Foes of NYC soda size limit doubt racial fairness

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents of the city's limit on the size of sugary drinks are raising questions of racial fairness alongside other complaints as the novel restriction faces a court test.The NAACP's New York state branch and the Hispanic Federation have joined beverage makers and sellers in trying to stop the rule from taking effect March 12. With a hearing set Wednesday, critics are attacking what...

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Te'o Tells Couric He Briefly Lied About Girlfriend

Manti Te'o briefly lied to the media and the public after discovering his online girlfriend did not exist and was a part of an elaborate hoax, he admitted in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Katie Couric.The star Notre Dame linebacker, who has been hounded by the reporters since the story broke Jan. 16, told Couric in a taped interview Tuesday that he was not lying up until...

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Israel goes to polls, set to re-elect Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israelis voted on Tuesday in an election that is expected to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win a third term in office, pushing the Jewish state further to the right, away from peace with the Palestinians and towards a showdown with Iran. However, Netanyahu's own Likud party, running alongside the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, looks set to have...

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Taxi drivers in S. Korea threaten to go on strike

SEOUL : Taxi drivers in South Korea are threatening to go on a partial strike from January 30.It is in protest against a government decision to block legislation that would give them subsidies for public transport.The so-called "Taxi Bill" was passed in Parliament earlier this month, but was vetoed by President Lee Myung-bak and will go back to Parliament for another vote.If Parliament...

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Chidambaram in Hong Kong, seeks to reassure foreign investors

HONG KONG: India's economy will grow "no better than" 5.7% in the current fiscal year but will regain traction in 2013/2014, the finance minister said on Tuesday, as he sought to reassure international investors that the government remained committed to pro-growth policies and reforms. P Chidambaram made the comments at a media briefing after meeting investors in Hong Kong as part of a four-city...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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Algeria hostage toll rises with report of Japanese deaths

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian forces have found the bodies of two Canadian Islamist fighters after a bloody siege at a desert gas plant, a security source said on Monday, as the death toll reached at least 80 after troops stormed the complex to end the hostage crisis. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal is expected to give details on Monday about the siege near the town of In Amenas,...

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Parents-to-be welcome new pro-family incentives

SINGAPORE: From 1 May 2013, working fathers will be legally entitled to one week of paid paternity leave. Parents welcome the move, but some pro-family organisations are calling for bolder measures. Eileen Chan and Alvin Tan tied the knot two years ago. They are expecting their firstborn in April, and with that, the bumped-up Baby Bonus. "I think the extra S$2,000 will come in handy,...

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Hafiz Saeed seeks to exploit Shinde's Hindu terror remarks, BJP launches all-out attack

LAHORE/SILIGURI/JAMMU: Mumbai attacks mastermind and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed on Monday sought to exploit home minister Sushilkumar Shinde's jibe against RSS and BJP saying Indian "propaganda" against Pakistani organizations of spreading terror now stood "exposed". A day after Shinde accused BJP and RSS of running terror camps and indulging in Hindu terror, he went to the extend of levelling an...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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