promising that it’s Cyber Monday discounts will be significant. However, unlike most retailers, Amazon’s Cyber Monday promotion isn’t lasting just one day, but instead all week.

Dell

Dell also regularly offers discounts on its website, but for Cyber Monday it has discounted 21 specific items, some of which are already sold out. The computer maker dropped the price a variation of its Inspiron 14R from $499.99 to $399.99 Other laptops are on sale to, but at only $50 off rather than $100, such as the Inspiron 15, Inspiron 15R and Inspiron 17R.

Cyber Monday Tips:

1) Free Shipping is the rule.
Many big stores like Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com are automatically doing free shipping right now on most items.

2) Shopping Online Saves Chicagoans almost 10% in Sales Tax.
Amazon, Overstock.com, Buy.com, Zappos.com, Shoes.com and many other big online stores don’t collect sales tax from IL shoppers.

3) Your credit card may be a free extended warranty.
Most American Express cards, for example, include a warranty extension service that doubles your warranty automatically for up to one year for any items purchased with the card.

4) Don’t forget the coupon codes!
Our average shopper takes less than 90 seconds to find a code and saves 24%.

Happy Cyber Monday all!

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The pilot, James Klepper, and co-pilot, Jay Luckwaldt, also escaped without serious injuries in the Monday night crash.

The Hendricks were flying to Key West to spend time at their waterfront vacation home on nearby Sunset Key, a swanky development on a 27-acre island just offshore of the Southernmost City.

The runway was closed for about an hour Monday night but was reopened because the wreckage did not impact the landing area. The plane remains at the scene.

Photographs of the crash show the plane largely intact and with its nose resting on the ground about 20 feet in front of a chain-linked airport boundary fence.

Almost seven years ago, on October 24 of 2004, a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed upon landing at Martinsville, killing all ten passengers including the team’s president John Hendrick and Rick Hendrick’s son and former NASCAR racer Ricky.

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China’s mining industry is the most dangerous in the world – more than 2,600 miners were killed in accidents in 2009. The government has shut down more than 1,000 illegal pits this year as part of efforts to improve safety standards. Last year, 2,433 people died in coal mine accidents in China, although this was an improvement on the toll of 2,631 a year earlier.

According to Xinhua, Xialiuchong Coal Mine is state-owned and has been in operation for 40 years. It is legally operated, with more than 160 miners typically on site.

The gas explosion happened yesterday afternoon at the state-owned Xialiuchong colliery in Hunan province’s Hengyang while 35 miners were at work, the report said.

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CANCUN, Mexico — Hurricane Rina plodded westward late Wednesday at near 6 mph (9 kph) on a path toward Mexico’s tourist beaches, its threat a real one to people on the Yucatan Peninsula but far diminished from what it had been earlier in the day. Authorities evacuated some fishing communities and closed schools along the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, and NASA cut short an undersea laboratory mission near Key Largo, Florida, bringing the crew back to land.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) has predicted the storm will hit the well-known tourist zone on Thursday after strengthening over the next 48 hours.

Rina is forecast to remain a hurricane as it sweeps along Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations Cancun, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya, on Thursday, though forecasters predicted it would continue to weaken.

Hundreds of residents from the fishing town of Punta Allen, south of Tulum, were taken to emergency shelters and a smaller group was evacuated from the atoll of Banco Chinchorro on Tuesday.

Luh McDevitt, 56, a furniture and interior designer in Cozumel, said her family was fitting hurricane shutters to the house and securing furniture.

“I am not really scared,” said the Cincinnati, Ohio, native who has lived in Cozumel since 2000. “Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was a Category 5. The worst part of the hurricane is after. We didn’t have electric in our house for three weeks.”

State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez said there were about 83,000 tourists in the state, with about 45,000 of those on a stretch of coast south of Cancun that includes Tulum and Playa de Carmen, and almost 28,000 in Cancun.

There were only about 1,719 tourists in Cozumel, and many of them were leaving, Gonzalez Hernandez said.

At least eight cruise ships were changing itineraries away from the storm’s path, said Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Vance Gulliksen.

The area was badly damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, when Cancun’s famous white-sand beaches were largely washed away. Insurance officials estimated total damage at $3 billion.

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the situation was particularly grave in Ercis, a district of around 100,000 people where around 55 apartment buildings have collapsed.

Television footage showed search and rescue teams recovering bodies from the rubble in Van city and Ercis, working under floodlights powered by generators as night fell.

“People are panicked. The telecommunication services have collapsed. We cannot reach anybody,” Bekir Kaya, the mayor of Van, told NTV television.

Turkey mobilised some 1,275 search and rescue teams from 38 cities as well as 145 ambulances to speed to the aid of the victims.

The military said six battalions were also involved in search and rescue efforts.

Six helicopters, including four helicopter ambulances, as well as C-130 military cargo planes were dispatched to the area carrying tents, food and medicine.

Some 200 inmates fled the prison in Van province when the building was damaged in the quake, media reports said, adding that 50 of them returned to prison later after seeing their families.

US President Barack Obama said he had been following reports of the disaster “with great concern” and offered his condolences to the victims. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Turkish ally in this difficult time, and are ready to assist the Turkish authorities,” he said in a statement.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 1041 GMT, was at Tabanli in Van province, the Kandilli institute said, and was followed by two strong aftershocks.

Although the quake damaged Van’s airport it did not disrupt air traffic, the Anatolia news agency quoted civil aviation authorities as saying, and airlines launched additional flights to Van.

In 1999, two strong quakes in northwest Turkey’s heavily populated and industrialised regions left some 20,000 dead. A powerful earthquake in the town of Caldiran in Van province killed 3,840 people in 1976.

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President Obama

He said the last American troops will depart the country by January 1 “with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”

“The transition in Afghanistan is moving forward, and our troops are finally coming home,” he added, saying in the White House briefing room that U.S. troops “will definitely be home for the holidays.”

After nearly 9 years, the war in Iraq has meant the death of more than 4,400 U.S. troops and come at a cost of more than $700 billion.

America has already withdrawn nearly 100,000 troops from Iraq already as part of the current draw-down, nearly 40,000 “non-combat” troops remain. Mr. Obama said Friday that “Iraqis have taken full responsibility for their country’s security” and said that the relationship between the United States and Iraq going forward will be one of equals.

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CAUTION EXOTIC ANIMALS. At the Wednesday press conference, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said 49 animals had been killed, and a monkey possibly infected with herpes B virus was still on the loose. He said there were a total of 56 animals kept on the farm.

Dozens of wild animals are on the loose in Zanesville, Ohio by their owner before he committed suicide, sparking a shoot-to-kill hunt in which 49 of the wild beasts, including 18 endangered Bengal tigers, were killed. Authorities killed 49 of the 56 animals, some at close range, including the tigers, six black bears, two grizzlies, two wolves and 17 lions, said Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz.

Barbara Wolfe, a veterinarian, said she shot a tranquilizer dart into the tiger, but it got up and charged her from 15 feet away. A deputy shot the tiger dead. “I’ve never been in fear of my life more than then,” Wolfe said. She works at The Wilds, a refuge not far away from Zanesville that keeps exotic animals like rhinos and giraffes.

Owner Terry Thompson, 62, who had been charged with animal cruelty 11 times since 2004, was found dead from an apparently self-inflicted wound when authorities went to the farm on Tuesday after reports of animals running free, Lutz said. They found gates and animal pens open, but no suicide note.

Schools were closed all through the area and local residents feared for their lives as the dangerous creatures began to roam freely across Muskingum County. The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium described the situation as being “like Noah’s ark wrecked” and defended killing the animals out of concern for public safety.

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Four people are dead and reportedly 24 more injured after a stage collapsed tonight at the Indiana State Fair before the country band Sugarland was to perform.

The band tweeted their regrets on their official Twitter account shortly after the news broke. “We are all right. We are praying for our fans, and the people of Indianapolis. We hope you’ll join us. They need your strength,” they wrote.

High winds caused the collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair, Sara Bareilles, who is currently on tour with Sugarland, had just finished her set at the Hoosier Lottery Grandstand stage just before the collapse and also reacted on Twitter. “I’m speechless and feel so helpless. Please send love and prayers to Indianapolis tonight. My heart aches for the lives lost,” she wrote.

Janet Jackson is set to perform at the 17-day fair on Aug. 17, Train and Maroon 5 are scheduled for Aug. 18, and Lady Antebellum for Aug. 19. The fair has not said whether those concerts will continue as scheduled.

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