Russia rejects Assad exit as precondition for Syria deal

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia voiced support on Saturday for international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi but insisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to end the country's conflict. Some 60,000 Syrians have been killed during the 21-month-old revolt and world powers are divided over how to stop the escalating bloodshed. Government aircraft bombed...

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First Tibetan self-immolates in China this year

BEIJING: A Tibetan man has died after setting himself on fire in protest at China's rule of the Himalayan region, a rights group and overseas media said, relaying the first self-immolation of 2013.The man burned himself to death at about 1:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Saturday, London-based pressure group Free Tibet and US-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) said, in what is thought to be the first self-immolation...

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Punjab family ravaged by Alzheimer’s banks on gene test

NEW DELHI: A curious case from Punjab has rattled not just Kuldeep Kaur and her family but even the experts who have been striving for over a year to solve her case. Kaur, a 32-year-old mother of two, was living a healthy life till September 2011 when she suddenly developed memory loss. She stopped recognizing people, forgot meals and became urinary incontinent — a pattern observed in her family...

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Q&A: Scramble for vaccine as flu season heats up

WASHINGTON (AP) — Missed flu-shot day at the office last fall? And all those "get vaccinated" ads? A scramble for shots is under way as late-comers seek protection from a miserable flu strain already spreading through much of the country.Federal health officials said Friday that there is still some flu vaccine available and it's not too late to benefit from it. But people may have to call around to...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right."He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and,...

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Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war. Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground...

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Native leaders meet with Canadian PM amid protests

OTTAWA: Indigenous Canadians marched on the capital and other major cities threatening to bring the economy "to its knees" as their leaders met with officials to try to resolve a row over extreme poverty on reserves.As many as 500 aboriginals protested in freezing rain outside parliament in Ottawa in support of a hunger strike by a northern Ontario chief. Hundreds more held rallies in...

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Carnatic music: Classic collaborations work

CHENNAI: Shannon Donald, who lives in Mumbai, doesn't mind going for a Carnatic concert these days. And that's not because she grew up listening to south Indian classical music. "I love the singing style now," says the singer, who was amazed to see musician Bombay Jayashri being a picture of composure at MTV's Coke Studio a year ago. "I was a backing vocalist on the episode in which she sang with...

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Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says."If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes...

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CDC: Flu Outbreak Could Be Waning

The flu season appears to be waning in some parts of the country, but that doesn't mean it won't make a comeback in the next few weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Five fewer states reported high flu activity levels in the first week of January than the 29 that reported high activity levels in the last week of December, according to the CDC's...

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U.S., Afghanistan discuss "last chapter" in war aims: Panetta

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed on Thursday the "last chapter" in building a sovereign Afghanistan that can provide its own security, including the nature of U.S. involvement after combat troops withdraw in 2014. Panetta said he and Karzai made "very good progress" on the issues they discussed, but he declined to say...

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Fiji's military ruler drops draft constitution

SUVA: Fiji's military government has announced it will dump a draft constitution prepared by an academic panel and prepare its own version, a move New Zealand labelled a "backward step" for the Pacific nation.Military leaders in the coup-plagued island state commissioned a panel led by Kenyan academic Yash Ghai to draw up a constitution last year but took issue with some recommendations...

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BJP's Hindutva forces back in limelight

LUCKNOW: It was in late 1990, after the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ordered firing on unarmed Kar Sevaks leaving several dead and subsequently leading to Hindu outrage across the state that Kalyan Singh came up as a prominent discovery on Hindutva front. It was Bharatiya Janata Party's pan-Hindu outreach initiative which led Singh, belonging to the backward caste of Lodhs, ride the crest...

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Flu season strikes early and, in some places, hard

NEW YORK (AP) — From the Rocky Mountains to New England, hospitals are swamped with people with flu symptoms. Some medical centers are turning away visitors or making them wear face masks, and one Pennsylvania hospital set up a tent outside its ER to deal with the feverish patients.Flu season in the U.S. has struck early and, in many places, hard.While flu normally doesn't blanket the country until...

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Judge: Holmes Can Face Trial for Aurora Shooting

Jan 10, 2013 8:45pm (Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo)In a ruling that comes as little surprise, the judge overseeing the Aurora, Colo., theater massacre has ordered that there is enough evidence against James Holmes to proceed to a trial.In an order posted late Thursday, Judge William Sylvester wrote that “the People have carried their burden of proof and have established...

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Analysis: Modi's Gujarat growth model might not work across India

SURAT, India (Reuters) - Turning a single Indian state with a long tradition of entrepreneurship and a solid political majority into an investor-friendly economic powerhouse is one thing. Replicating that experience across a diverse country of 1.2 billion would be a tougher prospect for Narendra Modi, whose leadership of booming Gujarat state has led to his being touted as a potential...

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China's 2012 trade surplus surges 48%

BEIJING: China's trade surplus surged 48.1 percent to $231.1 billion in 2012 from the previous year, though total trade volume grew at a much slower pace, official data showed on Thursday.Exports from the world's second-largest economy rose 7.9 percent to $2.05 trillion, while imports increased 4.3 percent to $1.82 trillion, the national customs bureau said.China's trade volume, or the...

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TOI Social Impact Awards: Wheeling healthcare to remote corners

Mental health and trauma — two of India's top killers — have seldom received the attention they deserve from the government. But the awards jury turned the spotlight squarely on these problems. This year, it awarded organizations that provide emergency care or work for the welfare of persons with mental disabilities. In the corporate category, Ziqitza Health Care, which operates over 860 ambulances...

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Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in...

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Flu Kills 4 Seniors, Sickens 700 in Boston

An early and nasty flu season has prompted a public health emergency in Boston, where health officials say 700 people have been diagnosed with the cold-weather virus. Four Bostononians -- all elderly -- have died from flu."This is the worst flu season we've seen since 2009, and people should take the threat of flu seriously," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said in a statement.This...

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Venezuela postpones inauguration for cancer-stricken Chavez

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will postpone the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez for a new term due to health problems, the government said on Tuesday, another sign the socialist leader's cancer may be bringing an end to his 14 years in power. The 58-year-old former soldier who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since 1999 has not been heard from since surgery on December...

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Relatives sob as US massacre 911 calls heard in court

CENTENNIAL, Colorado: Relatives wept in court Tuesday as frantic 911 calls were played from a US theater shooting that killed 12 people last year, as prosecutors closed their case for the alleged gunman to face trial.The court heard how suspected killer James Holmes purchased more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition in the months before last July's shooting in Colorado, and rigged up elaborate...

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Hate speech case: MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi sent to 14- day judicial custody

HYDERABAD: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, facing multiple cases for his alleged " hate speech", was today remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a magistrate in Nirmal town of Adilabad district. Akbaruddin was reportedly questioned and produced before the magistrate at 5:30am, after which he was sent to judicial custody. The Magistrate also asked the police to produce the MLA...

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer."There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer...

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