Football: Berbatov's magic moment sinks Stoke

LONDON: Fulham forward Dimitar Berbatov produced a moment of magic to end his side's poor run with a 1-0 win over Stoke at Craven Cottage on Saturday.Berbatov marked his 200th Premier League appearance with his 85th goal in the English top-flight and it was one of the former Manchester United star's best as he netted a superb volley just before half-time.Martin Jol's team still needed...

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Montek's plane waits in air as cows invade airstrip

DHANBAD: A plane carrying Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia cound not land for quite some time on Saturday due to a cow herd grazing on the airstrip near here and it touched down only after officials stepped in and shooed the cattle away. The pilot of the plane carrying Ahluwalia noticed some cows grazing at the Tata Steel Jharia division airstrip at Bhauran, about 23km...

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Elderly Abandoned at World's Largest Religious Festival

Every 12 years, the northern Indian city of Allahabad plays host to a vast gathering of Hindu pilgrims called the Maha Kumbh Mela. This year, Allahabad is expected to host an estimated 80 million pilgrims between January and March. (See Kumbh Mela: Pictures From the Hindu Holy Festival)People come to Allahabad to wash away their sins in the sacred River Ganges. For many it's the realization...

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Pistorius Family: 'Law Must Run Its Course'

South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius is spending time his family today after the athlete was freed on $113,000 bail Friday."We realise that the law must run its course, and we would not have it any other way," the Olympian's uncle, Arnold Pistorius said in a statement on Saturday.The Pistorius family expressed their gratitude that the former Olympian was allowed out of jail...

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WH on Hagel withdrawal: nope; governors descend on D.C.; and a CIA whistleblower parties on way to the clink (read-this roundup)

Former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel remains the nominee for defense secretary. (Susan Walsh - AP) Here’s what the Loop is reading Friday:Pen pals — A group of 15 Republican senators wrote to President Obama asking him to withdraw the nomination of former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel (R) to be secretary of defense. The White House response: Um, no thanks. Look out for the...

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India sets rules for new bank permits in rural push

MUMBAI : India on Friday unveiled rules for issuing new bank licences in a push to expand financial services into the country's rural hinterland where hundreds of thousands of villages have no banking outlets.Ninety percent of India's 600,000 villages do not have banking facilities, the Reserve Bank of India says, while fewer than half of the country's 1.2 billion people have a bank account.Private...

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Indian Coast Guard inducts a new generation of interceptor boat

MUMBAI: The Indian Navy has added feathers to its armoury with the commission of Indian Coast Guard Ship C-154, the New Generation of Arneson Surface Drive (ASD) Interceptor Boat. The 28 metres long Interceptor Boat with 75 tonnes displacement can achieve a maximum speed of 35 knots. This Interceptor Boat has been built by M/s Bharati Shipyard Ltd. The vessel is fitted with state-of-the-art navigation...

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Oldest Known Wild Bird Hatches Chick at 62

Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird, has yet another feather in her cap—a new chick.The Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis)—62 years old at least—recently hatched a healthy baby in the U.S. Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, her sixth in a row and possibly the 35th of her lifetime, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) North American Bird Banding Program. (Related:...

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Group releases list of 90 medical ‘don’ts’

Don’t use feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia. Don’t use drugs to aggressively treat diabetes in those older than 65. Don’t automati­cally use imaging technology for minor head injuries in children and headaches in adults. And don’t give antacids to babies with reflux. Those are among the 90 medical “don’ts” on a list being released Thursday by a coalition of doctor and consumer...

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Cycling: Giro d'Italia to start in Belfast next year

BELFAST, United Kingdom: Another of cycling's biggest races will start in Britain next year after organisers announced on Thursday that the Giro d'Italia will be flagged off in Northern Ireland.The 2014 edition of one of the sport's three Grand Tour races will begin in Belfast on May 10, kicking off three days of action that will also include a stage finishing in Dublin, capital of the...

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2 more ministers resign, Jagadish Shettar govt safe for now

BANGALORE: With in a month after 12 of its MLAs resigned, the beleaguered ruling-BJP yet again received a jolt.Joining the list of the ministers and MLAs to resign, forest minister CP Yogeshwar and small scale industries minister Narasimha Naik resigned from the ministry by handing the papers to chief minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday.As Speaker KG Bopaiah was out of the state, Yogeshwar and...

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NASA's Mars Rover Makes Successful First Drill

For the first time ever, people have drilled into a rock on Mars, collecting the powdered remains from the hole for analysis.Images sent back from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Wednesday confirmed that the precious sample is being held by the rover's scoop, and will soon be delivered to two miniature chemical labs to undergo an unprecedented analysis. (Related: "Mars Rover Curiosity...

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Lead Pistorius Cop Facing Attempted Murder Charge

The South African Police Service said today that Hilton Botha, the lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius murder case, will no longer be part of the investigation after this week's bail hearing ends.The decision comes in light of the revelation that the detective is facing his own attempted murder charges in connection to a 2011 shooting."We became aware of the allegations that...

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White House could name Gina McCarthy to EPA Wednesday

Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy (Melina Mara - The Washington Post) Looks like it could be Gina McCarthy’s big day. The assistant administrator for air and radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency is the White House’s pick to head that agency — and the long-expected announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, we’re hearing.McCarthy...

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Japan probe finds Dreamliner battery improperly wired

TOKYO: Japanese officials probing the emergency landing of a Boeing Dreamliner said on Wednesday that the plane's battery pack was improperly wired, but added this was unlikely to have caused it to overheat.A series of problems with Boeing's next-generation aircraft sparked multiple probes around the world and the grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet last month after the domestic All...

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Major challenge before nation is to create jobs: Anand Sharma

MUMBAI: Commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma has admitted that the creation of jobs is a major challenge before the nation. It is necessary to go back to a high rate of economic growth rate of around 9 per cent per annum, he added. Speaking on the issue of corruption and scams, the minister claimed India has in place an "effective mechanism in the form of free judiciary to fix the problem"....

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Florida Python Hunt Captures 68 Invasive Snakes

It's a wrap—the 2013 Python Challenge has nabbed 68 invasive Burmese pythons in Florida, organizers say. And experts are surprised so many of the elusive giants were caught.Nearly 1,600 people from 38 states—most of them inexperienced hunters—registered for the chance to track down one of the animals, many of which descend from snakes that either escaped or were dumped into the wild.Since...

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Pistorius Shots Said to Come From High Angle

At the second day of a bail hearing for Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African investigator who arrived at the scene of the Feb. 14 fatal shooting said that Reeva Steenkamp was shot from a high angle, which prosecutors say contradicts the runner's account that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he shot his girlfriend to death.Pistorius, a double-amputee who runs on carbon-fiber...

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Medini wellness projects expected to boost Malaysia's medical tourism sector

JOHOR BAHRU: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak unveiled two projects at Medini Iskandar Malaysia on Tuesday.The gross development value of the projects are estimated to be about RM3 billion ringgit. The Afiniti Medini urban wellness project has a total gross floor area of some 700,000 square feet and it will be completed in 2015. It is...

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Russia should induct BrahMos missile: Antony

NEW DELHI: Russia should induct the joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to fully appreciate its tie up with India for developing the weapon system, defence minister AK Antony said on Tuesday."Russia should induct BrahMos in their fleet so that the success achieved in the joint venture will be fully appreciated," he said here.The missile is yet to be inducted into the Russian armed forces....

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Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking

Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of...

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Oscar Pistorius Describes 'Sense of Terror'

Olympian Oscar Pistorius today denied that he willfully killed his girlfriend, telling a South African court that he shot the woman through his bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.Pistorius, 26 and a double-amputee Olympian, was charged today with premeditated murder, or a Schedule 6 offense, which under South African law limits his chances for parole if convicted."I...

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Malay Language Council outlines target groups for programmes

SINGAPORE: The Malay Language Council said Monday that it will focus its programmes on three target groups in a bid to preserve and enhance the use of the Malay language.Council Chairman Masagos Zulkifli identified the three groups as the language elites, students and teachers and the general public.Three sub-committees have also been formed to look after each group.The council will also...

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Over 94 per cent turnout in Tripura repoll

AGARTALA: As many as 94.24 per cent of the 516 electorate turned out to vote in Kakraban assembly constituency in southern Tripura where a repoll was ordered at a polling station after snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs) were detected, an official said."Altogether 475 electors, including 254 women, of the total of 516 voters cast their votes at the polling station No. 36, where the re-poll...

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Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking

Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of...

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Bloody Cricket Bat Surfaces in Pistorius Case

Police in South Africa investigating the shooting death of model Reeva Steenkamp, allegedly by boyfriend and Paralympics champion Oscar Pistorius, consider a bloody cricket bat to be a central piece of evidence, according to South Africa's City Press newspaper.Pistorius, 26, was arrested Thursday and charged with killing Steenkamp, 29, at his home in the South African capitol...

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Hugh Grant uses Twitter to announce new baby

LONDON: Hugh Grant, the British actor and campaigner for tighter press regulation, has announced on Twitter that he has become a father for a second time after a newspaper obtained his new son's birth certificate.Grant said he was "thrilled" to become a father again, reportedly with Chinese actress Tinglan Hong, but urged the press to leave his family in peace.The 52-year-old star of "Notting...

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Chopper scam: 'Middleman' Haschke 'cleaned up' documents

NEW DELHI: Alleged middleman Guido Haschke had "cleaned up" all the documents from his computer related to the VVIP chopper deal mired in allegations of kickbacks, it was revealed on Sunday, as an Indian team was set to leave for Italy tomorrow to gather evidence in the bribery case.However, to Haschke's misfortune the documents were retrieved from his computer hard drive along with other papers...

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Pictures: What the Presidents Brought Home

Photograph by Bill Ray, Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesWhen paleontologist Paul Olsen (pictured left, in 1970 at 17 years old) first started looking for dinosaurs in 1967, he never dreamed that he'd end up the subject of White House memos between President Richard Nixon and his senior advisers.Or that one of the dinosaur footprints he discovered would find its way into a presidential collection.But...

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WH Chief of Staff on Leaked Immigration Plan: Let's Make Sure It Doesn't Have to Be Proposed

Feb 17, 2013 9:06am Responding to sharp criticism from Sen. Marco Rubio over the leaked White House immigration proposal, President Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough pushed back this morning on “This Week,” in an interview with ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, saying it was up to those in Congress to ensure the president’s...

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