India Ink: Five Accused in New Delhi Gang Rape Case Plead Not Guilty

The five men accused in a brutal  gang rape that led to nationwide protests entered not guilty pleas on Saturday to the 13 charges filed against them.The charges  —  including gang rape, murder, kidnapping and conspiracy  —  stem from the Dec. 16 rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who later died from her injuries. Reports of the attack led to days of protests in India...

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Sony Teases ‘The Future’ of PlayStation in Short #PlayStation2013 Video

Sony‘s CEO, Kazuo Hirai, said he would let Microsoft “make the first move” when it came to releasing a next-generation game console, according to IGN’s Daniel Krupa. But now the official PlayStation blog is teasing viewers with a video entitled “See the Future,” with the #PlayStation2013 Twitter hashtag.Whatever the future is, it’s apparently got something to do with Feb. 20, the date mentioned in...

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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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"Great Rotation"- A Wall Street fairy tale?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's current jubilant narrative is that a rush into stocks by small investors has sparked a "great rotation" out of bonds and into equities that will power the bull market to new heights. That sounds good, but there's a snag: The evidence for this is a few weeks of bullish fund flows that are hardly unusual for January. Late-stage bull markets...

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Suicide Bomber Attacks Mosque in Pakistan

Abdul Basit/Associated PressPeople gathered at the scene of the explosion in a market in northwestern Pakistan on Friday. PESHAWAR, Pakistan — An explosion in a market in northwestern Pakistan on Friday killed at least 21 people and wounded 33 in what police described as a suicide bombing. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Hangu, about 70 miles west of Peshawar,...

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How I learned to stop worrying and love Twitter

Is anything more uniquely American than our free-wheeling, 140-character missives?Twitter is dead, you guys. Writers used to send pithy tweets across cyberspace, borne on the golden wings of Hermes. Now, as T.S. Eliot would say, “Our dried voices, when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless.” Twitter is so uncool, that even if we resurrected the spirits of Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and...

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Woman Who Lost Her Legs in Tornado Starts Foundation Helps Others

Heroes Among Us By Janine Rayford 02/01/2013 at 10:15 AM EST Stephanie Decker with her kids, Dominic and Reese, and her husband Joe Courtesy Stephanie Decker When a storm of deadly twisters ravaged Indiana in March 2012, Stephanie Decker saved her two kids – but...

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Health officials on Thursday...

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Dow hits 14,000 on strong data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks extended gains on Friday, with the Dow industrials trading above 14,000 for the first time since October 2007, as jobs and manufacturing data pointed to a stronger U.S. economy. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 133.89 points or 0.97 percent, to 13,994.47, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 12.09 points or 0.81 percent, to 1,510.2 and the...

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Way of the World: A Symbol of Progress, or Villainy?

NEW YORK — Is oil like red meat or is it like tobacco? Your answer to that question determines how you feel about the North American boom in unconventional sources of fossil fuel, particularly the Canadian oil sands. If you think oil is like tobacco, it is a strictly noxious commodity, which seriously harms its users and those around them. We should stop consuming it at once and at all costs....

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Telecoms boom leaves rural Africa behind

JOHANNESBURG/FREETOWN (Reuters) – While mobile phone usage has exploded across Africa over the last decade, transforming daily life and commerce for millions, it’s a revolution that has left behind perhaps two thirds of its people.Poor or no reception outside the towns helps explain why the continent’s mobile penetration, in terms of the percentage of the population using the service, is far lower...

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Keri Russell's The Americans: Are You Hooked?

TV Watch By Tim Nudd 01/31/2013 at 10:25 AM EST Keri Russell in The Americans FX She's come a long way since Felicity. That much was clear in the very first scene of The Americans on Wednesday night, as Keri Russell was shown in an extremely compromising position...

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Sex to burn calories? Authors expose obesity myths

Fact or fiction? Sex burns a lot of calories. Snacking or skipping breakfast is bad. School gym classes make a big difference in kids' weight.All are myths or at least presumptions that may not be true, say researchers who reviewed the science behind some widely held obesity beliefs and found it lacking.Their report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine says dogma and fallacies are detracting...

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Wall Street flat after mixed data; Qualcomm lifts Nasdaq

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors mulled a mixed bag of economic data, though earnings from Qualcomm helped lift the Nasdaq. Data showed the labor market improved modestly; the number of Americans filing new claims last week for unemployment benefits rose, beating expectations and bouncing off five-year lows in the prior week. That comes...

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India Ink: No Knowledge of Pakistan Complaints, Indian Officials Say

Following the recent killings of Indian and Pakistani soldiers near the Kashmir border, a local newspaper reported classified United Nations documents show that the cycle of violence between troops of the two countries has continued despite the cease-fire in 2003.The Hindu, a national English-language daily newspaper, said Wednesday that Pakistan has repeatedly complained to the United Nations Military...

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RIM starts glitzy BlackBerry 10 launch parties

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd on Wednesday kicked off a string of global launch parties for a long-delayed line of smartphones it says will put it on the comeback trail in a market it once dominated.The new BlackBerry 10 phones will compete with Apple‘s iPhone and devices using Google‘s Android technology, both of which have soared above the BlackBerry in a competitive market.They boast...

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Kate's Perfect Nose Inspires Women to Have Plastic Surgery

By Andrea Billups 01/30/2013 at 10:00 AM EST Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge REX USA; AFP/Getty; REX USA The dresses she wears fly off the shelves. Her hair is the envy of women around the world. And she's even helped boost sales of hosiery in the U.K. So is it any wonder that women also want...

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Soldier with new arms determined to be independent

BALTIMORE (AP) — After weeks of round-the-clock medical care, Brendan Marrocco insisted on rolling his own wheelchair into a news conference using his new transplanted arms. Then he brushed his hair to one side.Such simple tasks would go unnoticed in most patients. But for Marrocco, who lost all four limbs while serving in Iraq, these little actions demonstrate how far he's come only six weeks after...

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Wall Street edges higher, Amazon offsets GDP

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were flat on Wednesday as an unexpectedly weak read on fourth-quarter economic activity was offset by strong results at Boeing and Amazon.com. Equities continued to shrug off negative news, with the S&P 500 staying above 1,500, a level that market technicians call an inflection point that will determine the overall direction in the near term. ...

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The Lede Blog: Syria President's Wife Pregnant, Lebanese Newspaper Says

Just as tens of thousands of Syrians are scrambling to get themselves and their children out of war-ravaged Syria, President Bashar al-Assad and his glamorous wife, Asma, apparently are taking the opposite approach. They are having a baby, according to a Lebanese newspaper sympathetic to the Assad family.The newspaper, Al Akhbar, dropped this news on Monday as a tangential reference in a fawning article...

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Cricket-Australia board play straight bat to Warne twitter rant

Jan 29 (Reuters) – Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland has defended the organisation following a scathing attack aimed at them by spin great Shane Warne, who panned the board in a series of Twitter rants.Sutherland added that he was prepared to meet with Warne and discuss the 43-year-old’s criticism of CA’s player rotation policy and his claim that “rubbish” decisions were turning...

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Camila McConaughey Takes Baby Livingston to the Park (Photo)

By Tim Nudd 01/29/2013 at 10:05 AM EST Camila Alves and baby boy Livingston FameFlynet A lovely 80-degree day in Austin, Texas, was just what Livingston McConaughey needed for a nice stroll in the park. Camila and Matthew McConaughey's newborn son enjoyed an outing...

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Study says leafy greens top food poisoning source

NEW YORK (AP) — A government study has fingered leafy green vegetables as the leading source of food poisoning illnesses.However, the most food-related deaths were from contaminated chicken and other poultry.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday. It's based on an analysis of food poisoning cases from 1998 through 2008. It's the agency's most comprehensive attempt...

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Wall Street flat, investors look for new catalyst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were flat on Tuesday as investors looked for new reasons in economic data or earnings to extend a rally that pushed major averages near five-year highs. Equities have been on a tear lately, with the S&P 500 recently climbing for eight straight sessions, extending its rise in January to 5.1 percent. The index hovered around 1,500, suggesting there was still...

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Toyota Returns to No. 1 in Global Auto Sales

TOKYO — Toyota Motor sold a record 9.75 million vehicles last year, according to an official tally released Monday, roaring past General Motors and Volkswagen to reclaim its title as the world’s top automaker in 2012. General Motors, which held the top spot in 2011, mustered 9.29 million vehicles in global sales last year. The U.S. company had been the top-selling automaker for decades before...

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3 Bite-Size Tips for Using Twitter in a Job Search

Advice abounds on how to use social media to advance your career and job search. Beyond reading the volumes of great books, breaking down advice into manageable bites is a smart way to venture into the often-rough social networking waters. Also, choosing one site and really getting your feet wet is helpful to prevent social media overwhelm and scattershot behavior. The following are three snack-size...

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