Cyberattacks Bring Attention to Security Reform

Recent accusations of a large-scale cyber crime effort by the Chinese government left many wondering what immediate steps the president and Congress are taking to prevent these attacks from happening again.On Wednesday, the White House released the administration's Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets as a follow-up to the president's executive order. The strategy...

Read More..

Syrian opposition says Assad cannot be part of deal

CAIRO (Reuters) - The opposition Syrian National Coalition is willing to negotiate a peace deal to end the country's civil war but President Bashar al-Assad must step down and cannot be a party to any settlement, members agreed after debating a controversial initiative by their president. The meeting of the 70-member Western, Arab and Turkish-backed coalition began on Thursday before...

Read More..

Uncertainty as Italian election campaign wraps up

ROME: Italy held its final day of campaigning on Friday ahead of crucial elections, as international investors warned an unclear outcome could shake the economy and set off shockwaves through the Eurozone.Italians will cast their ballots on Sunday and Monday as they grapple with the longest recession in two decades and austerity cuts that have caused deep resentment in the euro area's...

Read More..

Promised to return home before blast, Hyderabad cloth merchant meets death

HYDERABAD: 45-year-old cloth merchant Mohd Amanulla Khan had called up his family before the twin blasts here promising to return home soon. But he fell victim to the deadly blasts that left a total of 16 dead. Khan had called his family members around 5.30pm on Thursday to say that he is going to Dilsukhnagar for some work and that he would return home after that. As fate would have it, he never...

Read More..

Flu shot doing poor job of protecting older people

ATLANTA (AP) — It turns out this year's flu shot is doing a startlingly dismal job of protecting older people, the most vulnerable age group.The vaccine is proving only 9 percent effective in those 65 and older against the harsh strain of the flu that is predominant this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.Health officials are baffled as to why this is so. But the...

Read More..

Arias Challenged On Pedophilia Claim

Accused murderer Jodi Arias was challenged today by phone records, text message records, and her own diary entries that appeared to contradict her claim that she caught her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, looking at pictures of naked boys.Arias had said during her testimony that one afternoon in January 2008, she walked in on Alexander masturbating to pictures of naked boys....

Read More..

French hostages seized in Cameroon found safe: report

PARIS (Reuters) - Seven French hostages kidnapped in Cameroon have been found alive in a house in northern Nigeria and are safe with Nigerian authorities, French television reported on Thursday. The hostages, four children and three adults, were captured by Islamist militants this week while on a tourist excursion to the Waza national park near the Nigerian border with Cameroon. ...

Read More..

India strike paralyses banks, offices for second day

NEW DELHI: India's public-sector banks and many government offices were shut Thursday on the second day of a general strike called to protest against the government's planned pro-market reforms.Eleven unions called the strike in protest against the measures which they condemn as "anti-poor" and likely to cost jobs and raise prices.While the impact of the stoppage was patchy and felt mainly...

Read More..

Afzal, Sri Lanka protests mar President's address

NEW DELHI: Protests over the hanging of Afzal Guru and alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka marred President Pranab Mukherjee's speech in parliament Thursday. As Mukherjee was speaking at the start of the budget session, G.N. Ratanpuri of the National Conference got up and raised the issue of Afzal Guru's hanging here Feb 9. Meanwhile, members of the DMK, AIADMK and MDMK shouted that India should vote...

Read More..

Adults get 11 percent of calories from fast food

ATLANTA (AP) — On an average day, U.S. adults get roughly 11 percent of their calories from fast food, a government study shows.That's down slightly from the 13 percent reported the last time the government tried to pin down how much of the American diet is coming from fast food. Eating fast food too frequently has been seen as a driver of America's obesity problem.For the research, about 11,000 adults...

Read More..