Israel's Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has no chance of signing a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians and should instead seek a long-term interim deal, the most powerful political partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist whose joint party list with Netanyahu narrowly won a January 22 election while centrist challengers...

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After Afzal Guru's hanging, focus now on Rajoana

CHANDIGARH: With the hanging of Afzal Guru on Saturday, the focus is now on Balwant Singh Rajoana, sentenced to death in the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. The Akalis had virtually pulled Rajoana out of the jaws of death when Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son and SAD president Sukhbir Badal had pleaded with the then President to defer the hanging, just two days before he...

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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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After Blizzard, Northeast Begins to Dig Out

The Northeast began the arduous process of cleaning up after a fierce storm swept through the region leaving behind up to three feet of snow in some areas.By early this morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm: three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.The storm...

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Tennis: Czechs lead Australia 2-0 in Fed Cup

PRAGUE: Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova handed holders Czech Republic a 2-0 lead over Australia after the first day of their Fed Cup World Group tie in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava on Saturday.In the first rubber, Kvitova, the Czech number one and world number eight, beat Australia's 168-ranked Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in an hour and 35 minutes.Safarova, the world number...

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China, Japan engage in new invective over disputed isles

BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Japan engaged on Friday in a fresh round of invective over military movements near a disputed group of uninhabited islands, fuelling tension that for months has bedeviled relations between the Asian powers. An increasingly muscular China has been repeatedly at odds with others in the region over rival claims to small clusters of islands, most recently with...

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Power put off by mistake, IGI Airport radars go dead

NEW DELHI: Skilled air traffic controllers at IGI Airport averted disaster on Friday afternoon after radar screens at the airport's ATC tower went blank for 45 minutes because electricians on routine maintenance duty had inadvertently switched off the main power button.The power shutdown caused both primary and back-up radar systems to go dead. These systems give the complete coordinates - such...

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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 of 2013 May Bring More Than 2 Feet of Snow

A blizzard of possibly historic proportions is set to strike the Northeast, starting today and could bring more than two feet of snow and strong winds that could shut down densely populated cities such as Boston and New York City.A storm from the west will join forces with one from the south to form a nor'easter that will sit and spin just off the East Coast, affecting more...

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Football: Kelly signs new Liverpool contract

LONDON: Liverpool defender Martin Kelly signed a new long-term contract with the Premier League club on Friday.Kelly, 22, is currently sidelined due to a knee ligament injury, but the England international has been rewarded for his impressive displays at full-back earlier this season.The day after team-mate Jamie Carragher announced he will retire at the end of the season, Liverpool manager...

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Iran's 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 last 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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Nanded police book Pravin Togadia for hate speech

AURANGABAD: The Nanded police on Thursday booked Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia under various sections of the IPC for allegedly delivering a hate speech at Bhokar town in the district last month. Deputy superintendent of police (Bhokar), Yashwant Solanke, told TOI on Thursday that Togadia is accused of making the provocative speech was made during a VHP programme at Bhokar on...

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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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Alleged Cop-Killer Has Calif. Region on Edge

Police officers across Southern California are on the defensive and scaling back their public exposure today, no longer responding to "barking-dog calls" and donning tactical gear outside police stations as former-cop-turned-alleged-gunman Christopher Dorner, armed and apparently on the hunt for cops, remains at large.Dorner is suspected of killing one cop and two civilians...

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War crimes court wants Gaddafi spy chief handed over

THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court judges on Thursday demanded Libya hand over Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief Abdullah Senussi to face charges of crimes against humanity.The latest broadside in the legal tug-of-war between The Hague-based ICC and Tripoli over where Senussi and Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam should be tried repeated a demand for Senussi to be handed over.The ICC "orders...

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Tunisian government out after critic's killing causes fury

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's ruling Islamists dissolved the government on Wednesday and promised rapid elections in a bid to calm the biggest street protests since the revolution two years ago, sparked by the killing of an opposition leader. The prime minister's announcement that an interim cabinet of technocrats would replace his Islamist-led coalition came at the end of a day which had...

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Rajnath Singh will contest again from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat

GHAZIABAD: Quelling speculations over its choice of candidate for the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat, the BJP in a meeting on Wednesday clarified that party president and sitting MP Rajnath Singh will contest the 2014 general elections from the constituency. The announcement has been made in the light of recent conjectures by rival political parties - particularly after Singh was elevated to the post...

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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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Galaxy May Be Full of 'Second Earths'

You may look out on a starry night and get a lonely feeling, but astronomers now say our Milky Way galaxy may be thick with planets much like Earth -- perhaps 4.5 billion of them, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.Astronomers looked at data from NASA's Kepler space telescope in orbit, and conclude that 6 percent of the red dwarf stars in the Milky...

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Boeing 787 probe results weeks away, says NTSB chief

WASHINGTON: The results of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the causes of a battery fire on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner are expected in the coming weeks, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman said on Wednesday."We're probably weeks away from being able to tell people what happened and what needs to be changed," Hersman said at a news conference.The NTSB chief said investigators...

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Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution. The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences....

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Rain, snow continues to disrupt life across northern Himalayan region

DEHRADUN/SHIMLA/SRINAGAR: Rescuers were on Tuesday rushed to rescue around 300 pilgrims and tourists stranded en route to Gangotri and Yamnotri in Uttarakhand due to the closure of roads following heavy snowfall across the region. "We have sent teams to shift these stranded pilgrims and tourists to safer places and hope to rescue them speedily,'' an official said. Elsewhere in the state, uninterrupted...

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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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Sierra's Family Selling Photos to Cover Funeral, Kids

The family of Sarai Sierra, an amateur New York photographer slain while on a trip to Turkey, put her photos up for sale today and quickly sold enough photographs to pay forher funeral, the woman's brother said today.The photos remain on sale and the profits will now be going to her two young sons, the family said.Sierra, 33, was found bludgeoned to death near a highway in Istanbul...

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BP profits slide on US oil spill fallout

LONDON: British energy giant BP on Tuesday said its net profits slumped by more than half last year on fines and asset sales linked to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, ahead of a US trial later this month.Earnings after tax tumbled 54 percent to $11.58 billion (8.6 billion euros) in 2012, compared with $25.7 billion in 2011, BP said in a results statement.Adjusted net profit,...

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