Japan may release data proving Chinese radar incident: media

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan may release data it says will prove a Chinese naval vessel directed its fire control radar at a Japanese destroyer near disputed islands in the East China Sea, local media reported. Japan has said a Chinese frigate on January 30 locked its targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer - a step that usually precedes the firing of weapons - but China insists that its vessel...

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Obama urges balanced approach to deficit reduction

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama urged Congress Saturday to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction, warning that steep budget cuts known as "the sequester" would hurt the economy and threaten thousands of American jobs."If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid...

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Afzal Guru's life should become extinct, ruled SC

NEW DELHI: "The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender," the Supreme Court had said while upholding the death sentence of Afzal Guru. Holding Afzal guilty of the conspiracy culminating in the attack on Parliament House, the apex court in its...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

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

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Blizzard Drops 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast on Saturday, dumping more than 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to 650,000 homes and businesses.More than 28 inches of snow had fallen on central Connecticut by early Saturday, and areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched...

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Tens of thousands mourn slain Tunisia opposition leader

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Tunisians took to the streets amid scattered violence on Friday to mourn secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis. Braving chilly rain, at least 50,000 people turned out for Belaid's funeral in his home district of Jebel al-Jaloud in the capital, chanting anti-Islamist and anti-government...

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Police working with Interpol in global effort against match-fixing

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is working with Interpol in relation to recent claims of a match-fixing syndicate originating in Singapore.SPF said that evidence of alleged match-fixing needs to be further developed in order for Singapore law enforcement agencies to take concrete follow-up actions against the alleged suspects.That is why the SPF will send its officers to Interpol...

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Quiet lunch shatters EU boycott of Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: A quiet lunch between European Union ambassadors and prime ministerial contender Narendra Modi has shattered what remained of a decade-old informal boycott of the Hindu nationalist political leader. The January 7 lunch at the German ambassador's residence in New Delhi will likely be seen as a major boost to Modi's quest for mainstream acceptance. The meeting went unpublicized until an...

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

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

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in hopes of catching suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again, as laid out in his rambling online manifesto.Police late Thursday night alerted the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding...

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Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

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

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CapitaMalls Asia Q4 net profit dips 10% on-year

SINGAPORE: Shopping mall developer and operator CapitaMalls Asia announced on Thursday a 10 per cent on-year decline in its fourth-quarter net profit.The company attributed the drop mainly to lower fair value gains from investment properties in China and Singapore, as well as impairment losses in India and higher finance costs. Net profit for the quarter fell to S$184.8 million from S$205.4...

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Those who threatened Kashmiri all-girl band won't be spared: Omar Abdullah

AJMER: Government will not spare those who issued threats to Kashmiri girl band, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdulhah today said, but maintained there was no need for legal action against the grand mufti who issued fatwa terming singing as un-Islamic. Abdullah, during a visit to dargah of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chisiti here, expressed happiness over the arrests made in connection...

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

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

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Ex-Cop Sought in Killings Tied to Victim's Father

Police in Southern California say they suspect that a fired cop is behind the shooting death of an assistant woman's basketball coach at Cal State-Fullerton and her fiancé over the weekend in an act of revenge against the LAPD.Former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, who's a U.S. Navy reservist, has been publically named as a suspect in the killings of Monica Quan,...

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Tunisian opposition politician shot dead, protests erupt

Tunis (Reuters) - A Tunisian opposition politician was shot dead on Wednesday, sending thousands of protesters onto the streets of the capital and in Sidi Bouzid, the epicenter of uprisings that swept the Arab world and Tunisia's president from power. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who said the identity of the attacker was not known, condemned the killing of Shokri Belaid outside his Tunis...

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Thousands of Indonesian workers protest for better conditions

JAKARTA : In Indonesia, thousands of workers took to the streets in five major cities including the nation's capital Jakarta on Wednesday.Those in Jakarta, who were mostly from the Federation of Metal Workers' Union, made several demands including having universal healthcare and their right to protest.They are demanding that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issue a presidential decree...

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Women don't feel safe in Delhi: Sheila

NEW DELHI: Women do not feel safe in Delhi, chief minister Sheila Dikshit admitted Wednesday. "Women don't feel safe in Delhi. Fears have risen. I'm shocked to learn about the Lajpat Nagar attempted rape case. It's a big setback for us," she said referring to the rape bid on a 19-year-old woman Tuesday. The Class IX student fought off the rape bid in her own house by an electricity contractor, who...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

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

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's...

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Iran's Ahmadinejad in Egypt on historic visit

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

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Ahmadinejad starts historic Egypt visit

CAIRO: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, marking the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Egyptian television footage showed.Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi welcomed Ahmadinejad at Cairo airport as he disembarked from the plane, the footage showed.Ahmadinejad, who is on a three-day visit, will attend an Organisation...

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Police organize wedding of ex-Maoists

GADCHIROLI: For a change, police put aside their guns and batons and put up a grand wedding for two former Maoists who had surrendered, an official said here on Tuesday. The wedding - with over 500 villagers, top police, security and civil officials in attendance - was performed with traditional pomp and decor at a private marriage hall here Monday, police spokesperson Dharmendra Joshi said. "We...

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

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

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Boy Rescued in Ala. Standoff 'Laughing, Joking'

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

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Mali Tuaregs seize two Islamist leaders fleeing French strikes

KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels in northern Mali said on Monday they had captured two senior Islamist insurgents fleeing French air strikes toward the Algerian border, and France pressed ahead with its bombing campaign against al Qaeda's Saharan desert camps. Pro-autonomy Tuareg MNLA rebels said they had seized Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed, an Islamist leader who imposed harsh sharia...

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MPs call for ways to avoid 6.9m-strong population

SINGAPORE: Some 60 Members of Parliament (MPs) have indicated their interest to take part in the debate on the White Paper on Population.There were several references to the much-talked-about population number, which the government is using to prepare infrastructure plans.There were calls to find ways to avoid the need to grow Singapore's population to 6.9 million people.Suggestions included...

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