Foreigners still trapped in Sahara hostage crisis

ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - More than 20 foreigners were captive or missing inside a desert gas plant on Saturday, nearly two days after the Algerian army launched an assault to free them that saw many hostages killed. The standoff between the army and al Qaeda-linked gunmen - one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades - entered its fourth day, having thrust...

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Tennis: Federer ends Tomic campaign

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer fought off an aggressive challenge from rising Australian star Bernard Tomic to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday.The 17-time Grand Slam king was stretched at times in a compelling match before coming out on top 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in one hour 58 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.Federer, who is chasing his fifth Australian crown, will now face...

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Chintan Shivir: Congress leaders pitch for Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate

JAIPUR: Amid talk that Rahul Gandhi will be given a larger responsibility, clamour for declaring him as the Congress prime ministerial candidate grew louder at the party's Chintan Shivir on Saturday. Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajiv Shukla, Jitin Prasada, senior leader Manishankar Aiyar batted for larger responsibility for Rahul as the party recognised the need to respond to the demands...

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Lilly drug chosen for Alzheimer's prevention study

Researchers have chosen an experimental drug by Eli Lilly & Co. for a large federally funded study testing whether it's possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease in older people at high risk of developing it.The drug, called solanezumab (sol-ah-NAYZ-uh-mab), is designed to bind to and help clear the sticky deposits that clog patients' brains.Earlier studies found it did not help people with moderate...

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Armstrong Tearful Over Telling Kids Truth

Lance Armstrong, 41, began to cry today as he described finding out his son Luke, 13, was publicly defending him from accusations that he doped during his cycling career.Armstrong said that he knew, at that moment, that he would have to publicly admit to taking performance-enhancing drugs and having oxygen-boosting blood transfusions when competing in the Tour de France. He...

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Sahara hostage holders make new threat

ALGIERS (Reuters) - At least 22 foreign hostages were unaccounted for on Friday and their al-Qaeda-linked captors threatened to attack other energy installations after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths. With Western leaders clamoring for details of the assault they said Algeria had launched on Thursday without consulting...

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IDA to review adequacy of mobile operators' network resilience

SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will review the adequacy of the network resilience, and back-up plans and arrangements of mobile operators.This follows the disruption in M1 mobile services this week.IDA said it takes serious view of M1's service disruption.It will investigate the service outage thoroughly under the Code of Practice for Telecommunication...

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Sonia Gandhi asks partymen to focus on unity

JAIPUR: Gearing up for the 2014 general elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday told partymen that unity should be their watchword as the party had floundered many an opportunity for want of discipline.Addressing the 'Chintan Shivir' here, Gandhi cautioned partymen of increased competition for Congress' political space among the people and noted that several inroads had been made in...

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Food servers more vulnerable to legal threats

WASHINGTON (AP) — People with severe food allergies have a new tool in their attempt to find menus that fit their diet: federal disabilities law. And that could leave schools, restaurants and anyplace else that serves food more vulnerable to legal challenges over food sensitivities.A settlement stemming from a lack of gluten-free foods available to students at a Massachusetts university could serve...

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Armstrong Admits to Doping, 'One Big Lie'

Lance Armstrong, formerly cycling's most decorated champion and considered one of America's greatest athletes, confessed to cheating for at least a decade, admitting on Thursday that he owed all seven of his Tour de France titles and the millions of dollars in endorsements that followed to his use of illicit performance-enhancing drugs.After years of denying that he had taken...

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Huge Sahara hostage siege turns Mali war global

ALGIERS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Islamist gunmen holding dozens of Western hostages and scores of Algerians at a gas plant deep in the Sahara desert let some them speak to the media on Thursday to warn that they would be blown up if the site is stormed. Governments around the globe were holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades, which...

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Commuters welcome news of MRT line extension, new MRT lines

SINGAPORE: Many commuters welcomed news of two new lines and extension of three MRT lines.On Thursday morning, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced two new MRT lines will be built, while three existing lines will be extended.The new lines are the Cross Island Line and Jurong Region Line.Those heading to the west, such as to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), find it most...

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Assets case: CBI court extends Jaganmohan Reddy's remand till Jan 31

HYDERABAD: A special CBI court here on Thursday extended till January 31 the judicial remand of YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and other accused in connection with the alleged disproportionate assets case.Jagan, along with other accused including former minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, industrialist Nimmagadda Prasada and senior bureaucrat K V Brahmananda Reddy (all accused in...

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Large study confirms flu vaccine safe in pregnancy

NEW YORK (AP) — A large study offers reassuring news for pregnant women: It's safe to get a flu shot.The research found no evidence that the vaccine increases the risk of losing a fetus, and may prevent some deaths. Getting the flu while pregnant makes fetal death more likely, the Norwegian research showed.The flu vaccine has long been considered safe for pregnant women and their fetus. U.S. health...

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Notre Dame: Football Star Was 'Catfished' in Hoax

Notre Dame's athletic director and the star of its near-championship football team said the widely-reported death of the star's girlfriend from leukemia during the 2012 football season was apparently a hoax, and the player said he was duped by it as well.Manti Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to the BCS championship game this year and finished second for the Heisman Trophy,...

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Israeli left seeks to regain appeal with focus on economy

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - In decline since the peace it sought with the Palestinians unraveled into violence, Israel's Labour Party looks set to regain some lost ground in next week's election after waging an economy-focused campaign. Opinion polls forecast an easy victory for conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tuesday's vote, which may push Israel further to the right, if...

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Candidates to campaign hard for Punggol East seat

SINGAPORE: The four candidates vying for the Punggol East parliamentary seat will be campaigning hard over the next nine days to capture votes from some 31,600 residents.The four candidates are: Dr Koh Poh Koon of the People's Action Party (PAP), Mr Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam of the Reform Party (RP), Mr Desmond Lim Bak Chuan of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Ms Lee Li Lian...

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Showrooming is a growing trend in India: Study

BANGALORE: A new IBM study of 26,000 global consumers released today at the 2013 National Retail Federation convention found they are diversifying the way they shop for and acquire goods, becoming increasingly open to buying both online and in-store depending on their needs at time of purchase. While more than 80% of shoppers chose the store to make their last non-grocery purchase, only half are...

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NRA Ad Calls Obama 'Elitist Hypocrite'

Our audience is comprised of 40M active subscribers to blogs, tweets, Facebook and RSS feeds from top publishers including Inc, MSNBC, Reuters, InformationWeek, TechTarget, CBS Sports, AOL, CNET, ABC News, NBC, Politico and hundreds of others. Learn M...

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France keeps up Mali air strikes, African troop plan advances

BAMAKO (Reuters) - France kept up its air strikes against Islamist rebels in Mali as plans to deploy African troops gathered pace on Tuesday amid concerns that delays could endanger a wider mission to dislodge al Qaeda and its allies. France has already poured hundreds of troops into Mali and carried out days of air strikes since Friday in a vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist...

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S'pore scientists identify genes for central corneal thickness

SINGAPORE: Singapore scientists have identified genes for central corneal thickness (CCT) that may cause potentially blinding eye conditions. These eye conditions include glaucoma, as well as the progressive thinning of the cornea, which may eventually lead to a need for corneal transplantation.The team is from the Singapore Eye Research Institute and the Genome Institute of Singapore,...

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Left, Right join hands against FDI in retail

NEW DELHI: BJP, CPI and JD(U) on Tuesday come together to launch a national campaign against FDI in retail and sought support from the people to make the movement against the government's "anti-people" policy a success. "This is a fight against UPA's FDI decision and it is the anti-people policy of the government that we are opposing," JD(U) leader and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav said here. Blaming...

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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots

CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal."Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban...

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