Modi has national appeal: Naqvi

ALLAHABAD: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi created ripples at the Sangam on Saturday when he called Narendra Modi a "towering symbol of nationalism having countrywide appeal". He, however, hastened to add that "there were a number of capable leaders and any decision about the party's prime ministerial candidate would be taken at an appropriate...

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New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out...

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Obama Clings to Shotgun in WH Photo

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)After a week of speculation over the authenticity of claims by President Obama that he regularly participated in skeet shooting at Camp David, the White House released a photograph today showing him firing a shotgun.The photo shows Obama targeting clay pigeons at the presidential retreat last August, according to the White House. In an interview published...

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Turkey says tests confirm leftist bombed U.S. embassy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A member of a Turkish leftist group that accuses Washington of using Turkey as its "slave" carried out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy, the Ankara governor's office cited DNA tests as showing on Saturday. Ecevit Sanli, a member of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), blew himself up in a perimeter gatehouse on Friday as he tried...

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Football: Ghana end fairy-tale Cape Verde run in Africa Cup

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa: Ghana halted the fairy-tale run of debutants Cape Verde in the Africa Cup of Nations with a 2-0 quarter-final win on Saturday.Victory set up the Black Stars for a February 6 semi-final clash with the winners of Sunday's fixture between Burkina Faso and Togo in Nelspruit.Substitute Mubarak Wakaso gave Ghana the lead in the 54th minute when he fired home a penalty...

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Cabinet clears ordinance, makes anti-rape laws stricter

NEW DELHI: Rape that leads to death of the victim or leaving her in a vegetative state can now attract death penalty under an ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday night in a bid to fast-track stringent amendments to the criminal laws to check crime against women.The ordinance, based on the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee and going beyond, proposes to replace the word...

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Health officials on Thursday...

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Ala. Hostage Suspect Had Court Date Scheduled

The retired Alabama trucker who shot a school bus driver and is now holding a kindergarten student in an underground bunker was scheduled to be in court Wednesday to answer for allegedly shooting at his neighbors in a dispute over a damaged speed bump.Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, has been holed up in a 6 by 8 foot bunker 4 feet underground with a 5-year-old autistic boy named Ethan...

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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - A far-leftist suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, officials said, blowing open an entrance and sending debris flying through the air. The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body after entering an embassy gatehouse. The blast could be heard a mile away. A lower leg and other human remains lay on the street. ...

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Cricket: Pakistan part-timers ruin Smith's historic day

JOHANNESBURG: Two part-time bowlers spoiled Graeme Smith's big day as South Africa were bowled out for 253 on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium on Friday.South Africa were dismissed after Smith, celebrating 100 Tests as captain and his 32nd birthday, won the toss and decided to bat in what were always likely to be challenging conditions on a pitch...

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Lokpal Bill: What it now entails

NEW DELHI: Salient points of the new Lokpal Bill that was cleared on Thursday by the Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:* The Lokpal at the centre has been delinked from Lokayukta in the states.* State government will have to enact a law for setting up Lokayukta within a year of the central government passing the Lokpal bill.* The prime minister's office will be under the...

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died. Investigators say the illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets.Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

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Hagel, McCain Butt Heads at Confirmation Hearing

Facing a rocky confirmation process, Chuck Hagel today defended his record before his former Senate colleagues, including an openly impatient Sen. John McCain."I'm on the record on many issues, but no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me," Hagel said in his opening statement at his first confirmation hearing for secretary of defense."My...

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Syria warns of "surprise" response to Israel attack

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria warned on Thursday of a possible "surprise" response to Israel's attack on its territory and Russia condemned the air strike as an unprovoked violation of international law. Damascus could take "a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes", Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said a day after Israel struck against...

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'Appalling' conditions for Darfur displaced: UN

KHARTOUM: Animal carcasses are rotting and tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in schools and government offices in Sudan's Darfur region after violence this month, the UN said on Thursday.About 100,000 people are newly estimated to have been displaced or severely affected across a wide area of the Jebel Amir district of North Darfur state, the United Nations humanitarian agency...

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Wanting dhoti-clad PM may have caused 'Vishwaroopam' ban: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) president M Karunanidhi on Wednesday wondered whether the Tamil Nadu government's ban on Kamal Haasan's movie "Vishwaroopam" was because the actor wanted a dhoti-clad Tamilian as prime minister. In a letter to party cadres, Karunanidhi said some sections of people are of the view that the actor earned the ire of the state government after he said that a...

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APNewsBreak: EPA moves to ban some rodent poisons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to ban the sale of a dozen rat and mouse poisons sold under the popular D-Con brand in an effort to protect children and pets.The agency said Wednesday it hopes to reduce the thousands of accidental exposures that occur every year from rodent-control products. Children and pets are at risk for exposure because the products typically...

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Giffords to Senate: 'Americans Are Counting on You'

Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, whose congressional career was ended by a bullet wound to her head, opened a Senate hearing on gun violence today by telling the panel, "Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important."In a determined and forceful voice, she told the Senators to be "courageous" because "Americans are counting on you."Giffords sat alongside...

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Egypt curfew scaled back as Mursi seeks end to bloodshed

CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - Authorities in an Egyptian city scaled back a curfew imposed by President Mohamed Mursi, and the Islamist leader cut short a visit to Europe on Wednesday to deal with the deadliest violence in the seven months since he took power. Two more protesters were shot dead before dawn near Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Wednesday, a day after the army chief warned that...

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Obama's popularity highest in four years: poll

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama's popularity has hit 60 per cent, the highest level since he first took office four years ago, according to a poll released Wednesday.The survey by ABC television and The Washington Post was made public just a little more than a week after the president's formal swearing-in was witnessed by an estimated one million people in Washington and millions...

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Centre is not generous to us, Tripura CM says

AGARTALA: Manik Sarkar is running for the fourth successive term as the chief minister of one of the poorest states in the country. His frustration is aimed at the Centre for not being "generous" to Tripura. "Ours is a poor state, but the Centre cannot shirk away from its responsibilities. The very concept of Centre's contribution is flawed. It is the responsibility of the Centre under the quasi-federal...

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Soldier looks forward to driving with new arms

BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside bombing in Iraq says he's looking forward to driving and swimming with new arms after undergoing a double-arm transplant."I just want to get the most out of these arms, and just as goals come up, knock them down and take it absolutely as far as I can," Brendan Marrocco said Tuesday.The 26-year-old New Yorker spoke at a news conference...

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Palin and Fox Part Ways, but Is She Really Over?

Sarah Palin's break up with Fox News should not have been, well, breaking news, as she had publicly complained in August on Facebook that the network had canceled her appearances at the Republican National Convention. And going back even further, Palin didn't give Fox the scoop in October 2011 when she announced she wasn't going to run for president. Still, the news of the...

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Army warns unrest pushing Egypt to the brink

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's army chief said political unrest was pushing the state to the brink of collapse - a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to curb bloody street violence. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a U.S.-trained general appointed by President Mohamed Mursi last year to head the armed forces,...

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US consumer confidence down sharply in January

WASHINGTON: US consumer confidence dove sharply for the second straight month in January, the Conference Board said Tuesday, with rising taxes cited as a likely reason for the surge in gloom.The board's consumer confidence index sank to 58.6 in January from 66.7 in December, far below the 2012 peak of 73.1 in October.The January level was also below where the index stood in January 2012,...

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