International

By DPA, Washington : US President Barack Obama Thursday released four internal legal opinions that were used by former president George W. Bush's administration as justification for harsh CIA interrogations, but ruled out prosecuting anyone involved in such practices. The memorandums released by the Justice Department offered legal justification for a series of harsh interrogation tactics against suspects held in CIA prisons, including sleep deprivation and a drowning-simulation technique known as waterboarding, which some human rights groups have said amounted to torture.

By KUNA Washington : A year before the US presidential elections, Democrats have an advantage over Republicans in public perception on issues, due in part to "personal touch" campaigning, according to latest election polls.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS Kathmandu : Caught between an irked creditor demanding payment and the fear of mob fury, Nepal's government finally decided to take the plunge, announcing a much-needed hike in fuel prices from midnight Wednesday. After ignoring the staggering losses suffered by the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) due to bleeding subsidies for over a year, the Girija Prasad Koirala government finally increased fuel prices after failing to honour its pledge to hold a critical election in November.

By IANS, London : Voting was under way in Britain Thursday to elect a new government with the leaders of the three main parties casting their ballot before noon. Polling began across the country at 7 a.m., with voters arriving at nearly 50,000 voting centres. Leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron, was the first of the main British party leaders to vote at a community hall in Witney, Oxfordshire, shortly after 10.30 a.m, BBC reported.

By IANS, New York : Two-thirds of New York City residents want a controversial Muslim community centre and mosque to be relocated farther away from the site of 9/11 terrorist attack, according to a New York Times poll. The poll indicates that support for the 13-story complex at the Sep 11, 2001 ground zero site in Lower Manhattan, which organizers said would promote moderate Islam and interfaith dialogue, is tepid in its home town.

By Xinhua, Tokyo : Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday it will promote Norio Sasaki, corporate senior executive vice president, to president and CEO in June, replacing Atsutoshi Nishida in a bid to better cope with the economic slump. The appointment is subject to approval by the board following the ordinary general meeting of the shareholders, the company said in a statement. Concurrent with the election of the new president and CEO, Nishida will become chairman of the Board of Toshiba Corporation in late June. The current Chairman, Tadashi Okamura, will become an adviser to the board.

Ramallha/Jerusalem: A Palestinian was shot dead on Thursday evening in clashes with Israeli police in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shu'fat near east Jerusalem,...

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russia is planning to set a world record by conducting a total of 39 space launches in 2009 despite the current global financial crisis, the head of the Russian Space Agency said on Monday. "We have scheduled a record number of launches for next year. We are planning to carry out 39 launches, half of them commercial and civilian satellites," Anatoly Perminov said. Russia conducted 27 space launches in 2008 and 26 launches in 2007, becoming the world's leader in this sphere.

By IANS, Sydney : Young Australians tend to exercise their democratic choice by blogging or taking part in a protest rally, rather than voting or joining a political party. Eric Sidoti is heading a research project by the Whitlam Institute (University of Western Sydney), examining how youths engage with the democratic process. The first phase of the project, launched Thursday, is a comprehensive literature review of international and Australian research into how young people engage in political life and participate in democracy.

By IRNA, London : Former international development secretary Clare Short Tuesday accused former prime minister Tony Blair of lying to her and misleading parliament in the build-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. Short, who resigned from her cabinet post over the war, said that the conflict had put the world in greater danger of international terrorism. "I think for the attorney general to come and say there's unequivocal legal authority to go war was misleading,” she said when giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry.

By DPA, New York : US stocks surged Thursday after a steep dive a day earlier amid ongoing fears of a global recession. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 401.35 points, or 4.68 percent, to 8,979.26 in a late rally, partly on the back of falling oil prices. In a sign of the uncertain times, the index dipped and rose during the day over a span of more than 700 points for the sixth straight day, according to Bloomberg News.

By IANS, Mexico City : At least 89 people have been killed and some 350,000 affected as a week of devastating torrential rain continued in Central America.

By IANS/EFE, Bogota : Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's decision to turn college students into army informants to tackle crimes in northwestern Medellin city has been criticised by people from across the political spectrum. The presidential candidate of the opposition Liberal Party, Rafael Pardo, told reporters Thursday Uribe's decision was an act of desperation and a sign the violence in Medellin, was out of control. A former defence minister said it will put the students at risk and attract retaliation from banned groups.

By SPA United Nations : U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday proposed replacing the current U.N. operation in Sierra Leone, when it completes its mandate next September, with a smaller integrated office to assist the West African country to consolidate peace.

Yangon : Peace talks between the Myanmar government and ethnic leaders will resume this week despite escalating clashes in the country's Shan state, officials...

By IANS, Berlin : Cutting edge tools and software that will anticipate and prevent possible vehicular malfunctions are under development. For example, trucks driving thousands of kilometres to deliver oranges from Greece to Scandinavia or Spanish vegetables to Germany, might break down midway, holding up supplies. How can this problem be minimised, if not overcome? Testing potential flaws in wheel rims, engine or other parts required to work without failure over thousands of kilometres takes several weeks.

By IANS, Sydney : Recruitment consultants are likely to nix prospects of immigrants on account of their skin colour, accents, ethnicity and qualifications, much less find them jobs, according to a new study. Researchers found that only a small number had found jobs that matched their qualifications and many remained jobless or had accepted unskilled work. The barriers to finding employment were language skills, accent, ethnicity, skin colour, prejudice, lack of cultural understanding and a lack of helpful support from recruitment and government agencies.

London : Voting began in Tunisia Sunday for the first presidential election since the 2011 "Arab Spring" that triggered uprisings across the region. MOre than...

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS Kathmandu : More than a year after King Gyanendra was stripped of his powers as punishment for trying to impose direct rule, his kin is paying for the monarch's ambition. The king's daughter, Princess Prerana, has become the latest victim of a retribution drive though she is probably the least controversial member of the royal family.

By Xinhua, Rome : A 98-year-old woman was pulled out alive from the earthquake rubble in Italy's L'Aquila city after being trapped for 30 hours, Italian media reported. Maria D'Antuono told ANSA news agency that while trapped under her house, she killed time by "doing crochet". She is in good condition. The death toll in Monday's earthquake, which centred near L'Aquila about 95 km northeast of Rome, has hit 250, a government official was quoted as saying by local media.

By Xinhua, New York : A US Airways plane with more than 150 passengers crashed in the Hudson river in New York Thursday afternoon following a failed takeoff. Initial reports said that all people aboard survived with no major injuries. People rescued from the A320 were taken to nearby hospitals to check for hypothermia. Some of them were soaked wet in frigid water on a day when the temperature was around minus six degrees Celsius. US Airways flight 1549 was headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, from New York's LaGuardia Airport, officials said.

By IANS/EFE, Rio de Janeiro : Equipped with homemade weapons like bows and arrows, a group of around 300 people took control of an under-construction dam in the Amazon jungle in Brazil and held over 100 workers hostage. The protesters did not threaten the workers at the Dardanelos hydroelectric dam in Aripuana city Sunday but ordered them to move off to their barracks. "They did not at any time threaten their lives. They calmly asked them to go to their lodgings," said Antonio Carlos Ferreira de Aquino, regional coordinator of the Brazilian National Indian Foundation.

By IANS, London : Water, the most abundant liquid on earth, exhibits some unusual chemical properties when placed under extreme conditions. It can even trigger explosions. Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) in California have shown that water, in hot dense environments, plays an unexpected role in catalysing complex explosive reactions. A catalyst is a compound that speeds chemical reactions without being consumed. Platinum and enzymes are common catalysts but water rarely, if ever, acts as a catalyst under ordinary conditions.

Paris, Sep 21 (Xinhua) France is calling on its European partners to take their own economic measures against Iran over its nuclear programme while working to secure new UN sanctions at the same time, the presidential office said. These are basically "additional measures outside the UN" which "could even be taken without a common agreement between the Europeans", presidential office spokesman David Martinon said Thursday.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By SPA, Los Angeles : NASA's Phoenix Mars spacecraft regained contact with Earth more than a day after falling silent, but its days operating on the red planet are still numbered, mission managers said, according to AP. Waning sunlight and a dust storm this week drained the lander's power, forcing it to go into safe mode. It failed to respond to two wake-up calls from Earth but sent a signal late Thursday when the orbiting Odyssey spacecraft passed overhead.

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : The niqab worn by Muslim women has become a flash point in Canada, with most people seeking ban on the veil in public. But liberals and the media are comparing the ban demand to a Taliban dress code. Canada has about one million Muslims in its population of 34 million, and their population is expected to triple in the next two decades.

By RIA Novosti, Astana : Five people have been killed and 15 injured in a collision between a car and a bus in southern Kazakhstan, the country's emergencies ministry said on Wednesday. A BMW car crashed into a coach with 52 people on board in the Zhambyl Province, the ministry's press service said. The car's driver and passenger, and three passengers in the coach died at the scene. The coach driver and 14 passengers were rushed to hospital with various injuries.

New Delhi, Jan 1, IRNA, Twenty-five journalists and media workers in South Asia, including three from India, were killed in the line of duty during 2007, one of the bloodiest and difficult years for the media in the region. Pakistan topped the list with seven killings followed by Sri Lanka (6) and Afghanistan (5), the South Asia Media Commission (SAMC), an independent body, said in its report. Three journalists were killed in Nepal while one media worker in Afghanistan had a violent end.

By IANS, London/Frankfurt : Europe's two leading central banks are expected to announce Thursday big rate cut, as monetary authorities around the world step up efforts to head off a looming recession. Analysts are predicting that the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) will each announce hefty reductions in borrowing costs which are likely to be followed up with more cuts in the coming months.

By DPA, Bogota : Colombian rebels followed through Sunday on the release of a soldier they had taken prisoner nearly a year ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross said (ICRC). The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped 22-year-old Josue Calvo in April 2009. Calvo arrived Sunday on a Brazilian helicopter in the central Colombian city of Villavicencio, the ICRC said. With him on board were the opposition senator leading the mission, Piedad Cordoba, and Catholic Bishop Leonardo Gomez.

By DPA New York : Up to 16 people were injured in a steam pipe explosion in midtown Manhattan during rush hours that sent muddy brown water spewing into the air and brought transport to a standstill, broadcast reports said. Two of the injured were in critical condition, MSNBC reported, and there were reports of one death. Various broadcasters reported from 12 to 16 people were injured. Televised images showed a red pickup truck trapped in a large crater at the site of the explosion. Officials said that an exploding transformer could have caused the accident.

By DPA, Oschersleben (Germany) : A collision between two trains late Saturday in northern Germany left 10 people dead and 20 seriously injured, police told DPA.

By NNN-APP, Beijing : The road accidents after stepping up safety measures scaled down in China as it claimed around 73,500 lives last year, according to official figures released on Sunday. Last year, 265,204 road accidents killed 73,484 people and injured 304,919 others nationwide, down 19 percent, 10 percent and 20 percent respectively from 2007, the traffic administration bureau under the Ministry of Public Security said here. Losses from these accidents were estimated at $ 148 million, dropping 15.8 percent from 2007.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS Kathmandu : The peace pact signed between Nepal's ruling parties and the Maoists reached its first anniversary Wednesday, but there was little cause to cheer with mounting tales of atrocities by guerrillas, parties engaged in fighting for power and violence rearing its head in the Terai plains.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS, London : Millions of people voted in London and the provinces of England and Wales Thursday in local elections that most analysts said were a key test of the British government's popularity. After 12 years in power, the Labour government was bracing to meet a stiff challenge thrown by the main party of opposition, the Conservative party, at Thursday's polls. Elections are being held for the key high-profile job of London Mayor, as well as for the London Assembly that helps run one of the world's largest cities.

By Gurmukh Singh,IANS, Toronto : With snow blanketing the country from coast to coast Thursday, Canada had its first white Christmas in almost four decades. Since some parts of the province of British Columbia in western Canada generally don't receive much snowfall, the country has not witnessed a white Christmas since 1971. With 41 cm of snow Thursday morning, British Columbia's main city Vancouver, in fact, recorded the whitest Christmas in Canada.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Riot police were called to restore order as violence, arson and looting erupted Saturday at the heart of the capital as its Newar community went on the rampage, protesting the secular budget unveiled Friday that slashed allocations for religious festivals.

By IANS, Beijing : A Chinese man who killed two women and injured seven children with a knife and an axe in Shaanxi province has been arrested, officials said Tuesday. The attacker, identified as 35-year-old Song Lirong, a native of Songjiapo village in Shaanxi, had quarrelled with his wife, prompting her to leave for her parents' home, Xue Yawei, a county government official, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

By IANS,

By IANS, London : Britain plans to educate immigrants on the art of queuing properly to help them integrate into the society, a media report said Monday. Foreigners applying to settle in the country will have to learn about the revered British practice of forming a queue for everything from buses to sandwiches, Daily Mirror reported on its web site. The "art of queuing" may also be included in the test on aspects of the British way of life required for foreign nationals applying for citizenship, the report said.

By Xinhua Yangon : Three people have been killed and four injured in separate mine blasts in two states of Myanmar, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday. The villagers died when they stepped on the mines allegedly planted by insurgents in Ye township in southeastern Mon state and Kyaukkyi township in northeastern Kayin state Monday, the report said. This year, the state-run media has been reporting of some shooting incidents by insurgents in the military ruled country, which was rocked by Monks-led pro-democracy protests recently.

Beijing : Four days after a powerful earthquake devastated parts of China's Yunnan province, the death toll has risen to 615, authorities said Thursday. Among...

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will hold parleys with Nepal's first Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" Friday when he arrives in Nepal on a two-day visit as part of his four-nation Asian trip. The UN chief will be discussing the Maoist government's mandate to draft a new constitution within two years and the difficult task of integrating the Maoists' guerrilla army, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), with the Nepal Army (NA).

By BERNAMA, VATICAN CITY : Outbursts about Jews and Muslims by Italian leaders of an ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic group show the challenge facing Pope Benedict as he tries to bring them back into the Church. Benedict tried on Wednesday to defuse an international furore over his decision to lift the excommunication of four bishops including Richard Williamson, who denies the full extent of the Holocaust and says there were no gas chambers. The Pope expressed his "full and unquestionable solidarity" with Jews and warned of the dangers of Holocaust denial.

By Bernama, Los Angeles : U.S. health officials expanded their warning about salmonella-contaminated tomatoes nationwide as the disease has claimed the first death since its outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alerted consumers that the outbreak of salmonella contamination seems to be linked with certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing these tomatoes. In particular, the agency quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying, raw red plum tomatoes, raw red Roma tomatoes and raw round red tomatoes should be avoided at this time.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow : About 500 people were evacuated from the Moscow State University early Friday after a fire broke out in the building, officials said.

By RIA Novosti, Buenos Aires : Chile has declared a permanent ban on whaling in its waters, the government confirmed on its website on Tuesday. The move was first announced by President Michelle Bachelet on Monday at the opening of the 60th International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Chile. Bachelet also endorsed making Chile's coastal waters a sanctuary for 43 whale species. The proposal is still to be approved by Congress. There are currently around 2,200 blue whales, 100 times less than at the start of the 19th century.

By IANS Harare : The African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI) plans to develop a uniform sign language for sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate communication among people with hearing and speech impairments, BuaNews agency reported Tuesday. Regional rehabilitation officer Engelbert Makanjera said the institute wanted to ensure that people with hearing and speech impairments would be able to communicate when they travel across the continent, as part of a broader policy to help in addressing challenges faced by people with disabilities.

By Xinhua, Bangkok : Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said Saturday he believes negotiations with the Cambodian government aimed at settling border disputes between the two neighboring countries are now possible and that there is no need to ask ASEAN for help in mediation. Somchai made the remarks in Thailand's northeastern province of Si Sa Ket when he visited soldiers wounded in gun fight with Cambodia on Wednesday around disputed area near Preah Vihear temple, according to the Thai News Agency.

By DPA London : An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter Scale woke up people across Britain Wednesday, but there have been no reports of injury or damage, officials said. The earthquake struck at 1 a.m. with the US Geological Survey reporting its epicentre was around 48 km south of Hull, east Yorkshire, 205 km north of London. John Jenkin, from Bourne in Lincolnshire, was woken by the tremors and said that objects had fallen from his shelves, according to the Press Association.

Moscow : Over 20,000 people staged a rally in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, Saturday, to protest against the unfavourable portrayal of the Prophet...

By Prensa Latina, Washington : Senator Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) heads towards winning the Democratic candidature after his split win with Hillary Clinton in Oregon and Kentucky primaries. Obama scored 16 points in Oregon and the ex first lady 32 in Kentucky yet Real Clear Politics on-line says Obama won at least 42 of the 103 delegates matching majority popular vote. Obama, 46, regards his 182 lead on Clinton with 1957 commissioners a clear popular message, which he defined in Iowa as a sign to get 200 undecided superdelegates.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By IANS, Sydney : Wikipedia is the most highly rated website for providing information on mental-health related topics, a study reveals.