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NASA has unveiled Valkyrie, an advanced humanoid "superhero" robot that appears female and may one day be used to explore Mars. The “Valkyrie” robot, designed by NASA scientists to compete in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), is 1.9-metres tall and weighs 125 kilograms. In Norse mythology, the Valkyrie were female figures who chose which fighters who died in battle were worthy of Valhalla. While officially a genderless humanoid robot, Valkyrie was designed to have female characteristics from the start,  IEEE  reports. It has a pronounced chest area, with internal motors that glow like   Iron Man, and padding to protect it from a fall. The flexible Valkyrie has 44 degrees of axes of rotation in its joints and is powered by a battery backpack, which can keep it operating for an hour. It can walk on its own, pick up objects and manipulate objects and tools, which are part of the requirements for the DARPA challenge,  CNET  reports. "We r...

      Like it or not health care reform is a reality.  President Obama has signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law and the “fixes” in the reconciliation bill are awaiting his signature.  Even with a law of more than 2,000 pages there are more questions than answers in how the new system will work.  Undoubtedly it will take volumes of new regulations and several years before all of the questions are answered.  In the meantime, here are the areas of most significant impact on Ohio employers: All plans will be required to provide dependent care coverage up to age 26, beginning September 2010. Plans cannot place annual or lifetime limits on the value of benefits received by any participant, effective September 2010 for annual limits and January 2014 for lifetime limits. Requires guaranteed issue and renewability (beginning January 2014) and no pre-existing exclusions for children (effective September 2010)....

This Oct. 15, 2013, photo, shows a view of the U.S. Capitol building at dusk in Washington.  (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) Print By  Andrew Krietz | akrietz@mlive.com  Follow on Twitter on December 03, 2013 at 12:40 PM, updated  December 03, 2013 at 3:41 PM U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township MLive.com File Photo   Update:  Rep. Justin Amash's spokesman, Will Adams, has been added to this story for reaction. WASHINGTON, D.C. — An even split of Democratic and Republican legislators back a bill supported by Rep. Justin Amash, aiming to end the country's domestic surveillance programs. The legislation,  titled The USA Freedom Act , would, if signed into law, curb the National Security Agency's ability to conduct communications sweeps and close a "back door" to information by requiring a court order when performing searches of Americans in data already collected without warrants. The Hill reported during the week...

                       Two Jamaican fishermen reeled in a 800-pound sunfish on Sunday, which is remarkable on two levels. First, sunfish aren't usually encountered around Jamaica. And second, though sunfish can reach two tons, 800 lbs. is a really, really big fish for two guys to catch. Desmond Phillips, one of the two fishermen, thought it was otherworldly. "At first I thought it was an alien, and I was somewhat frightened," Phillips told the Jamaica Gleaner. He wanted to let the fish go. But his fishing buddy and captain, Michael Grant, was intent on not letting the creature escape, so the two managed to get the gigantic fish onto their relatively small boat, nearly sinking it in the process.                          ...

The subject of gay marriage is a touchy one in the church.  It is even touchier in the black church, which is more conservative than churches in other communities.  This led to controversy when   Bishop Allyson D. Nelson Abrams told her church that she was married to a woman.  She then announced that she was resigning from the Zion Progressive Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan so as not to be a distraction. Bishop Abrams informed the folks at  Newsone . com  that she was married to another Bishop by the name of Diana Williams of the Imani Temple of the African-American Catholic Congregation in Washington, DC.  The two kept their marriage under wraps, but eventually, the rumors spun out of the control and the issue had to be confronted. ”I could have been like so many people are and lied and said it’s not true,” Abrams, said to NewsOne. ”But that’s not how I was raised and, as a Christian, I was always taught to be a truthful individual. ...

. View gallery FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law. Obama says he's sorry Americans are losing health insurance plans he repeatedly said they could keep under his signature health care law. But the president stopped short of apologizing for making those promises in the first place. "I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he said in an interview Thursday, Nov. 7 with NBC News. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to calm a growing furor, President Barack Obama said Thursday he's sorry Americans are losing health insurance plans he repeatedly said they could keep under his signature health care law. But the president stopped short of apologizing for making those promises in the first place. Signaling possible tweaks to the law, Obama sai...

by Fox News Insider // Oct 24 2013 // 5:46pm As seen on Shepard Smith Reporting A police officer in Florida caught a woman shoplifting in a grocery store but instead of taking her to jail, the officer reached into her wallet and helped feed the woman and her family. According to reports, the woman had tried to walk off with hundreds of dollars in groceries saying that she had no food in her home to feed her three children.   Drunk Driver From YouTube Confession Speaks to Gretchen Carlson From Prison Officer Vicki Thomas, who has been on the job for two decades, joined Shepard Smith Reporting this afternoon. Officer Thomas called the incident “life changing,” and said the public support for both her and Jessica Robles, the woman who attempted to shoplift, has been overwhelming. Details Emerge About MA Teen Accused of Killing His Math Teacher Thomas stressed, “I don’t condone shoplifting. It is a crime...

  A new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Main Intelligence Directorate ( GRU ) claims that the unarmed 34-year-old woman named Miriam Carey who was gunned down last Thursday (3 October) in Washington D.C. was, in fact, “deliberately targeted” by an elite hit-squad under orders to assassinate what Russian intelligence officials say was the mother of President Barack Obama’s “love child.” . According to this report, Obama first met Ms Carey on 18 May 2011 when he traveled to New London , Connecticut to address the graduating class of the US Coast Guard Academy. The US press, at that time, blamed Obama’s “substantial delay” for making this address on bad weather, but according to GRU sources the American President was, instead, having a “significant” problem after having lodged a portion of a pistachio nut ( one of his favorite snack foods ) shell into one of his back molars. Prior to Air Force One arriving in Connecticut , this report continue...

Video: Shannon Collins, the mother of 19-year-old fallen marine Lance Cpl. James Collins, tells NBC News that the government shutdown is “hurting the wrong people” and that “military families shouldn’t have to worry about how they’re going to bury their child.” She and other families of fallen soldiers have not received death benefits that are normally wired within 36 hours. The shutdown of the federal government is now affecting some families when they are most vulnerable, denying them a $100,000 benefit to help with funeral expenses of loved ones killed while serving the country. The families of five U.S. service members who died over the weekend in Afghanistan have been notified that they won't be receiving the "death gratuity" normally wired to relatives within 36 hours. The benefit is intended to help cover funeral costs and help with immediate living expenses until survivor benefits typically begin. The money also helps cover costs to fly families to Dov...

The family of Miriam Carey, the woman who was shot and killed in a D.C. car chase after she allegedly tried to breach White House security speaks out about her death, commenting on her mental state and raising questions as to whether deadly force was necessary. By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News The family of the woman who was shot to death Thursday outside the U.S. Capitol after trying to ram her car through a White House barrier said Miriam Carey was a carefree, loving, law-abiding citizen who did not deserve to be killed.   Speaking to media late Friday outside their Brooklyn, N.Y., home after returning from Washington, where they identified Carey's body, her two sisters said they were "still very confused, as a family, as to why she’s not alive.”   "My sister did not deserve to have her life shortened at this early stage,” said Valerie Carey, a former sergeant with the New York Police Department. Advertise | AdChoices   Amy Care...

By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor A high-profile case of a Belgian transsexual who chose to be killed by medical euthanasia after a sex-change operation turned him into a "monster" has highlighted the soaring number of people in the region electing to die this way – and has raised fresh questions over the controversial practice. Nathan Verhelst, born Nancy, gave an interview to a local newspaper hours before his death this week citing his "unbearable psychological suffering" – rather than a terminal or degenerative physical illness – as his reason for dying voluntarily. "When I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster," Verhelst told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws , referencing his double mastectomy and surgery to construct a penis last year. Advertise | AdChoices   Verhelst, 44, was k...