Tennis: Nadal struggles into Brazil Open final

SAO PAULO: Rafael Nadal struggled into the Brazil Open final on Saturday by downing Argentine lucky loser Martin Alund in three sets.The former world number one, who is recovering from a knee injury, battled hard to dismiss his 27-year-old opponent, who is ranked 111 in the world, winning 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-1 in nearly two hours.Sunday's final will pit the 26-year-old Spanish star against...

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Curfew relaxed in Kashmir as protests continue

SRINAGAR: The rigid curfew imposed across the Kashmir Valley to prevent protests against Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's execution last week was lifted on Saturday. But reports said businesses mostly remained shuttered in response to separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's two-day strike call to protest the execution. Private vehicles were back on the streets. Protests were reported from...

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...

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Meteor Blast 'Something We Only Saw in Movies'

A day after a massive meteor exploded over this city in central Russia, a monumental cleanup effort is under way.Authorities have deployed around 24,000 troops and emergencies responders to help in the effort.Officials say more than a million square feet of windows -- the size of about 20 football fields -- were shattered by the shockwave from the meteor's blast. Around 4,000...

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Bomb kills 64 in Pakistan's Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Sixty-four people including school children died on Saturday in a bomb attack carried out by extremists from Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority, police said. A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni group, claimed responsibility for the bomb in Quetta, which caused casualties in the town's main bazaar, a school and a computer center. Police said most of the...

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SEC alleges Swiss insider trading on Heinz buyout

NEW YORK: US regulators Friday obtained an emergency court order to freeze a Swiss bank account they suspect was used for insider trading ahead the Berkshire Hathaway-3G Capital buyout of HJ Heinz.The Securities and Exchange Commission said unknown traders earned $1.7 million in profits through "irregular and highly suspicious" options trades on Heinz shares booked on Wednesday, one day...

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People who have mandate to rule are typical 'bullies', CAG Vinod Rai says

MUMBAI: Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, whose reports on various scams had raised the hackles of those in the government, says people who have the mandate to rule are typical "bullies". Rai, who is due to retire in May this year, also said on Friday that time alone will tell whether he will join politics. The government auditor said that public officials often make the statement that...

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States' choices set up national health experiment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds?The nation is about evenly split between states that decided by Friday's deadline they want a say in running new insurance markets and states that are defaulting to federal...

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Carnival Cruise Ship Hit With First Lawsuit

The first lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines has been filed and it is expected to be the beginning of a wave of lawsuits against the ship's owners.Cassie Terry, 25, of Brazoria County, Texas, filed a lawsuit today in Miami federal court, calling the disabled Triumph cruise ship "a floating hell.""Plaintiff was forced to endure unbearable and horrendous odors on the filthy and...

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Exclusive: North Korea tells China of preparations for fresh nuclear test - source

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks, said a source with direct knowledge of the message. Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source, who has direct access to the top levels of...

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Obama says public deserves to know more on drones

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said Thursday that Americans needed more than just his word to be assured he was not misusing his powers in waging a secret drone war overseas.The president was asked about the debate over the deadly tactic, a backbone of the US campaign against Al-Qaeda, and whether the Constitution allows the use of drones against Americans who have turned against their...

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PIL for cancellation of Yasin Malik's passport dismissed

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the home ministry for cancellation of passport of YasinMalik, chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front, for his alleged anti-national activities.The division bench headed by Chief Justice AK Sikri refused to entertain the petition on jurisdictional grounds and directed...

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Study: Fish in drug-tainted water suffer reaction

BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.The findings, published online Thursday in...

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Dorner Confirmed Dead in Autopsy on Cabin Remains

Christopher Dorner, the ex-Los Angeles police officer who declared himself on a killing spree against his former law enforcement colleagues, is dead.Authorities this evening confirmed that remains found after a fiery standoff at a California mountain cabin Tuesday were, in fact, Dorner's."The charred human remains located in the burned out cabin in Seven Oaks have been positively...

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Key U.S. general backs keeping Afghan forces at peak strength

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. general nominated to oversee a vast region that includes Afghanistan on Thursday backed keeping Afghan forces at a peak strength of 352,000, contrary to current plans to shrink them after NATO declares the war over next year. General Lloyd Austin, nominated to lead the U.S. military's Central Command, said at his Senate confirmation hearing that a more...

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Zuckerberg owns nearly a third of Facebook: US regulators

SAN FRANCISCO: Mark Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook has climbed to nearly 30 percent since the leading social network made its dismal stock market debut, according to a filing Wednesday with US regulators.Zuckerberg owns 632.65 million Facebook shares as compared with the slightly more than 500 million he held in September when the stock's sagging price prompted a promise he would not sell...

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Terror groups in Pak vow to avenge Afzal

ISLAMABAD: In a show of strength in the Pakistani capital, several banned anti-India militant groups, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, on Wednesday vowed to take "revenge" for the execution of Afzal Guru and step up their "jihad" in Jammu and Kashmir. Scores of members of the groups gathered at the National Press Club for a conference organized by the United Jihad Council to...

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Clues to why most survived China melamine scandal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists wondering why some children and not others survived one of China's worst food safety scandals have uncovered a suspect: germs that live in the gut.In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 became sick after being fed infant formula that had been deliberately and illegally tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. There were some lingering puzzles: How did it cause...

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Ship Stranded: Love Boat to Horror Honeymoon

A Texas couple's fantasy wedding quickly turned into a nightmare honeymoon when the fire-damaged Carnival Cruise ship carrying them became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.Rob Mowlam, 37, and Stephanie Stevenson, 27, of Nederland, Texas, got married on the Carnival Triumph on Saturday. The four-day cruise was meant to be back to shore on Monday, but was left disabled by an engine...

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Ovation for Pope Benedict at final public mass

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A capacity crowd in St Peter's Basilica gave Pope Benedict a thunderous standing ovation on Wednesday at an emotional last public Mass before he resigns at the end of the month. "Thank you. Now, let's return to prayer," the 85-year-old pontiff said, bringing an end to several minutes of applause that clearly moved him. In an unusual gesture, bishops took off their...

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17 gunmen dead in Thai military base attack

  BANGKOK, Thailand: Scores of heavily-armed gunmen stormed a military base in unrest-plagued southern Thailand, an army spokesman said on Wednesday, in a major assault that left at least 17 militants dead."Some 100 fully armed militants stormed the base, where there were 60 marines," Colonel Pramote Promin, southern army spokesman, told AFP. He said the attack, one of the most ambitious...

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Businessmen scared to complain against tax officials

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry's plan to stamp out corruption in customs and excise departments across the country and address other grievances by appointing ombudsmen hasn't taken off with businessmen reluctant to file complaints against tax officials fearing reprisals. S Dutt Majumdar, the ombudsman for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and J&K, said he was facing a peculiar problem - he...

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Officer Dies After Dorner Shootout; Cabin on Fire

The remote California mountain cabin in which fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner has barricaded himself in tense standoff with police is on fire, following a shootout with police in which one officer was killed and another wounded.A single shot was heard from inside the cabin before flames and a large column of black smoke was seen rising above the snow-covered trees near Big...

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North Korean nuclear test draws anger, including from China

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of U.N. resolutions, drawing condemnation from around the world, including from its only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest. Pyongyang said the test was an act of self-defense against "U.S. hostility" and threatened stronger steps if necessary. The test...

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Anti-whaling group takes battle to top US court

WASHINGTON: The Sea Shepherd conservation group asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to lift an order forcing it to steer clear of Japan's whalers, who are seeking legal reprisals over harassment at sea.Since 2002, Sea Shepherd has annually disrupted Japan's contested hunt in the Southern Ocean but a US court issued an injunction on December 17 for the activists to stay at least 500 yards...

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Markanday Katju slams scribe’s detention

NEW DELHI: Describing detention of journalist IftikharGilani by the Delhi police as "undemocratic" Press Council chairman MarkandayKatju asked Union home secretary for action against the police officials involved and criminal charges pressed against them.Responding to a complaint filed by Gilani, Katju said that the Delhi police's behavior exposed a high-handed and outrageous behaviour. In a letter...

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