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POPSForeign student visas to be cut by UK The number of visas granted to foreign students is to be cut by the UK as part of a crackdown on abuses of the system, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said. Mr Johnson said tougher rules would require applicants to speak English to a certain level and ban those on short UK courses from bringing dependants. He said the rules were aimed not at genuine students but those who travelled to the UK primarily for work.
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POPSBBC News - Northern Ireland INLA paramilitaries dump terror cache
The Irish National Liberation Army has decommissioned its weapons, days before the body overseeing Northern Ireland paramilitary weapons ceases to exist. The move took place in recent weeks and is expected to be confirmed on Monday by the INLA and General John de Chastelain, head of the IICD. The INLA was a small, ruthless group which killed more than 120 people, including Tory MP Airey Neave in 1979. In October, it said it would pursue its aims by exclusively peaceful means. The republican paramilitary group is believed to have been responsible for 111 murders from its formation in 1975 until its ceasefire in 1998, but it is still thought to have been involved in a number of murders since then. As recently as February 2009, the INLA claimed responsibility for the murder of a drug dealer in Londonderry. It came to world prominence in 1979 with the murder of Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman Airey Neave by leaving a bomb under his car in the House of Commons car
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POPSBBC News - Endeavour shuttle to deliver giant window to ISS The US shuttle Endeavour is preparing to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pre-dawn launch on Sunday will be the last time the orbiter climbs into dark skies. Just five shuttle flights remain before the re-useable fleet is retired at the end of the year. The mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will deliver a connecting unit and a large bay window that will be used as a robotic control room.
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POPSBBC News - Snowstorm paralyses Washington DC and eastern US "They say this is going to be a record snowfall. It is nice to be part of history" The heaviest snow storms for decades have struck the eastern US, paralysing air and road transport, and bringing Washington DC to a standstill. The storm knocked down power lines and left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity. Nearly 2ft (60cm) of snow had fallen by noon on Saturday in cities across the region, the Associated Press reports.
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POPSClimate scepticism 'on the rise', BBC poll shows - Asking divisive questions Closed questions, such as, Climate Change - True / False / Don't know, yield nothing but division. Open questions, such as, Climate Change - What is your experience, yield data which has the potential for synthesising new categories of thinking and questions. If people would admit they don't have the answers, they would become open to more questions and the learning that comes from thinking about them.
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POPSThe Virtual Revolution If you're wondering what in heck we're doing here, are these hours at the computer "wasted time", take a look at yet another great website. This one, sponsored by BBC, explores how the web is changing the world and that means...US. (Or does it?)