In a decision that could affect tens of thousands of people, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that immigrants living in this country must be told by their lawyers whether pleading guilty to a crime could lead to deportation. Jose Padilla, a native of Honduras and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has lived in the [...]
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs have provided enough evidence to show “they were subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance.” At issue was a 2006 lawsuit challenging the [...]
A U.S. Navy aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf region on Wednesday and one of the four crew members was missing, the military said. Search and rescue efforts were under way, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. Three crew members were rescued. The E-2C Hawkeye, which is primarily used to detect incoming aircraft with [...]
German researchers recently found having a moderate amount of chocolate may be good for blood-pressure control and therefore better protect the heart, according to a report published on European Heart Journal. Researchers in German Institute of Human Nutrition conducted a study on more than 19,300 people. Over a decade’s study, they discovered that those who [...]
At least 12 people have been killed and another 18 injured in two bomb blasts in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region, two days after a deadly attack on Moscow’s transport network. The first blast occurred in the town of Kizlyar in the southern province of Dagestan on Wednesday morning, when car bomb near a school [...]
A bomb concealed on a bicycle has exploded in a crowded village market in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, killing at least 17 people and injuring 45 others including eight children. Wednesday’s attack occurred in Babaji, near the town of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, where farmers had gathered to receive free [...]
An Iranian nuclear scientist who had been reported missing since last summer has defected to the U.S. and is assisting the CIA in its efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear program, ABC News reported Tuesday. The scientist, Shahram Amiri, has been resettled in the U.S., according to the report. The CIA had no comment on the [...]
Jaime Escalante, the charismatic former East Los Angeles high school teacher who taught the nation that inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus, died Tuesday. He was 79. The subject of the 1988 film “Stand and Deliver,” Escalante died at his son’s home in Roseville, Calif., said actor Edward James Olmos, who portrayed [...]
At least 10 Americans who recently traveled to Cuba through cultural exchange programs have recently been questioned by FBI agents, either at home or over the phone, according to lawyers for the groups. Most of those who claim they were questioned traveled to Cuba through the Vencermeos Brigade, a group which sends up to 100 [...]
Colombian Sgt. Pablo Emilio Moncayo, held by Colombian FARC rebels as a hostage for more than 12 years, was reunited with his family after being released by his captors. The young soldier arrived in the city of Florencia in a Brazilian military helicopter that transported him from the jungle, and he walked out wearing a [...]
A judge on Tuesday sentenced serial killer Rodney Alcala to death before hearing emotional testimony from the families of four women and a 12-year-old girl he strangled in the 1970s. Alcala showed little emotion when his sentence was announced and kept his head down afterward as families took their turn condemning the 66-year-old amateur photographer. [...]
Ten children, youths and young adults between the ages of 8 and 21 were gunned down, presumably by drug traffickers, in the northern Mexican state of Durango, the state’s attorney general said Monday. The incident happened Sunday on a road near the town of Pueblo Nuevo in southern Durango. Attorney General Daniel Garcia Leal said [...]
The bodies of 21 babies washed ashore on a riverbank in eastern China and two hospital mortuary workers were detained for allegedly dumping them, state media reported Tuesday. Video footage showed the bodies – at least one of which stuffed in a yellow plastic bag marked “medical waste” – included some infants who appeared several [...]
Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, President Barack Obama on Tuesday sealed his health care overhaul and made the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process. Both domestic priorities came in one bill, pushed through by Democrats in the House and Senate and signed into law by a [...]
A team of scientists in Switzerland have made a “major breakthrough” in understanding how the universe was created billions of years ago. The Large Hadron Collider, or the “Big Bang” machine, has created history by smashing together particles at the highest energy reading ever recreated in a laboratory. Tuesday’s experiment at the European Centre for [...]
Nine alleged members of a Christian militia group that was girding for battle with the Antichrist were charged Monday with plotting to kill a police officer and slaughter scores more by bombing the funeral — all in hopes of touching off an uprising against the U.S. government. Seven men and one woman believed to be [...]
The record price for a comic book, already broken twice this year, has fallen again. A copy of the 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1 sold today for $1.5 Million on the auction website ComicConnect.com. The issue features Superman’s debut and is widely considered the Holy Grail of comic books. The same issue sold [...]
ECMC Group Inc., a student-loan guarantee agency in Minnesota, acknowledged on Friday a data breach in which the personal information of 3.3 million borrowers, including their Social Security numbers, was compromised. Guarantee agencies such as ECMC are the private entities that, under the U.S. government’s system of federally subsidized student loans, collect government money and [...]
One evening in April 2008, three low-level staff members from the Obama presidential campaign — a baggage handler, a videographer and an advance man — gathered in the windowless basement of a Pennsylvania hotel for an improvised Passover Seder. The day had been long, the hour was late, and the young men had not been [...]
A Shanghai court has sentenced an Australian mining executive to seven years for bribery and five years for stealing commercial secrets in the Rio Tinto case. Executive Stern Hu’s admission of accepting bribes led to leniency, the court said, reducing his sentence to 10 years total. Hu also has to pay a fine of $73,240 [...]
At least 40 people have been reported killed in twin explosions at stations on Moscow’s metro rail network. The first blast took place at the Lubyanka metro station in the center of the city, followed by a second explosion at Park Kultury in the southwest of the city. The cause of the explosions was not [...]
Gao Zhisheng, the Chinese rights activist who has been missing for more than a year, has resurfaced near his hometown in northern China. In a brief phone interview on Sunday, Mr. Gao said that he was no longer in police custody but that he could not give any details of his predicament. “I’m fine now, [...]
A leading Canadian psychiatrist who kept accusations of gross human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa hidden has been charged in Calgary with sexually abusing a male patient and is being investigated over dozens of other allegations. Dr Aubrey Levin, who in South Africa was known as “Dr Shock” for his use of electricity to [...]
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed a binding deal Sunday to buy Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo Cars unit for $1.8 Billion, representing a coup for the independent Chinese automaker which is aiming to expand in Europe. The purchase gives Geely a European luxury car brand with a reputation for safety and quality at a time when [...]
Sitting in a deck chair at a white South African squatter camp, Ann le Roux, 60, holds a yellowing photo from her daughter’s wedding day. Taken not long after Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black president in 1994, it shows Le Roux standing with her Afrikaans husband and their daughter outside their home in [...]
Trapped in the rubble for one month after Haiti’s massive earthquake, Evans Monsignac thought he was dead. Here the man thought to be the longest-ever earthquake survivor talks exclusively to Jacqui Goddard. For the last 10 weeks, Evans Monsignac has struggled to understand how and why he is still alive. So remarkable is his survival, [...]
Pope Benedict XVI began Holy Week on Sunday by suggesting in his Palm Sunday address that the Catholic Church would “not be intimidated” by the sex abuse scandals sweeping it. In a clear indication that the Vatican continues to insist the continual abuse revelations are part of a conspiracy the Pope said: “From God comes [...]
An armed gang of about 10 masked men raided a casino in Basel stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Swiss officials. The prosecutor’s office in the Swiss city said that the group, dressed in black, arrived in two cars at the Grand Casino near Basel, shortly after 4am. One smashed the front door [...]
In a surprise visit, President Barack Obama pressed Afghan leaders on Sunday to do more to rein in rampant corruption and improve their government as he got a firsthand look at the 8-year-old war he inherited and dramatically escalated. During meetings with President Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet, Obama told them he was pleased with [...]
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG were among more than a dozen Wall Street firms involved in a conspiracy to pay below-market interest rates to U.S. state and local governments on investments, according to documents filed in a U.S. Justice Department criminal antitrust case. A government list of previously unidentified [...]
Three Seattle police officers were justified when they used a stun gun on a pregnant woman who would not sign a traffic ticket, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday in a case that prompted an incredulous dissent. Malaika Brooks was driving her son to Seattle’s African American Academy in 2004 when she was stopped for [...]
A painting of the notorious bank robber Ned Kelly has become the most expensive piece of Australian art ever sold, fetching $5.4 Million (£ 3.3 million) at an auction in Sydney. “The First Class Marksman” was painted in 1946 by Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) and shows the infamous outlaw standing on a dusty outback road, rifle [...]
Capping one of the most unusual child abuse cases in Massachusetts history, a South Shore father was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder for killing his 4-year-old daughter with an overdose of a psychotropic drug, which he and his wife had nicknamed “happy medicine’’ and routinely dispensed to their three children to manage their day-to-day behavior. [...]
Vatican officials say they expect two million people to view the Turin Shroud, the cloth said to have covered the body of Christ, when it goes on display next month. The linen sheet bearing the image of Jesus has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, sceptics and Catholics for more than 500 years. It [...]
Motherhood’s disastrous performance at the box office provokes bitter confrontation between its producer and the UK distributor Metrodrome. It should have been a red carpet event. When just one British cinema was given exclusive permission to launch Uma Thurman’s new film earlier this month, the film’s producers presumably hoped that exclusivity would create a buzz [...]
Thrill-seekers in France unimpressed by skydiving, rock-climbing and other extreme sports are turning to a controversial new way of testing their limits – designer kidnapping. For $1,500, customers of Ultime Réalité, a company in Besançon, eastern France, can buy a basic abduction package in which they are seized by strangers, bundled into a car bound [...]
Hamas gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops who crossed into Gaza on Friday, killing two as tensions escalated following the most violent week since Israel’s invasion of the coast enclave 14 months ago. The clashes came as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, signalled for the first time since receiving a dressing down from US [...]
The wooden phalluses – one measuring 10 inches and the other 11 inches – were bought by an anonymous bidder at an auction in Brentwood, Essex, UK. Staff at Brentwood Antiques Auction described the sex toys as ”extraordinary and exceptionally rare” and said they were probably French and dated back to the late 1700′s. ”You [...]
Under fire to do more to stop the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration announced new mortgage modification steps on Friday to help the unemployed and those who are “underwater” with a bigger loan than their home is worth. The centerpiece of the expanded program addresses the steep decline in property values by requiring banks to [...]
A secular challenger’s bloc edged out the prime minister’s in parliamentary elections, according to full vote returns Friday – a significant setback for Nouri al-Maliki, who has been the U.S. partner in Iraq for the past four years. Al-Maliki vowed to challenge the results, which gave his bloc 89 seats to Ayad Allawi’s 91 in [...]
Climaxing months of hard negotiations, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on Friday to sharp cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both nations in the most comprehensive arms control treaty in two decades. “We have turned words into action,” Obama declared. President Obama said the pact, to be signed April 8 in [...]
South Korea investigates whether North Korean torpedo was to blame for unexplained sinking near disputed sea border. Tensions on the Korean peninsula are surging tonight after a South Korean navy ship with 104 crew members on board sank off the coast of North Korea following an unexplained explosion, according to the South Korean Yonhap news [...]
While Senate Democrats held a press conference celebrating their latest health care reform victory on Thursday afternoon, a Republican slipped into the chamber to move a bill that would extend soon-to-expire enhanced unemployment benefits — paid for with $10 Billion in unused funds from the stimulus bill. With Democrats caught off guard, the clock started [...]
The availability of illegal drugs is increasing in the United States — fueled largely by expanding activity from Mexican drug cartels — and abuse of controlled prescription drugs is getting worse, according to the National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 report, released Thursday. “The trafficking and abuse of drugs affects everyone,” said Michael T. Walther, director [...]
Police in Mexico have arrested a drug trafficker known as the “king of heroin”, who is allegedly responsible for running thousands of kilogrammes of heroin into Southern California each year. Authorities announced the capture of Jose Antonio Medina, nicknamed “Don Pepe”, on Thursday, a day after he was arrested in the western state of Michoacan. [...]
Congress passed a bill Thursday to make Washington the one-stop shop for cheap student loans and to boost need-based scholarships. Starting July , 2010 nearly all federally backed student loans, like Stafford loans, will come directly from the federal government. The measure prevents private student lenders, including Sallie Mae and Nelnet, from making loans, although [...]
Firefighters continued Thursday evening to battle a blaze involving the third floor and the clock tower of the Chatham County Courthouse. It is unknown what caused the fire, but the courthouse had been undergoing major exterior renovations for the past two months, with extensive scaffolding covering the entire building, according to city spokeswoman Debra J. [...]
As long as Ireland has had pubs, Good Friday has been off-limits as a “dry” holy day — until now. A Limerick judge ruled Thursday that the city’s 110 pubs can open April 2 because the city is hosting a major Irish rugby match attracting tens of thousands of visitors. This will be the first [...]
The United States is likely to pay nearly $2 Billion this spring that Pakistan says it is owed for its cooperation in the fight against terrorism, Pakistan’s top diplomat said yesterday. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made no mention of that long-sought payment, or of plans to speed up approval for weapons sales sought [...]
Rare photos of Russian strategic bomber jets purportedly intercepted in British airspace show Moscow’s war machine is becoming increasingly bold, analysts said Thursday as Russia denied any territorial violations. Britain’s Ministry of Defence released images it said were taken earlier this month of two Russian Tu-160 bombers — known as Blackjacks by NATO forces — [...]
Dutch prisons are using psychics to give jailed criminals guidance by putting them in touch with their dead relatives. Paul van Bree, a self-styled “paragnost” or clairvoyant, has been hired by the Dutch prison service to teach prisoners how to “love themselves”. “I tell them that dead relatives are doing well and that they love [...]
A Venezuelan judge on Wednesday ordered a former state governor and critic of President Hugo Chavez to remain in custody without bail while facing charges of conspiracy, incitement and spreading false information. The incorrect information, government prosecutors said, was an assertion by former Zulia state Gov. Oswaldo Alvarez Paz in a March 8 television program [...]
Final DNA test results exonerate a Florida man who has served 26 years in prison — more than half his life — for a rape and murder, attorneys said Wednesday. Broward County prosecutors will ask a judge Thursday to throw out Anthony Caravella’s conviction and life sentence, freeing him of restrictions imposed since he was [...]
Senior Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, have been accused of not doing enough to stop sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the US. The pope, then a cardinal leading a Vatican office charged with protecting the moral authority of the church, was repeatedly warned about a priest who might have molested 200 deaf boys, [...]
A powerful earthquake has shaken the Philippine capital, Manila, causing office buildings to sway in the center of the city. The magnitude 6.1 quake struck at 1:29 PM local time on Monday (0529GMT) and was centered about 60 miles (100km) west of the city of Batangas, south of the Philippine capital. There have been no [...]
A landmark bill overhauling US healthcare is to be sent back to the House of Representatives after a procedural violation in the Senate. The ruling on Thursday, which strikes 16 lines from the bill, is a setback to President Obama whose healthcare reforms only narrowly passed in the House earlier this week. Senate Democratic aides [...]
Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chief, has threatened to have American soldiers killed if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered as one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks, is executed. The latest audio recording purportedly from the al-Qaeda leader was broadcast on Al Jazeera on Thursday. “The day America will take such decision [to execute [...]
Britain’s financial services regulatory body has raided homes and offices of Deutsche Bank and hedge fund Moore Capital employees in London as part of an investigation into alleged insider trading. Six men were arrested and documents and computers seized after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) ordered a squad of 143 officers to raid 16 residential [...]
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has arrested more than 100 people suspected of having links with al-Qaeda, the interior ministry has said. A statement from the ministry on Wednesday said the suspects were plotting attacks on oil and security installations in the kingdom. One cell consisted of 101 people, and two smaller cells [...]
A Delaware pediatrician pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 471 felony counts in the alleged child abuse of his patients, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice. Dr. Earl Bradley, 56, was arrested in December on charges that include rape, sexual exploitation of a child, endangering child welfare and assault. Bradley, who had [...]
An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies. James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia. He has enabled countless mothers to give birth [...]
The Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution late Wednesday for a condemned Texas inmate who is requesting DNA testing of evidence in his case. The order was handed down less than an hour before Henry “Hank” Skinner, 47, was scheduled to be executed by injection for the New Year’s Eve 1993 killings of [...]
A train has crashed in Norway, killing three people and seriously injuring another three, according to reports. Several railway cars broke loose and sped out of control towards the port in Oslo, the capital. Witnesses said they travelled at 100km/h (62mph). They derailed and smashed into a port building, bringing part of it crashing down, [...]
The New York Times apologized to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on Wednesday and paid US$114,000 in damages for an article about Asian political dynasties. An apology in the opinion section of the New York Times’ website said that any inference that Lee Hsien Loong “did not [...]
A Florida man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for violating his probation by trying to break into the Brevard County Jail. A judged sentenced 25-year-old Sylvester Jiles of Cocoa on Monday. He was convicted in January of trespassing on jail property and resisting an officer. Authorities say Jiles tried to climb a [...]
A reclusive Russian genius has refused to accept $1 Million in prize money for solving the Poincare Conjecture, one of the most difficult puzzles in mathematics. Dr Grigori Perelman, who has been dubbed “the smartest man in the world”, refused the money, despite living in poverty in a cockroach-infested flat in St Petersburg. When told [...]
Drawings believed to be those that Adolf Hitler submitted in a failed attempt to gain entry into the Vienna Academy of Art are to be auctioned. And a distinguished emeritus dean of art has studied them and said that today they would be considered only up to “moderate standard.” Some have speculated that Hitler’s rejection [...]
A US woman who won $9 Million in damages from her husband’s alleged mistress said her legal victory sent a clear message to potential home-wreckers to “lay off”. Cynthia Shackelford, 60, a former teacher from North Carolina, was awarded the unprecedented sum by a jury in the United States for damages to her feelings under [...]
Passengers stuck on airplanes gain new rights and the nation’s air traffic control system gains new technology under a $34.5 billion bill the Senate passed Monday night. The Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, passed 93-0, advances the modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system as it moves away from a radar-based infrastructure in favor [...]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t expecting an Oval Office tête-à-tête over dinner with Barack Obama today. The U.S. President was supposed to be in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation and Mr. Obama’s childhood home. But Mr. Obama scrapped the trip at the last minute to spend the weekend arm-twisting the last few [...]
With a sense of generational history in the making, President Obama on Tuesday signed into law a sweeping healthcare overhaul that offers insurance to an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans and provides new guarantees of more secure coverage for all. Obama, who sought passage of this legislation for more than a year, portrayed it as [...]
A 15-year-old middle school student, Josie Lou Ratley, who was severely beaten and kicked in the head by a fellow student wearing steel-toed boots, remains in a medically induced coma Monday, but her doctors are “optimistic” about two recent surgeries to relieve pressure on her brain, according to family attorney Rick Freedman. Ratley was allegedly [...]
Conservationists scored a rare victory at a UN wildlife summit yesterday when contentious proposals by Tanzania and Zambia to weaken the 21-year-old ban on ivory sales were defeated due to concerns it would further contribute to poaching. The heated debate over the proposed sale of the two countries’ ivory stocks divided Africa, as it has [...]
A 6-year-old boy shows his hands: one with seven fingers and another with eight, in Shengjing Hospital in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning province, on March 22, 2010. Ready to undergo an operation, the boy has a total of 31 fingers and toes, which outnumber the current world record of 25.
An American citizen facing trial in North Korea for entering the country illegally was a devout Christian who taught English at a South Korean primary school, former colleagues said on Tuesday. On Monday, North Korea identified the man as Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, of Boston, and said he would be put on trial because the [...]
A former doctor armed with a large knife killed eight children and injured five others today at an elementary school in eastern China, a local official said. Zheng MInsheng, who was arrested after the 7:20 am attack, was born in April 1968, and was a native of Nanping working at Mazhan Community Clinic before he [...]
Expulsion follows use of 12 fake passports by suspected Israeli agents during killing of Hamas leader in Dubai. Britain is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged UK passports by the killers of a senior Hamas official in January. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, will make a statement to the House of [...]
Amid the tension of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the most influential U.S. bipartisan pro-Israel lobby on Sunday kicked off its annual policy conference, in the latest effort to urge the Obama administration to reaffirm the alliance with the Jewish state. Reaffirming the alliance, supporting Israel’s security and backing sanctions on Iran are expected to be stressed [...]
An Indonesian Muslim protester holds a placard during a demonstration against Israel’s settlement plans, in central Makassar, South Sulawesi March 21, 2010. Relations between Israel and the United States, its main backer, have been frayed by Israel unveiling plans to build 1,600 housing units near occupied East Jerusalem. The Palestinians, who regard the land as [...]
Beijing was hit by dust and sand again Monday, two days after it was plagued by the first severe sandstorm this spring on Saturday. “The sandstorm from Mongolia arrived in Beijing Monday morning, and is expected to weaken by Monday evening,” said Zhang Mingying, senior engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Station. He said the sandstorm [...]
Toyota shareholders incensed over a sudden drop in the Japanese automaker’s stock price are heading to court with lawsuits claiming company executives deliberately misled investors and the public about the depth of accelerator problems in millions of its vehicles. At least three proposed class-action lawsuits filed by Toyota investors say the company gave false initial [...]
Horsemen take part in a Kok-boru, or goat grabbing, competition as part of Navruz celebrations to mark the spring equinox in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Kok-boru is a traditional Central Asian game which is considered to be Kyrgyzstan’s national sport. Players grab a goat carcass from the ground in full gallop and try to [...]
They hid from German authorities, fled to Denmark and sought safety in Canada. All this for a chance to freely educate their children at home. Now the German family will take their cause one step further when they appear before the Immigration and Refugee board in Alberta Tuesday to request asylum on the grounds that [...]
Stern Hu and three Chinese employees of the Anglo-Australian mining giant are accused of illegally obtaining commercial secrets and taking bribes worth millions of dollars. An Australian executive for Rio Tinto pleaded guilty to accepting bribes as his high-profile trial opened in a Shanghai court this morning, citing the lawyer of a fellow defendant. Foreign [...]
After a historical vote in the House to send health reform to the President, he speaks to all Americans on the change they will finally see as they are given back control over their own health care: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, after nearly 100 years of talk and frustration, after decades of trying, and a [...]
The House of Representatives has passed a sweeping $875 Billion health care reform bill. The measure, which cleared the Senate in December, will now head to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. The bill passed in a 219-212 vote. All 178 Republicans opposed it, along with 34 Democrats. The House still is expected [...]
A biologist working for the State of Arizona has been fired after America’s only known wild jaguar was caught in a snare and had to be euthanized. This followed an internal investigation into the capture and death of the jaguar. The Arizona Game and Fish Department said that 40-year-old Thornton W. Smith was a field [...]
A Bangladeshi man was beheaded by laborers who then burnt his head in a brick kiln in the belief this would redden their mud bricks, police said on Sunday. Four suspects were arrested for murdering the 26-year-old bricklayer in a remote town in northern Bangladesh on the instructions of the brick-field’s owners, said Golam Sarwar [...]
A trace of Bikini atoll could join hints of black cherry and complex citrus notes in the sommelier’s lexicon for describing fine wines, research has suggested. Harmless amounts of radioactive carbon have been found in wines made from grapes harvested since the last atmospheric atomic bomb tests were carried out in the 1960s. But the [...]
Tiger Woods gave two interviews that aired Sunday evening, the first time he has answered questions since his post-Thanksgiving car accident. According to ESPN, Woods’ representatives did not restrict the network’s questions, but the interview was limited to just five minutes. Another interview aired simultaneously on the Golf Channel. Woods told ESPN that the past [...]
Investigators have opened a criminal case into Saturday’s fire in a business center in northern Moscow that killed the Russian capital’s chief firefighter, investigators said Sunday. Colonel Yevgeny Chernyshev died Saturday when personally checking whether there were people left in the fire-engulfed building. The fire embraced an area of 1,800 square meters and took five [...]
On Sunday,advocates for two of the most controversial issues of our time will intersect by chance at the same time and almost in the same place in Washington. While the House of Representatives holds its most critical vote on history-making health care reform on Capitol Hill, tens of thousands of immigration reformers are expected to [...]
An accountant has made a dramatic nationwide plea for help to stop his son killing himself with the new party drug known as Miaow Miaow. Stephen Welch called BBC Radio 4′s Today program in desperation because he did not know how to stop his son Daniel’s addiction to mephedrone and his appeals for specialist support [...]
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Russia on Saturday demanding the resignation of local and national leaders, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, over lingering economic woes. A coalition of opposition groups, hoping to channel rising anxiety over unemployment and financial policy into anti-government activism, had called for nationwide protests under the slogan “Day [...]
The chairman of the Democratic caucus in the House said on Sunday that his party had the 216 votes needed to pass President Barack Obama’s historic health care bill. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Connecticut Rep. John Larson said, “We have the votes now — as we speak.” House Democrats are predicting that a rare [...]
In a harrowing memoir she has yet to read herself, Nujood Ali tells how at age 9 she was forced to marry a man three times her age, raped and beaten, then made Yemeni history by getting a divorce. “I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced,” was released in English in the United States this [...]
Explosive material was found in a package on a passenger plane after it landed in southern India, but it was not attached to a detonator and could not have exploded, officials said on Sunday. The package, which was the size of a cricket ball and wrapped in a local newspaper, was found in a bag [...]
Montreal police are facing tough questions after anti-police brutality march, where undercover officers were posing as protestors. Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protest at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Quebec. However, demonstrators counted 40 undercover officers divided into four groups of ten. [...]
Authorities evacuated hundreds of people after a volcano erupted beneath a glacier in southern Iceland, Iceland’s civil protection agency said Sunday. The eruption occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday (1930 EDT) beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the fifth largest glacier in Iceland.The volcano is covered by an ice cap. Fearing flooding from the glacier melt, authorities evacuated [...]
World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko knocked out U.S. challenger Eddie Chambers with five seconds remaining in the 12th and final round to defend his IBF, WBO and IBO titles. The Saturday bout in Duesseldorf, Germany, was the 33-year-old Ukrainian’s fifth defense of his WBO and IBF titles. Chambers went down for at least two minutes [...]
A 16-year-old boy who police said made an announcement at Walmart ordering all black people in the southern New Jersey store to leave was charged with harassment and bias intimidation, authorities said Saturday. The boy, whose name is not being released because he is a juvenile, grabbed one of the courtesy phones at Walmart’s Washington [...]
Thousands of protesters – many directing their anger squarely at President Barack Obama – marched through the nation’s capital Saturday to urge immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. At least eight people, including activist Cindy Sheehan, were arrested by U.S. Park Police at the end of the march, after laying coffins at a [...]
Abusive, derogatory and even racist behavior directed at House Democrats by Tea Party protesters on Saturday left several lawmakers in shock. Preceding the president’s speech to a gathering of House Democrats, thousands of protesters descended around the Capitol to protest the passage of health care reform. The gathering quickly turned into abusive heckling, as members [...]
Victory within reach, President Barack Obama rallied House Democrats on Saturday for a final health care push, and party leaders appeared confident they had overcome a flare-up over abortion funding restrictions in the legislation. Building on Democrats’ momentum, House leaders decided on a straight up-or-down vote on Obama’s top priority and the defining issue of [...]
The Internal Revenue Service remains dogged by serious information security lapses, many of which federal investigators have asked the agency to correct since 2008, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. Despite multiple warnings, IRS officials still do not “enforce strong password management,” limit user access to information and programs appropriately, monitor security events [...]
A ten-year-old British boy has become the first child in the world to undergo a revolutionary windpipe transplant, it has been announced. The landmark operation involved injecting the scaffold of a windpipe, taken from a dead donor, with stem cells from the boy before implanting it in his throat. The stem cells were removed from [...]
British Airways cabin crew began their first strike in 13 years, with further action planned over the coming weeks. An estimated 26,000 passengers are expected to have their flights cancelled as a result of an industrial dispute over pay and work conditions. The employees union, Unite, said early indications were that its 12,000 members were [...]
Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to stop the execution of a Lebanese man sentenced to death for “sorcery.” In a statement released Thursday, the international rights group condemned the verdict and demanded the immediate release of Ali Hussain Sibat, former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Sheherazade, a [...]
The Kansas City, Mo., district is closing nearly half its campuses after 10 years of dwindling student population. It’s what happens when a district loses support of the public it is meant to serve. During the warm months, when students at Westport High School got too hot, they cooled down by moving to one of [...]
China’s quality control watchdog said an investigation into Hewlett-Packard Co showed the company had sold some faulty laptop computers, and ignored consumer protection regulations. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement on its website (www.aqsiq.gov.cn) that after consumer complaints, it had found several models were affected by defective video [...]
A U.S. federal judge on Friday delayed a $657.5 million settlement for workers who suffered health problems after the September 11, 2001, attacks, saying the process must be transparent and lawyers fees should not be drawn from the funds. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said workers injured should know the approximate value of the cash [...]
In a significant victory for news media, a federal appeals court said the Federal Reserve must disclose records on emergency lending programs to banks bailed out by the government in the financial crisis. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the Fed to release details of programs it adopted starting in late 2007 [...]
A man who provided legal advice to 10 American Baptists accused of kidnapping 33 Haitian children after the earthquake there was arrested Thursday night in the Dominican Republic and accused of human trafficking, the country’s anti-narcotics agency said Friday. The man, identified as Jorge Torres-Puello, is linked to a network that trafficked in Haitian and [...]
Internet giant Google was blasted yesterday after its Street View service included detailed pictures of the British Special Air Service (SAS) Headquarters. The entrance to the base, in Credenhill, Hertfordshire, which has never before appeared on maps for security reasons, can easily be identified on the images, leading to fears it could be used for [...]
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has refused to buckle to US pressure to scrap a Jewish building project in East Jerusalem in a crucial telephone conversation with America’s top diplomat. Mr Netanyahu ceded little ground to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, as he finally responded to a series of conditions she set [...]
The Boy Scouts of America has long kept an extensive archive of secret documents that chronicle the sexual abuse of young boys by Scout leaders over the years. The “perversion files,” a nickname the Boy Scouts are said to have used for the documents, have rarely been seen by the public, but that could all [...]
Five presumed drug gang members and one soldier were killed in shootouts Thursday and Friday after criminals blocked thoroughfares in two northern Mexico states to prevent military reinforcements from arriving, authorities said. The criminals used cars, transit buses and tractor-trailers to block roads and streets in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon in northeastern [...]
Anna Nicole Smith’s estate is not entitled to $300 Million the deceased actress had claimed was intended as a gift from her oil tycoon husband, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Smith, a former Playboy pinup and stripper, fought for more than a decade with a son of J. Howard Marshall over a fortune estimated [...]
As Pope Benedict XVI wound down his first visit to the United States in 2008, the U.S. Catholic Church’s news service noted that the pontiff had achieved his top objective for the trip by personally apologizing to Americans who had been sexually abused by priests. The pope “brought a certain closure to the priestly sex [...]
A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch Lady Gaga’s career, co-writing hits and securing a record deal, is suing the US pop star. Rob Fusari, who is credited on Gaga’s album The Fame, alleges the singer denied him his share of song royalties and merchandising revenue. On Thursday, he launched a $30.5 [...]
Democrats plan to vote Sunday in the House of Representatives on a revamped health care overhaul bill aimed at insuring millions more Americans, providing more Medicare drug benefits and reducing federal budget deficits by $138 billion over the next 10 years. On Thursday, President Barack Obama canceled his Asia trip, which had been scheduled to [...]
A U.N. organization that regulates wildlife trade voted Thursday against bans on hunting polar bears threatened by shrinking Arctic ice and on fishing for the Atlantic bluefin tuna, a species that can grow to nearly 1,400 pounds and is prized in Japan for sushi and sashimi. The U.S. government backed both proposals at a meeting [...]
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Graco Children’s Products Inc. on Thursday announced a voluntary recall of about 1.2 million Harmony highchairs because they pose a fall hazard to children. “The screws holding the front legs of the highchair can loosen and fall out and/or the plastic bracket on the rear legs can crack, causing [...]
Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators in Havana, Cuba, chanted “this street belongs to Fidel” as they surrounded a slow-moving march of human rights protesters Thursday. The Ladies in White, as the human rights protesters call themselves, meandered down streets in the old section of the Cuban capital, drawing onlookers and pro-government demonstrators who drowned out the [...]
A Chicago man charged in two international terror plots, including the 2008 Mumbai, India, attacks, pleaded guilty Thursday to a dozen counts against him, and now will not face a trial. David Coleman Headley, 49, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Chicago to a dozen federal terrorism charges. Authorities said he scouted out targets [...]
The October deaths of three people who participated in a sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona have been ruled accidental, according to autopsy results released Wednesday. Lizbeth Neuman, James Shore and Kirby Brown were among as many as 65 participants at a self-help guru’s spiritual retreat near Sedona. As part of the “Spiritual Warrior” program led [...]
The Senate today passed by a 68-29 margin a $17.6 Billion measure intended to spur hiring nationwide, sending the bill to the White House for the president’s expected signature. Once the bill becomes law, it would mark the first significant piece of job-creation legislation to pass since President Obama and the Democratic Congress earlier this [...]
Forty-four Detroit schools and one administrative building will close in June under a $1 billion plan unveiled Wednesday by the city school district’s emergency financial manager. The district has been beset with falling enrollment as well as aging buildings, emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said Wednesday. The plan will allow the district to cut operating [...]
Two Emirates airlines cabin crewmembers have been ordered jailed for three months in Dubai over sexually explicit text messages, the latest in a string of indecency cases against foreigners, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The pair, an Indian flight attendant and her cabin services supervisor, were convicted of “coercion to commit sin” over the messages and [...]
California attorney and “birther” proponent Orly Taitz must pay $20,000 in sanctions, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. In the two-page decision, the appeals court states that after considering Taitz’ arguments, “we find them unpersuasive and therefore affirm the district court’s sanctions judgment.” Taitz’ appeal stems from a suit filed on behalf of [...]
Rielle Hunter has broken her public silence in a lengthy magazine spread in which she professes “unconditional love” for the man she calls Johnny, disputes published portrayals of her, and said “Being a mistress was not easy for me.” On Monday she also expressed shock at photos that accompanied the 10,000-word GQ article. Some showed [...]
In a Hollywood-style heist, thieves cut a hole in the roof of a warehouse, rappelled inside and scored one of the biggest hauls of its kind — not diamonds, gold bullion or Old World art, but about $75 million in antidepressants and other prescription drugs. The pills — stolen from the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly [...]
Honda has recalled more than 400,000 vehicles over concerns of brake failure. While Honda’s announcement pales in comparison to Toyota’s recall of 8.5 million vehicles, its part of a growing number of automaker concerns about the possibility of faulty brake systems. The recall includes 344,000 Odysseys and 68,000 Elements from the 2007 and 2008 model [...]
The Key West, Florida, home where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote for nearly a decade was designated a Literary Landmark on Sunday. The designation was made by the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, a division of the American Library Association, according to association spokeswoman Jennifer Petersen. In a ceremony Sunday, a bronze [...]
David Beckham’s hopes of crowning his stellar professional football career with one final World Cup appearance this year ended Monday as he underwent surgery on his Achilles tendon. Beckham’s global popularity, particularly with American fans, would have been a huge spectator draw for the 2010 Cup in South Africa. But he was forced to hobble [...]
He PingPing, the world’s shortest man, has died at the age of 21, AFP reports. PingPing was 2 feet, 5 inches tall. His death was announced by a spokesman for the Guinness World records. PingPing was filming a TV program called “The Record Show” in Italy when he developed chest problems, according to reports. Born [...]
An Illinois insurance executive who pleaded guilty to stalking and secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews faces more than two years in federal prison when he is sentenced Monday. Michael Barrett, 48, entered his pleaded guilty to one federal count of interstate stalking in a December hearing attended by Andrews and her [...]
A celebrity sushi restaurant issued an apology Monday for illegally selling whale meat, in violation of the federal Marine Mammall Protection Act. Typhoon Restaurant Inc., the parent company of The Hump restaurant, and 45-year-old Kiyoshiro Yamamoto of Culver City were each charged last week in federal court with illegal sale of a marine mammal product [...]
Consider the case of “Buzz” Roy, who on Feb. 6 walked from his drugstore to the pizza place up the street, just as he had done for years. This time was different. He was arrested, frisked, handcuffed, and detained for three hours. Roland “Buzz” Roy, 67, who had never been in trouble in his life, [...]
Three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, were killed in two drive-by shootings, a senior White House official told reporters. Two of the victims were an American employee at the consulate and her U.S. citizen husband. Their 1-year-old child, who was in a vehicle with the couple at the time of [...]
A human rights organization in Egypt has accused the interior ministry of manipulating the legal system to target a blogger who exposed police brutality. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said Wael Abbas had been sentenced to six months in jail in a case that had already been closed. A Cairo appeals court cleared [...]
The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration. It’s time to start cashing them in. For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it [...]
Two Britons have been sentenced to a month’s imprisonment for indecency after a local woman took objection to them kissing in a restaurant. Ayman Najafi, 24, a marketing consultant who lives in Dubai, and Charlotte Adams, 25, an estate agent from North London, were said to have been touching each other and kissing passionately as [...]
Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari one-two on his debut for the team as they made a stunning start to the Formula One season. Alonso produced the defining move of a dull Bahrain grand prix two-thirds of the way through, passing the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who was struggling with exhaust trouble. Felipe Massa also [...]
Tens of thousands of Thai opposition supporters have rallied in Bangkok to press the government to step down. They gave Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva until Monday to call fresh polls and vowed to demonstrate across the capital if he refuses to do so. The government insists it will not stand down and has tightened security. [...]
Scott Salyer could have lived off the interest from one of California’s largest farm fortunes, spending his days pursuing his passions of dove hunting and Go Kart racing. But that wasn’t the Salyer way. Never has been. Since his grandfather Clarence started the Salyer Land Co. in Corcoran back in the 1920s, ambition and conflict [...]
Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff. The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to [...]
Rights groups express concern at the rising number of juveniles as young as 12 who are held behind bars and treated like terrorists. With more than 300 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisons, human rights groups and Palestinian officials are increasingly concerned about the actions of the Israeli military. The Israeli group B’Tselem said [...]
Fighting on the star, Manny Pacquiao showed once again why he is the star. With the biggest fight crowd in the U.S. in 17 years cheering him on at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao dominated a strangely passive Joshua Clottey from the opening bell Saturday night to retain his welterweight title and cement his status as the [...]
Murcia residents start Facebook campaign to attract global coffee chain – possibly for the muffins, the wifi or the mugs. Murcia is one of the fastest growing cities in Spain, the proud capital of the country’s south-eastern market garden region. But the coffee guzzling citizens of Murcia say it still lacks the one thing that [...]
Thirteen people have been killed in an outbreak of drug-related violence in the southern Mexican beach resort of Acapulco, officials have said. Five of the dead were police officers whose patrol was machine gunned. Eight other bullet-riddled bodies were discovered in different areas around the city – four had been beheaded. Acapulco is one of [...]
He Who Must Live documents Castro’s escapes from a bacteria-infected hankie, exploding cigar and poisoned wetsuit. Illness has forced him from public view but Fidel Castro is back in Cuban living rooms via a lavish television series that celebrates his escape from 638 assassination plots. The eight-part series, He Who Must Live is an extravagant [...]
Police in Colombia say they have found 35 lbs. of cocaine inside replicas of three sculptures by artist Fernando Botero being shipped to Spain. The cocaine had been mixed into the clay of the sculptures as they were being cast, police said. No arrests were made during the operation. The statues were found in a [...]
Prosecutors in California are suing Toyota, claiming the Japanese carmaker sold hundreds of thousands of vehicles that it knew had defects. The world’s largest carmaker has recalled millions of vehicles because of problems accelerating and braking. Regulators have linked five deaths to crashes allegedly caused by accelerator problems and are investigating dozens of others. The [...]
Rapid prototyping allows designers to create things ranging from biomedical devices to multi-purpose household objects. Joint replacements, like artificial knees and hips, are increasingly common. They’re a boon for people with failing joints, but the replacement parts aren’t as durable as the originals. Usually made of metal and plastic and often cemented to the bone, [...]
Like a California Wildfire, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street. Deserving as these targets may or may not be, most Americans have ignored at their own peril a far bigger pocket of privilege — the lush pensions that the 23 million active and retired state and local public [...]
A Colorado woman has been detained in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch offended many Muslims, a U.S. official said Saturday. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, was among seven people arrested in Ireland this week as authorities investigate an alleged plot to kill cartoonist Lars Vilks over a 2007 [...]
Yemeni authorities stormed offices of the two leading pan-Arab television networks and confiscated broadcasting equipment in an apparent response to their coverage of the country’s south, where a protest movement is pushing to restore the region’s independence. Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera and its rival Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya said yesterday that security agents stormed their offices in Yemen’s capital, [...]
Those chic baby slings that many parents are sporting these days can be dangerous, even deadly, the government warned yesterday. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it has investigated at least 13 deaths associated with sling-style infant carriers over the last 20 years, including three deaths last year. One other case involving a fatality is [...]
It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation’s demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe’s many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons. Ireland was the first in Europe to confront [...]
Their kingdom long ago overthrown, Native Hawaiians seeking redress are closer than they’ve ever been to reclaiming a piece of Hawaii. Native Hawaiians are the last remaining indigenous group in the United States that hasn’t been allowed to establish their own government, a right already extended to Alaska Natives and 564 Native American tribes. With [...]
Air France has been ordered by a Brazilian judge to pay $1.1 Million (2 million reals) in damages to the family of one of the victims of last year’s crash that killed more than 200 people, officials said on Friday. Judge Mauro Nicolau Junior ordered Air France to pay 2 million reals in damages to [...]
An opera singer is suspected of murdering her wealthy husband then using a double to assume his identity to claim his $8 Million estate in a case detectives claim is “straight out of a Hitchcock film”. Police believe that Waltraud Hill, a 55-year-old soprano, killed her husband Hermann, then used a man to impersonate him [...]
At least two mass graves containing dozens of people killed by the Nazis have been found on property used by the Austrian army, government officials said Friday. An army statement suggested some of the remains may be that of U.S. pilots shot down and imprisoned during World War II. Police Col. Rudolf Gollia, an interior [...]
Israel sealed off the West Bank on Friday as tensions mounted in Jerusalem over controversial plans to build new homes for Jewish settlers. Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to cut off the area until midnight on Saturday, citing a heightened risk of attacks. Israel has sealed off the West Bank ahead of major [...]
Family homes in Detroit are selling for as little as $10 in the wake of America’s financial meltdown. The once thriving industrial city has suffered a dramatic decline following the global economic crisis. According to Tim Prophit, a real estate agent, the crisis has led to a unprecedented portfolio of homes, but they are failing [...]
A suicide bomber driving a motorised rickshaw blew himself up at a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday killing at least 13 people in the latest bloody reminder of the region’s instability. It came a day after 55 people died in attacks on the eastern city of Lahore and follows threats by Taliban militants [...]
Russia will build 12 nuclear reactors in India, half of them by 2017, and sell an aircraft carrier and MiG fighter jets, officials say. Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, announced in New Delhi on Friday that six of the reactors would be built between 2012 and 2017. Kiriyenko is accompanying Vladimir [...]
Controversial Sirius radio shock-jock Howard Stern on Wednesday crowned Jamie Jungers as the queen of his Tiger Woods mistress beauty pageant. Stern held the contest on his radio program, and Jungers won a $75,000 prize after exposing personal information about Woods, the world’s No. 1 golfer who admitted to infidelity after being linked to numerous [...]
A senior manager at Prada is suing the fashion label claiming that she was ordered to get rid of “old, fat and ugly” staff in the Italian fashion label’s Japanese stores. Rina Bovrisse, a senior retail manager at Prada Japan, also alleges that the chief executive wanted her to change her hairstyle and lose weight [...]
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government’s announcement this week of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem, calling it “a deeply negative signal” for the Mideast peace process and ties with the U.S. The State Department said Clinton spoke to Netanyahu [...]
Germany’s sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese acknowledged it transferred a suspected pedophile priest while Benedict was in charge and criticism is mounting over a 2001 Vatican directive he penned instructing bishops to keep abuse cases secret. The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict’s handling of abuse claims [...]
A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade. Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers, but not highlight the [...]
Earlier this morning, Senator Dick Durbin announced that he and Senator Jeff Sessions had reached a compromise in the Senate gym over Durbin’s bill, which would have eliminated the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity for crack vs. powder cocaine. “If you ever wonder if anything good ever happens there, it appears something good might have [...]
They were 51 young men who met a grisly death far from home, their heads chopped off and their bodies thrown into a mass grave. Their resting place was unknown until last year, when workmen excavating for a road near the London 2012 Olympic sailing venue in Weymouth, England, unearthed the grave. But questions remained [...]
New York City officials have agreed to pay up to $657.5 Million (£437m) to thousands of rescue and clean-up workers after 9/11. The settlement would compensate more than 10,000 plaintiffs who say they were made sick by dust at the Ground Zero site of the attacks. At least 95% of the plaintiffs must approve the [...]
China’s demand for oil jumped by an “astonishing” 28% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. The body added that demand for oil in 2010 would be underpinned by rising demand from emerging markets, with half of all growth coming from Asia. But the IEA predicted [...]
Two suicide bombers have killed at least 45 people in the Pakistani city of Lahore, officials say. The attacks occurred within seconds of each other and targeted military vehicles as they passed through a crowded area. At least nine soldiers were killed and some 100 people were wounded. There have been several attacks on Lahore [...]
Abdulrahman Zeitoun is the real-life hero of Dave Eggers’s new book. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina he paddled from house to house in a canoe, offering help to his neighbours. For his trouble, he was arrested as a suspected terrorist. Saturday afternoon and the Zeitoun household is bustling with activity, as you quickly get [...]
Greek police fired teargas to disperse protesters throwing rocks and firebombs outside parliament today as more than 20,000 people marched through Athens to protest against new austerity measures to tackle the country’s debt. A strike by public and private sector workers brought the country to halt, grounding all flights and stopping public transport. State hospitals [...]
Brain scans revealed with reasonable accuracy which short film clip volunteers were thinking about. Scientists have used brain scans to delve into people’s minds and predict what films they are thinking about from one moment to the next. This is the first time brain imaging has been used to decipher such complex thoughts, which take [...]
A Bosnian-born socialite who left Britain after being treated like an “Eastern European mail order bride” has provided $450,000 (£300,000) bail to free her country’s former president from Wandsworth prison. Diana Jenkins, who now lives in Malibu, California put up the money to have Ejup Ganic released on Thursday as he fights extradition to Serbia [...]
When former in-house defense attorney Dimitrios Biller resigned from his top post at Toyota, he walked out with something potentially more valuable than his nearly $4 million severance package. He took some 6,000 internal documents, including memos and e-mails potentially damaging to his former employer. “Not potentially, they are. They are very damaging,” Biller said. [...]
Street signs warning Romanian drivers to be careful of drunken pedestrians lying on roads were erected by road safety chiefs worried about the “despairing” levels of accidents. Officials in Pecica, a village town about 13 miles from the Hungarian border in the country’s west, ordered the bright red signs, complete with the phrase “Attention – [...]
Forbes magazine released its annual list of the world’s richest people Wednesday, and for only the second time since 1995, Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ name was not at the top. This year, the title of “World’s Richest” went to Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim, with a net worth of $53.5 billion. Slim, whose holding company [...]
The FBI arrested a reputed U.S. mobster Wednesday on charges he provided protection for a Sicilian counterpart mapping out criminal turf in Florida – part of an international sweep aimed at further crippling the storied Gambino organized crime family and disrupting its ties to the Italian mob. Wiretaps and surveillance revealed that suspected Gambino solider [...]
Federal prosecutors have charged a former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee with attempting to sabotage terror watch list computers. Douglas Duchak, 46, of Colorado Springs, Colorado faces two charges of attempting to damage protected TSA computers. Duchak pleaded not guilty and was released from custody. The suspect allegedly tried to send a virus into the [...]
It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest. A race over 1,150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain including jagged mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause [...]
Rumors that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are both having affairs are gaining momentum in France. The suggestion that the couple were both committing adultery first emerged on Twitter, the microblogging website. It was followed by a report in the Sunday newspaper le Journal du Dimanche. The first ‘tweet’ claimed that [...]
Federal regulators said Tuesday that LifeLock has agreed to pay $12 million to settle charges the company made deceptive claims about its ability to protect customers from identity theft. LifeLock will pay $11 million to the Federal Trade Commission and $1 million to a group of 35 state attorneys general in one of the largest [...]
Colleen LaRose, a woman from suburban Philadelphia who was “desperate to do something” to help suffering Muslims, is also accused of agreeing to kill a Swedish citizen on orders from unnamed terrorists. Miss LaRose, who is believed to be 47, is alleged to have travelled to Sweden to carry out the killing, but it is [...]
A judge ordered Andrew Young jailed Tuesday until he produces a sex tape in the lawsuit filed against Young and his wife by John Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter. The move came in a Pittsboro, NC courtroom. Judge Abraham Jones said it was a tough decision, but he didn’t want to be portrayed as a “fool.” [...]
A three-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed herself after mistaking a handgun for a Nintendo Wii video game controller. Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan shot herself in the chest with a .380 calibre pistol after finding her stepfather’s gun lying on a table in the living room of the family home in Norene, Tennessee. Police believe she [...]
Four soldiers including Cpl Sarah Bryant, the first female to die in Afghanistan, were unlawfully killed after troops were given “inadequate” training, a coroner has ruled. Wiltshire Coroner David Masters said he would write to the Ministry of Defense to raise concerns about “theater-wide” equipment shortages and gaps in training which led to the deaths. [...]
Three Providence police officers have been arrested on charges that they helped a cocaine-dealing operation. State police say those arrested include a narcotics detective and a school resource officer. Providence police say Detective Joseph Colanduono, Patrolman Robert Hamlin and Sergeant Steven Gonsalves have been suspended without pay. A phone message left with the police union [...]
The percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year, according to a survey released Tuesday. The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey. [...]
The controversial US rap artist, Snoop Dogg, has won an expensive legal battle against the British government, after it tried to ban him from visiting the country. The British Home Office last week failed in its three year fight to prevent the 38 year-old from entering the country following a brawl at Heathrow Airport in [...]
Cuba says it will not be “blackmailed” by a dissident journalist who is on hunger strike to seek the release of ailing political prisoners. Guillermo Farinas, 48, began his action after Orlando Zapata Tamayo died while on hunger strike in jail. Communist Party newspaper Granma, which reflects government policy, said it would not bow to [...]
Charisa Coulter, one of two American missionaries detained for more than a month in Haiti on suspicion of kidnapping 33 children after January 12′s devastating earthquake, was released Monday. She walked out of judicial police headquarters and headed to the nearby airport Monday afternoon. Attorneys Chillier Roi and Ricardo Chachoute, who are representing Coulter and [...]
In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave. This latest program, which will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash [...]
Bangladesh Anthrax Spreads, Public Panics
Top Police Official In Siberia Accused Of Taking $450,000 In Bribes
Russian Banker Shot Dead In Moscow
Russian Performers Drop Fish-Eating Circus Act
Taliban Chief Says Victory Imminent
North Korea Marks 62nd Founding Day
Fear Of Fresh Violence In Nigeria
Rachel Corrie Trial: During War There Are No Civilians
Egypt’s Leprosy Colony Lives On, VIDEO
US Soldiers ‘Kept Afghan Body Parts’
China’s Blind Activist Lawyer Released From Prison
9th Circuit Throws Out CIA Torture Lawsuit For National Security Reasons
Mexican Mayor Gunned Down Inside Own Office
Giant Rats Put Noses To Work On Africa’s Land Mine Epidemic
Fidel: ‘Cuban Model Doesn’t Even Work For Us Anymore’
Vitamin B Halts Memory Loss In Breakthrough British Trial
Bremner: ‘I Represent Seattle Police, You Can’t Arrest Me’
Russian Rokot Carrier With Three Satellites Blasts Off From Plesetsk Space Center
Police In Kamchatka Seize Poached Caviar Worth $1 Million
Europe Raids File-Sharing Groups Including Sweden
Kabul Bank Freezes Assets of Directors And Major Borrowers
Meeting The Taliban In Baghlan, VIDEO
United Nations ‘Failed’ Congo Rape Victims
California Regulators Seek Up To $9.9 Billion In Fines From PacifiCare
18 Murdered In Shoe Factory Shooting In Honduras
The Amazing World Of The Praying Mantis
9/11 Koran Burning Would Put US Troops’ In Danger, Petraeus Warns
Dozens Of Homes Burn Across Detroit, VIDEO
John Lennon’s Killer Denied Parole For The 6th Time
Belize Mob Torches Americans’ Animal Sanctuary
Pastor Wonders If It’s Wise To Burn Qurans Amid U.S. Warnings, VIDEO
Italian Crime Fighting Mayor Is Killed In Mafia-Style Execution
With A Little Help From My Friends
In Russia, No Kasha Creates Political Tension
Thieves Steal 3 Ancient Icons From Moscow Region Church
George Soros Donates $100 Million To Human Rights Watch
Congolese Poachers Destroy Protected Birds
French Unions Stage Nationwide Strike
Oracle Hires Former HP’s Mark Hurd
LAPD Kills Unarmed Migrant, Community Protests
El Salvador: 3rd Migrant Survived Mexico Massacre
Mexican Soldiers Open Fire On Family’s Car At Checkpoint, Killing 15-Year-Old And Father
U.S. Considers Boosting Funds For Mexico Drug War
California’s Union Jobs Take Hit From Recession
Israeli Minister: Speed Up Building, A Promise Is A Promise
Miners Seeking Gold Destroy Suriname Ecosystem
Little Rock Nine Member, Jefferson Thomas
Putin Compares Himself To Roosevelt As He Hints At Third Term
Condoleezza Rice ‘Ordered Bush To Stay Out Of Washington’ After 9/11
Stone Mason Sparks Cathedral Row With ‘Muslim’ Gargoyle
John Travolta Drops Charges In Extortion Case
150 Arrested In Mozambique Following Deadly Protests
U.S. Investors Sue For Payback For Pre-World War II German Bonds
Saad al-Hariri Retracts Charge That Syria Killed His Father
North Korea Plans Succession Meeting
The Arrest And Trial Of Human Rights Activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari
Arsenic Scare Hits Argentina, VIDEO
President Obama Unveils $50 Billion Infrastructure Plan
Cockroach Immune To Deadly Super-Bacteria
Gulf Residents Test Positive For Oil In Blood
