Vishwaroopam row ends; Kamal Haasan, Muslim groups reach accord

CHENNAI: Ending a week-long suspense and drama, Kamal Haasan's controversial Tamil film Vishwaroopam is finally poised for release in the state with some cuts after the actor and Muslim groups opposed to it reached a settlement during the state-government brokered talks here on Saturday.Emerging after the marathon talks lasting six hours in the presence of home secretary R Rajagopal at the secretariat,...

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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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Ala. Standoff: Students Say Suspect Threatened to Kill

A brother and sister who escaped the school bus where a 5-year-old autistic boy was taken hostage by a retired Alabama trucker are speaking out about the standoff and the man who threatened the lives of the children on board."I look up and he's talking about threatening to kill us all or something," 14-year-old Terrica Singletary told ABC's "Good Morning America." "He's like,...

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Turkish leftist group claims U.S. embassy bombing: website

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish leftist group DHKP-C claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Ankara, according to a statement on a website close to the group. "Our warrior Alisan Sanli carried out an act of self-sacrifice on Feb 1, 2013, by entering the Ankara embassy of the United States, murderer of the peoples of the world," the statement on...

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Cycling: Blanco suspend Sanchez over doping allegations

THE HAGUE: Blanco - formerly the Rabobank team - said on Saturday they have suspended Spanish rider Luis Leon Sanchez provisionally amid accusations he was linked to Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in the Operation Puerto blood doping racket.The Dutch team said it is investigating and would in the meantime not select Sanchez."The object of this investigation is to verify or refute revelations...

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Rahul signals 'drastic and lasting' changes in Congress

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi today signalled plans to carry out drastic and lasting changes in the working of the Congress to make it fighting fit ahead of a series of elections including the Lok Sabha polls. After giving a patient hearing to the AICC Secretaries narrating their woes, the Amethi MP, whose Lok Sabha bioprofile describes him "strategy consultant" by profession, remarked that no one appeared...

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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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'Terrorist Blast' at US Embassy in Turkey

A suicide bomber and a U.S. embassy guard were killed in a "terrorist blast" outside the U.S. Embassy in Turkey today, Turkish and American officials said.The explosion, which occurred at a checkpoint to the embassy in Ankara in the early afternoon local time, also wounded two other guards and at least one civilian, identified by Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler as a...

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

ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber from a far-left group killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, blowing the door off a side entrance and sending smoke and debris flying into the street. The attacker blew himself up inside U.S. property, Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall and could be heard a mile away....

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Motor Racing: Ferrari's Alonso predicts tighter 2013 F1 race

MILAN, Italy: Fernando Alonso said on Friday the battle for Formula One supremacy could be a lot tighter this year ahead of his bid to improve on two runner-up places behind Sebastian Vettel with a maiden title for Ferrari.Last season's world championship was remarkable for the fact there were seven race-winners in the first seven races before Alonso went toe-to-toe with Red Bull ace Vettel...

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Omar Abdullah meets PM, seeks security, fund for sarpanches

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought assistance in providing security and honorarium to newly-elected Panches and sarpanches so that panchayati raj institutions are further strengthened.The 42-year-old chief minister also met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Union home minister discussing issues related to...

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Sex to burn calories? Authors expose obesity myths

Fact or fiction? Sex burns a lot of calories. Snacking or skipping breakfast is bad. School gym classes make a big difference in kids' weight.All are myths or at least presumptions that may not be true, say researchers who reviewed the science behind some widely held obesity beliefs and found it lacking.Their report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine says dogma and fallacies are detracting...

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Negotiations Drag Out for 5-Year-Old Hostage

An Alabama community is on edge today, praying for a 5-year-old boy being held hostage by a retired man who police say abducted him at gunpoint Tuesday afternoon.Nearly 40 hours have slowly passed since school bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, heroically tried to prevent the kidnapping, but was shot to death by suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, a former truck driver, police said.Dykes...

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Syrian rebels make slow headway in south

AMMAN (Reuters) - The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad first flared in Deraa, but the southern border city now epitomizes the bloody stalemate gripping Syria after 22 months of violence and 60,000 dead. Jordan next door has little sympathy with Assad, but is wary of spillover from the upheaval in its bigger neighbor. It has tightened control of its 370-km (230-mile) border with...

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Scoot airlines to increase fleet, expand routes

SINGAPORE: Scoot, the low cost long haul subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, has flown about 600,000 passengers after seven months of operation.This means carrying about 85,000 travellers per month. The carrier also has a passenger load factor of about 81 per cent and currently flies to eight destinations, including Tianjin, Shenyang and the Gold Coast. Speaking at the "world's low cost...

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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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Soldier with new arms determined to be independent

BALTIMORE (AP) — After weeks of round-the-clock medical care, Brendan Marrocco insisted on rolling his own wheelchair into a news conference using his new transplanted arms. Then he brushed his hair to one side.Such simple tasks would go unnoticed in most patients. But for Marrocco, who lost all four limbs while serving in Iraq, these little actions demonstrate how far he's come only six weeks after...

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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."She told the Senate to be "courageous" because "Americans are counting on you."Giffords sat alongside her astronaut husband Mark Kelly as...

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Merkel urges Egypt's Mursi to hold crisis dialogue

CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Egypt's Islamist president on Wednesday to open a dialogue with all political forces in the crisis-ridden Arab country after a week of violence that has killed more than 50 people. President Mohamed Mursi flew to Germany to try to convince Europe of his democratic credentials, but in a sign of the political tensions back home,...

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UE plans to launch rival bid for WBL Corp

SINGAPORE: Another corporate fight is brewing as property and engineering group United Engineers plans to launch a rival bid for WBL Corp at S$4 a share. United Engineers said the company's growth has reached its peak after the property and construction firm raked in record revenue of S$1.19 billion in 2011.The company is now looking for more recurring income.To do that, United Engineers...

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India, Japan make common cause to thwart China's maritime moves

NEW DELHI: Faced with a China that is aggressively pursuing its territorial interests in the South and East China Seas, Japan and India on Tuesday decided to coordinate moves and exercises in the first ever maritime dialogue held here.The India-Japan maritime dialogue was decided during a meeting of foreign ministers last April. Interestingly, India decided to hold a maritime dialogue with China over...

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Study says leafy greens top food poisoning source

NEW YORK (AP) — A government study has fingered leafy green vegetables as the leading source of food poisoning illnesses.However, the most food-related deaths were from contaminated chicken and other poultry.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday. It's based on an analysis of food poisoning cases from 1998 through 2008. It's the agency's most comprehensive attempt...

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Obama's Immigration Plan to Have More Direct Path

President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his principles for immigration reform in a speech in Las Vegas today that will include a potentially quicker path to citizenship than the bipartisan plan a group of senators unveiled earlier this week.The president will offer some new details about the White House's immigration reform plan, which expands on a blueprint it released in...

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Army warning: unrest pushing Egypt to brink

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's army chief said political strife 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 contain 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 Senate committee approves Kerry nomination

  WASHINGTON: Senator John Kerry easily cleared the first hurdle of his confirmation as the next secretary of state Tuesday with a unanimous vote of approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Kerry, President Barack Obama's pick to replace Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat, must still be confirmed by a vote of the full Senate later in the day, but that was expected...

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Mulayam warns SP workers not to use his photographs in posters

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremoMulayam Singh Yadav today warned party workers not to use his photograph in banners and posters without party's permission otherwise strict disciplinary action will be taken against them. "You all should remain disciplined. Those using my photographs in banners and posters should immediately stop the practise or strict disciplinary action will be taken against them....

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Wounded soldier gets double-arm transplant in Md.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside bomb attack in 2009 in Iraq has received a double-arm transplant in Baltimore.Johns Hopkins Hospital surgeons plan to discuss the transplant Tuesday at a news conference with the infantryman.Johns Hopkins says the soldier is one of seven in the United States who have undergone successful double-arm transplants.Hospital officials say...

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