Dozens killed as clashes erupt at Morsi rally in Cairo
CAIRO, July 27 (AFP) -Dozens of Mohamed Morsi’s supporters were shot dead in the Egyptian capital today as violence erupted following a night of massive rallies for and against the ousted Islamist president. An AFP correspondent saw at least 37 bodies laid out at a makeshift mortuary in an Islamist-run field hospital in Cairo, with doctors [...]
US kidnapper pleads guilty, accepts will die in jail
CLEVELAND, July 26 (Reuters) – A former Cleveland school bus driver who held three women captive for years pleaded guilty on Friday to hundreds of charges of kidnapping and rape, allowing him to avoid the death penalty and instead serve life in prison without parole. At a court hearing, Ohio prosecutors agreed not to seek [...]
Wagner, Verdi and Buddhism at Salzburg music festival
SALZBURG, Austria / Salzburg (AFP) -The 93rd world-famous Salzburg Festival devoted to classical music, opera and drama opened Friday, with this year Wagner and Verdi in focus as well as a sprinkling of Buddhist music. As part of events worldwide in 2013 marking 200 years since their births, Salzburg will see performances of Wagner’s “The [...]
US tells Russia will not seek death penalty for Snowden
WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, July 26 (AFP) -The United States has told Russia it will not seek the death penalty nor torture fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, in an attempt to convince Moscow to turn him over. The assurances came in a letter obtained by AFP Friday that Attorney General Eric Holder sent to Russian Justice [...]
Indian Bridal Fashion Week 2013
Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor shows a creation by Indian fashion designer Rohit Bal during Indian Bridal Fashion Week in New Delhi (AFP)
Driver in Spain train disaster faces charges as country mourns
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain / Galicia, July 27 (AFP) -The driver of a train that hurtled off the rails killing 78 people in Spain faced possible charges as doctors worked today to identify the last three victims of the country’s worst rail disaster in decades. As Spain mourned, the city of Santiago de Compostela where [...]
60 tons of Eiffel Tower trinkets seized in Paris from Chinese gangs
PARIS (Reuters) – Paris police have seized 60 tons of miniature Eiffel Towers that black-market vendors were hoping to sell to tourists. Paris is one of the world’s top destinations, visited by about 29 million tourists a year, but with the holidaymakers comes an influx of bootleg souvenirs, from replica towers to fake Hermes scarves. [...]
Deadly Middle East virus unlikely to cause SARS-like epidemic
LONDON (Reuters) – Despite its high current death rate, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that emerged in Saudi Arabia last year is unlikely to cause a SARS-like epidemic because it is not spreading as easily, scientists said on Friday. In the fullest clinical analysis yet of the new virus, British and Saudi researchers said [...]
Could cheap tea bags make you ill?
Opting for cheap supermarket tea bags over artisan blends could have long-term health consequences, according to new research. A study has found that cheap tea bags from supermarkets can push a person’s fluoride intake over daily recommended levels and put them at a higher risk of bone and dental disease. Experts have now called for supermarkets [...]
‘Use stray dogs to test mid-day meals,’ teachers told
Teachers in Madhya Pradesh would rather ask dogs to taste mid-day meals than experimenting with them themselves. A teachers’ union in the state has asked its members to feed the mid-day meal to stray dogs before serving it to students. “Never subject yourself to the experiment,” states the one-page advice by Narendra Tripathi, president of [...]
No peace for Koreas 60 years after war
If war tends to draw a nation together, commemorations of it can sometimes do the same. Stooped and frail within the ranks of veterans, Lee Duk-bin watches the memorial parades marking 60 years since the end of the Korean war. He was 25 years old when the conflict began, an officer in the South Korean army, who [...]
The win-a-baby show
A prime-time Pakistan TV show is giving away abandoned babies in a desperate fight to win the Ramadan ratings war. Presenter Aamir Liaquat Hussain has given two babies to childless couples so far during Islam’s holy month. In last week’s episode Mr Hussain told the studio audience: ‘This is the beautiful girl who was thrown [...]
Jimmy Carter says he’s the most targeted US President
Jimmy Carter has revealed that he received the most assassination threats since leaving office out of any former president. The one-term Democrat said that he has been the subject of up to three legitimate assassination attempts since he left the White House in January 1981. The details of the assassination plots were not released, but Mr [...]
World abolishing death penalty, despite hiccups
ROME, Latium, July 27 (AFP) – The number of death penalties carried out worldwide dropped last year according to an annual report released Friday by an Italian non-governmental organisation. The global number dropped from 5,004 in 2011 to 3,967 in 2012, while the number of countries that abolished capital punishment rose from 155 to 158 over [...]
UGC’s degree of double standards
The phrase ‘double standards’ has been given a new definition by the University Grants Commission (UGC). This feat was achieved by the inconsistency in decision-making with regard to an important function vested by the University Act in the UGC i.e. the granting of “Degree Awarding Status” to institutions of higher education. In 2008, the Institute [...]
International Community: Does it really exist?
NEW YORK – Whenever something bad happens – Iran moving closer to acquiring nuclear weapons, North Korea firing another missile, civilian deaths reaching another grim milestone in Syria’s civil war, satellites revealing an alarming rate of polar-ice melt -— some official or observer will call upon the international community to act. There is only one [...]
Millions burn billions in gambling town Macau
A tiny island of 586,000 people to the west of Hong Kong has drawn the attention of Sri Lanka whose lawmakers favour more private gambling ventures in Colombo and those, including religious figures, who scowl at the thought. The public debate over two new casino complexes combining commercial and residential real estate – with one [...]
