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...

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Football: Returning Carroll steers West Ham past Swansea

LONDON: On-loan striker Andy Carroll scored only his second goal of the season as West Ham United won 1-0 at home to Swansea City on Saturday to end a run of four Premier League games without victory.West Ham were largely dominant at Upton Park but could find no way past Swansea's inspired goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel until Carroll powered home a header from a corner with 13 minutes to play.Victory...

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Rural job plan can start green revolution II: Sonia

NEW DELHI : Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said UPA's flagship rural employment guarantee programme has the potential to set off a second green revolution as it can boost agricultural production. Speaking at a conference on the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act here, she said "I am of the belief that MNREGA has tremendous potential to increase agriculture production,...

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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...

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Obama Clings to Shotgun in WH Photo

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)After a week of speculation over the authenticity of claims by President Obama that he regularly participated in skeet shooting at Camp David, the White House released a photograph today showing him firing a shotgun.The photo shows Obama targeting clay pigeons at the presidential retreat last August, according to the White House. In an interview published...

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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - A far-leftist suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, officials said, blowing open an entrance and sending debris flying through the air. The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body after entering an embassy gatehouse. The blast could be heard a mile away. A lower leg and other human remains lay on the street....

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US manufacturing picks up in January

WASHINGTON: US manufacturing activity expanded for a second straight month in January as new orders and inventories picked up, the ISM monthly survey showed Monday.The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing sector index rose to 53.1 from 50.2 in December.Until January the index had hovered around the 50 break-even line between growth and contraction for about six months. The overall...

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Ordinance on sexual crimes: Women activists angry, criticize ‘key’ omissions

NEW DELHI: No sooner had the Union Cabinet cleared an ordinance to sharpen laws on sexual assault than some women activists questioned the "unseemly haste" in promulgating an ordinance when Parliament is convening only 20 days later. A bipartisan sanction to tougher laws against sex crimes, they said, would carry greater force. Some of them went so far as to say that they would urge the President...

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Obama offers faith groups new birth control rule

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a wave of lawsuits over what government can tell religious groups to do, the Obama administration on Friday proposed a compromise for faith-based nonprofits that object to covering birth control in their employee health plans.Some of the lawsuits appear headed for the Supreme Court, threatening another divisive legal battle over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul...

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Ala. Hostage Suspect Had Court Date Scheduled

The retired Alabama trucker who shot a school bus driver and is now holding a kindergarten student in an underground bunker was scheduled to be in court Wednesday to answer for allegedly shooting at his neighbors in a dispute over a damaged speed bump.Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, has been holed up in a 6 by 8 foot bunker 4 feet underground with a 5-year-old autistic boy named Ethan...

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Syria protests over Israel attack, warns of "surprise"

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria protested to the United Nations on Thursday over an Israeli air strike on its territory and warned of a possible "surprise" response. The foreign ministry summoned the head of the U.N. force in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to deliver the protest a day after Israel hit what Syria said was a military research centre and diplomats said was a weapons convoy...

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French air strikes hit Islamist bases in north Mali

TIMBUKTU: France said Thursday its warplanes had hit Islamist command posts near the last militant stronghold in northern Mali, as the UN mulled a peacekeeping force to take over the fast-moving French-led operation.Ground troops gathered at the gates of Kidal, a desert outpost that is the last rebel stronghold yet to be fully recaptured, as France said its fighter jets had blasted command...

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Gadkari advances ‘date’ with I-T officials, quizzed

NAGPUR: Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari made a discreet entry and quiet exit from the income tax office at Saraf Chambers here on Thursday. He was present in the office between 5pm and 9.20pm and was questioned by income tax officials about the alleged dubious investments in Purti Group. Agency reports said that Gadkari was questioned by Geetha Ravichandran, the director of I-T (Investigations)...

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Hagel, McCain Clash at Confirmation Hearing

Facing a rocky confirmation process, Chuck Hagel today defended his record before his former Senate colleagues, including an openly impatient Sen. John McCain."I'm on the record on many issues, but no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me," Hagel said in his opening statement at his first confirmation hearing for secretary of defense."My...

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Egypt curfew scaled back as Mursi seeks end to bloodshed

CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities scaled back a curfew imposed by President Mohamed Mursi, and the Islamist leader cut short a visit to Europe on Wednesday to deal with the deadliest violence in the seven months since he took power. Two more protesters were shot dead before dawn near Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Wednesday, a day after the army chief warned that the state...

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Germany drafts law on banking separation

BERLIN: Germany aims to introduce legislation on banking separation in order to protect customers' deposits from riskier areas of business, according to a draft law seen by AFP on Wednesday.The government wants the law to come into effect in January 2014 and banks' activities to be separated by July 2015.It will only apply to institutions with balances sheets over 1.0 billion euros or...

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Prithviraj Chavan seeks additional Rs 2,270cr drought fund for Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: Chief minister PrithvirajChavan has sought an additional financial assistance of Rs 2,270 crore from the Centre to overcome the drought crisis in the state. Chavan, who was in Delhi since January 28, has made the demand to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The CM has also sought concessions in time period and funds provided by the Centre for fodder camps in drought-hit areas. He also met Congress...

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APNewsBreak: EPA moves to ban some rodent poisons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to ban the sale of a dozen rat and mouse poisons sold under the popular D-Con brand in an effort to protect children and pets.The agency said Wednesday it hopes to reduce the thousands of accidental exposures that occur every year from rodent-control products. Children and pets are at risk for exposure because the products typically...

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Phoenix Gunman Shoots Three at Office Complex

A gunman shot and wounded three people at an office building in Phoenix, Ariz., today and police are now searching for the shooter, authorities told ABC News.There are no reports of deaths at this time.Police are clearing the office complex in the in the 7310 block of 16th Street, near Glendale Avenue.Officials say there was only one gunman, who remains at large. Police are...

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Army warns unrest pushing Egypt to the brink

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's army chief said political unrest was pushing the state to the brink of collapse - a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to curb bloody street violence. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a U.S.-trained general appointed by President Mohamed Mursi last year to head the armed forces,...

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78 bodies found 'executed' in Syria river

ALEPPO: The bodies of 78 young men, all executed with a single gunshot, were found Tuesday in a river in Aleppo city, adding to the grim list of massacres committed during Syria's 22-month conflict.The gruesome discovery came ahead of a briefing by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to the UN Security Council on the uprising, which the United Nations says has left more than 60,000 people dead.Abu...

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Shah Rukh given security after magazine comments

NEW DELHI: Even as India and Pakistan sparred over Shah Rukh Khan's comments in a magazine recently, security agencies said there was no threat to the superstar from terror elements. In fact, his security was withdrawn three months ago. However, following the comments, he has been given two constables in rotation to guard him against possible "local reprisal". Khan was first provided security in 2008...

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Soldier looks forward to driving with new arms

BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside bombing in Iraq says he's looking forward to driving and swimming with new arms after undergoing a double-arm transplant."I just want to get the most out of these arms, and just as goals come up, knock them down and take it absolutely as far as I can," Brendan Marrocco said Tuesday.The 26-year-old New Yorker spoke at a news conference...

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Palin and Fox Part Ways, but Is She Really Over?

Sarah Palin's break up with Fox News should not have been, well, breaking news, as she had publicly complained in August on Facebook that the network had canceled her appearances at the Republican National Convention. And going back even further, Palin didn't give Fox the scoop in October 2011 when she announced she wasn't going to run for president. Still, the news of the...

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