Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.
Thessaloniki traffic police chief Giorgos Thanoglou says "millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki.
"There was a carpet of frogs," he said.
Authorities closed the highway after three car drivers skidded off the road trying to dodge the frogs. No human injuries were reported.
Thanoglou said the amphibians probably left a nearby lake to look for food.
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Peter Schurman, the San Francisco resident who founded the liberal activist group MoveOn.org, has dropped out of the Democratic primary for California governor and endorsed Attorney General Jerry Brown, taking away the only obstacle in Brown’s path to the Democratic nomination June 8.
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Ocean Watch, a steel-hulled, 64-foot sailing vessel, is expected to travel under the Golden Gate Bridge this afternoon and dock at the San Francisco Marina about 2 p.m. for a visit through June 4. The education-oriented ship is on a historic 13-month, 28,000-nautical-mile sailing expedition around North and South America called “Around the Americas,” which aims to raise awareness of threats to oceans.
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Supervisor David Chiu’s proposal to let noncitizens vote in school board elections just shows he doesn’t understand that voting is a special privilege granted to citizens.
Once you open voting to noncitizens, you not only open up a host of legal problems that would compromise the integrity of the voting process, you also diminish the value of citizenship. What does it say to a person who just became an American citizen that you are now going to allow a noncitizen who has not made a similar effort to also cast a ballot?
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A Turkish official says at least 16 Russian tourists have been killed in a bus crash in southern Turkey.
Mehmet Seyman, deputy governor of the Mediterranean province of Antalya, says the tourists were traveling from the resort of Alanya to a site in central Turkey when their tour bus crashed into a river.
Seyman says at least 16 people were killed and 25 others injured in the crash Tuesday.
He says rescue workers are struggling to pull out the injured and bodies from the wreckage.
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A bill sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee that would force telephone companies and phone book producers to allow customers to opt out of receiving phone books passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday. The legislation would allow customers to call a toll-free number or visit a website in order to opt out. More than 78 million telephone directories are delivered annually in California.
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WHAT: They spent more than $100,000 on government purchase cards to buy themselves clothing, flat-screen TVs, tuitions and gym memberships, but none of the 21 Federal Protective Service employees implicated have been disciplined or ever required to pay back what they misspent.
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I used to respect the Sierra Club until I read its endorsements for the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, which has made a mockery of California’s environmental protection laws with its backroom dealings on land-use issues in San Francisco.
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Put away the brooms. Hold off on those "Beat L.A!" chants. The Boston Celtics still have some work to do before they can play for their second NBA title in three years.
Jameer Nelson made back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime, Dwight Howard had 32 points and 16 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic beat the Celtics 96-92 on Monday night to avoid a four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference finals.
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Recent public-opinion surveys show that three-quarters of those interviewed question whether Congress knows what it’s doing in dealing with the nation’s worst economic problems since the Great Depression.
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A San Francisco real estate developer was sentenced in federal court in The City Monday to 2½ years in prison for evading taxes on $45 million in property sales.
Luke Brugnara, 46, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge William Alsup to pay the government $1.9 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine.
Brugnara pleaded guilty Jan. 26 to three counts of filing false income tax returns for the years 2000 through 2002 by failing to report capital gains from $45 million in sales of commercial properties.
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2010 Black & White Ball: Thousands turned out to Davies Hall and The City’s performing arts buildings on Van Ness Avenue on Saturday night for the San Francisco Symphony’s popular fundraiser, which benefits Adventures in Music, a music education program in San Francisco public elementary schools. Tony Bennett and k.d. lang headlined the concert hall performance, while DJs and bands provided entertainment for those who wanted to dance into the wee hours of the night. Patricia Sprincin chaired the event’s organizing committee.
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A controversial proposed ordinance in San Francisco that would ban sitting or lying on public sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. was passed at committee Monday, but its legislative sponsor acknowledged it will likely die at the full board as the issue moves to the November ballot.
Homeless advocates have lambasted the sit-lie ordinance proposed by Mayor Gavin Newsom and police Chief George Gascón as an attack on the homeless.
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Tea party favorite Nikki Haley, a Republican candidate for governor whose campaign gained momentum with recent endorsements from Sarah Palin and Jenny Sanford, vehemently denied allegations Monday that she had an inappropriate relationship with a political blogger several years ago.
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