Horsemeat 'contamination' could date back to August: Findus

LONDON: French frozen food supplier Comigel told the Findus brand that "the contamination" of processed beef products with horsemeat could date back to August 2012, Findus said in a statement Saturday."Findus want to be absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year," it said in a statement."They were only made aware of a possible August...

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Activists protest against Afzal's hanging

NEW DELHI: Several people today protested against the hanging of Afzal Guru, one of the convicts of Parliament attack, at Jantar Mantar here. Protesters included social activists, students from universities, mostly from JNU, and from different social organisations. "We are against capital punishment to any person and have gathered here to protest against Afzal's hanging," said Ruchika, one of...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A fierce winter storm brought blizzard conditions and hurricane force winds as the anticipated snowstorm descended across much of the Northeast overnight.By early Saturday morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm, three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.The...

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Tunisian Islamists rally to show "power of street"

TUNIS (Reuters) - Thousands of Islamists marched in Tunis on Saturday in a show of strength, a day after the funeral of an assassinated secular politician drew the biggest crowds seen on the streets since Tunisia's uprising two years ago. About 6,000 supporters of the ruling Ennahda movement rallied to back their leader Rachid al-Ghannouchi, who was the target of angry slogans raised...

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Probe launched over email hacking of Bush family

WASHINGTON: A criminal inquiry was launched Friday into how a hacker appeared to breach email accounts belonging to former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as other members of their family."There's a criminal investigation under way," Jim McGrath, a spokesman for the elder ex-president Bush, who is now aged 88 and was recently hospitalized, told AFP, following reports...

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No anger over 'Vishwaroopam' row, it made me feel sorry: Kamal

HYDERABAD: The controversy over his film " Vishwaroopam" did not make actor Kamal Haasan angry but he felt "sorrow" and like Socrates, he would "sip the cup of poison" to speak his "freedom". Speaking at a meeting, he said, "I am not angry (over the issue), only (felt) sorrow, that in a great country, free country like India, an artist would be insulted so. Because, very rarely have artistes been...

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.Blacks were five times more likely than whites...

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Monster Blizzard Takes Aim at Northeast

A blizzard of possibly historic proportions is set to strike the Northeast, starting today and bringing up to 2 feet of snow and strong winds that could shut down densely populated cities such as Boston and New York City.A storm from the west will join forces with one from the south to form a nor'easter that will sit and spin just off the East Coast, affecting more than 43 million...

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Violence mars funeral of slain Tunisian opposition leader

TUNIS (Reuters) - Police and mourners clashed at the mass funeral on Friday of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis. Braving chilly rain, at least 50,000 people turned out to honor Belaid in his home district of Jebel al-Jaloud in the capital, chanting anti-Islamist and anti-government slogans. It was...

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'Light' sodas may hike diabetes risk: study

PARIS: Artificially sweetened sodas have been linked to a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes for women than sodas sweetened with ordinary sugar, a French study unveiled on Thursday found."Contrary to conventional thinking, the risk of diabetes is higher with 'light' beverages compared with 'regular' sweetened drinks," the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) said.The...

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SC pulls up CBI in Babri Masjid demolition case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the CBI for its submission that BJP leader LK Advani and other party leaders present at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, had committed a "national crime" in the conspiracy that led to demolition of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure. Taking a dim view of the submission, a bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that...

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland."It's quite intriguing....

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Ex-LA Cop Sought in Shootings of 3 Cops, 2 Slayings

Police in Southern California say they suspect that a fired cop is connected to the shootings -- one fatal -- of three police officers this morning, as well as the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in the suspect's online manifesto.Former police officer Christopher...

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Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problem between them. "Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of...

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Boeing 787 probe results weeks away, says NTSB chief

WASHINGTON: The results of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the causes of a battery fire on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner are expected in the coming weeks, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman said on Wednesday."We're probably weeks away from being able to tell people what happened and what needs to be changed," Hersman said at a news conference.The NTSB chief said investigators...

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French troops clash with Islamists in 'real war' in Mali

GAO (MALI): French and Malian troops clashed with Islamist rebels near the large town of Gao, Paris said on Wednesday after reporting that hundreds of insurgents had been killed in a "real war" to reclaim northern Mali. French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the extremist rebels, who have been driven from key strongholds which they had controlled in northern Mali for 10 months, struck back...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until...

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US Postal Service to End Saturday Mail Delivery

Feb 6, 2013 8:28am                                               (Image Credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Weekend mail delivery...

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Tunisia protests after government critic shot dead

TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian opposition politician was shot dead on Wednesday, sending protesters onto the streets of cities nationwide two years after the uprisings that swept Tunisia's president from power and inflamed the Arab world. The headquarters of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which rules in a fractious coalition with secularists, was set ablaze after Chokri Belaid, an...

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Study says 54 countries helped CIA renditions

WASHINGTON: Fifty-four foreign governments assisted the CIA in a global campaign that included harsh interrogations of suspects, a rights advocacy group said Tuesday, as it pressed for greater accountability.The report by Open Society Foundations marks the most comprehensive list of countries that helped the United States in what critics saw as excesses by then president George W. Bush's...

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VHP's PIL against Shinde's 'Hindu terror' remarks dismissed

ALLAHABAD: A petition filed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad against Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde's "Hindu terror" remarks was dismissed by the Allahabad high court today. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Dilip Gupta dismissed in limine the Public Interest Litigation which had sought to make Shinde, the Cabinet Secretary and the Union Home Secretary respondents....

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the...

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Boy Rescued in Ala. Standoff 'Laughing, Joking'

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was...

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Iran's Ahmadinejad in Egypt on historic visit

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Egypt on Tuesday on the first trip by an Iranian president since the 1979 revolution, underlining a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state. President Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood politician elected in June, kissed Ahmadinejad as he disembarked from his plane at Cairo airport. The leaders walked down...

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Aliwal Arts Centre to be launched in March 2013

SINGAPORE : The Aliwal Arts Centre will be launched in March 2013 as the next arts housing development under the Framework for Arts Spaces.The framework comes under the National Arts Council's (NAC) plan to create a stronger link between infrastructure support and the different needs of artists.The Goodman Arts Centre was rolled out in 2011 as a pilot project under the framework.Since...

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