Syrian opposition chief says offers Assad peaceful exit

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government on Monday to start talks for its departure from power and save the country from greater ruin after almost two years of bloodshed. Seeking to step up pressure on Assad to respond to his offer of talks - which dismayed some in his own opposition coalition, Alkhatib said he would...

Read More..

Maneka Gandhi bats for Narendra Modi as PM

RANCHI: BJP member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi on Monday batted for Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general elections and said the Gujarat chief minister "would make a good PM". "Modiji is capable and will make a good PM," said Gandhi, joining the rising clamour for Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate. She further said Modi's popularity is widespread....

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Boy Safe, Kidnapper Dead as Ala. Standoff Ends

A week-long Alabama standoff in which a retired trucker held a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker has ended with the kidnapper dead and the child safe, according to law enforcement."FBI Agents safely recovered the child who's been held hostage for nearly a week," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson said at a news conference.The agent said negotiations with the suspect...

Read More..

Israel preparing for post-Assad Syria chaos

JERUSALEM: Israel has implicitly confirmed it carried out an air strike in Syria, sparking a warning from Iran, but the Jewish state's next step in anticipation of a post-Bashar al-Assad era remains a mystery.Defence Minister Ehud Barak told a defence conference in Munich on Sunday that an air raid last week that Syria said targeted a military complex near its capital was "another proof...

Read More..

Gujarat’s good show in urban projects puts UPA in a spot

NEW DELHI: Gujarat's high rating in urban infrastructure development projects under the Centre's flagship JNNURM scheme seems to have become a new headache for the government at a time when UPA-2 would like to highlight its achievements before the next national polls. So far, a majority of models suggested by the Union urban development (UD) ministry to state governments are from Gujarat, whether...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Super Bowl XLVII Brings a First, a Last and a Triumph for NOLA

There's more than just a trophy on the line for Superbowl XLVII -- as two sibling head coaches are pitted against each other for the first time, while one of the NFL's greatest players turns in his final performance, and then there's the question on everyone's minds:Will Beyonce lip sync during the half-time show?20 Bizarre Items Inspired by the 2013 SuperbowMore than 150,000 fans...

Read More..

Etch A Sketch creator dies

PARIS: Andre Cassagnes, the French inventor of the Etch A Sketch, a toy beloved of children around the world, has died at the age of 86.His death in France in mid-January was announced by the Ohio Art Company which has been making the Etch a Sketch since 1960, according to media reports.The Etch A Sketch, a grey screen with bold red frame, allows children to draw a picture using a stylus...

Read More..

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...

Read More..