Pope Francis begins tenure with warning

Pope Francis begins tenure with warning


Pope Francis begins tenure with warning

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:24 PM PDT

First Latin American pontiff warns that troubled Church could "end up a compassionate NGO" unless it undergoes renewal.

Detroit gets new financial manager

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:16 PM PDT

The US city of Detroit appoints an emergency manager to get a grip on the city's finances, in the biggest state takeover in 20 years.

Bahrain marks Saudi intervention anniversary

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:13 PM PDT

Anti-government protesters clash with riot police, two years after Saudi-led force quelled Gulf island's uprising.

Environmental summit ends with historic pact

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:49 PM PDT

Wildlife convention closes in Bangkok with long-awaited deal on sharks, but pressing environmental issues remain.

Boston Schools Adopt New Placement Plan for Students

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:19 PM PDT

The Boston School Committee approved a plan designed to allow students to attend schools closer to home.

China Buys Stake in African Gas Field From Eni

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:05 PM PDT

The field off the coast of Mozambique is Eni's largest natural gas discovery to date, and China National Oil Corp. has taken a 20 percent stake for $4.2 billion.

Explorer: Setting Sail Among Myanmar’s Islands of Mystery — Explorer

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:52 PM PDT

Living aboard a 100-foot boat, exploring a mostly uninhabited region spread out over 250 miles in the Andaman Sea.

36 Hours in Bangkok

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:48 PM PDT

This vibrant, sprawling city of contrasts is becoming easier to navigate, but the main reason visitors return is the people.

U.S. Fighters Warned Off Iranian Jet

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:20 PM PDT

A U.S. surveillance drone was approached by an Iranian fighter jet earlier this week, only to be warned off by aircraft providing a security escort, Pentagon officials said.

Why some Argentines are skeptical of Pope Francis' role in the 'dirty war'

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:13 PM PDT

The pain of Argentina's "dirty war," an internal conflict that took thousands of lives in the 1970s and 1980s, is still fresh there. Even after some of the leaders of the right-wing military junta have been tried and jailed, the legacy of those years is far from resolved, with many questions unanswered.

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EU Leaders Pledge to Fight Joblessness

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:20 PM PDT

European leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel pledged to make the fight against unemployment a top priority, though it remained unclear whether leaders would agree to soften the push for budget austerity.

ECB Holds Back on Stimulus Possibility

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:22 PM PDT

The European Central Bank didn't rule out fresh measures to help the weak euro-zone economy, comments from its Governing Council members indicated.

After the Mile: The Tim Danielson Story

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 09:30 AM PDT

Tim Danielson was among an exclusive group of runners who had broken the mystic four-minute barrier. Now he is a runner shackled, charged with killing his ex-wife.

Colombian rebels blow up biggest coal exporter's railway

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:19 PM PDT

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels blew up the rail line of Colombia's largest coal exporter, Cerrejon, on Thursday, taking the train out of commission for up to four days but not impeding exports, military and company officials said.

West tiptoes into Syrian war hoping to boost more secular rebels

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 01:34 PM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - France, Britain and the United States are inching towards providing military aid to Syria's rebels, hoping to beef up more secular forces at the expense of radical Islamists who are gaining ever more prominence in the uprising.

US panel approves assault guns ban

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:03 PM PDT

A sharply split US Senate panel passes a bill to ban assault weapons, but the measure is viewed as unlikely to go much further in Congress.

Plan to embalm Chavez may have hit a snag

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 05:26 AM PDT

The plan to embalm the body of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may have hit a snag.

U.N. development chief flags failings of "war on drugs"

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:51 AM PDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - There is increasing evidence that the U.S.-led war on drugs has failed, with criminalization often creating more problems than it solves, said Helen Clark, the head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Gov. Rick Snyder Wants Kevyn Orr to Run Detroit

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:11 PM PDT

Gov. Rick Snyder said he was recommending Kevyn D. Orr, a lawyer who has focused on restructuring businesses, to be Detroit's first emergency manager.

Funny video explains what South Koreans think about the North

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:20 AM PDT

Eat Your Kimchi is a very popular blog written by two Canadians who moved to South Korea about five years ago and have been documenting their experiences ever since. Their videos began as observations about Korean pop culture from the outside, but, over time, have gradually taken on more of an insider's perspective.

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Netanyahu reaches coalition deal - party spokeswoman

Netanyahu reaches coalition deal - party spokeswoman


Netanyahu reaches coalition deal - party spokeswoman

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:18 AM PDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a deal for a governing coalition in which a new centrist party will serve as his main partner, a spokeswoman for his right-wing Likud party said on Thursday.


Technology to detect Alzheimer's takes SXSW prize

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:19 AM PDT

Technology capable of diagnosing Alzheimer's disease long before its symptoms appear won a coveted honor for innovation Tuesday at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival.

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Smartphone users will wait '2 seconds' for an app to load

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:17 AM PDT

A new survey has found that apps are still more popular than mobile websites but that app users' patience is wearing thin.

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Seaboard Grand aims to redefine the idea of a keyboard

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:15 AM PDT

A new musical keyboard called the Seaboard Grand allows the player to manipulate the sound -- using effects, fine-tuning and changing volume, for example -- with subtle movements of the fingers.

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China city searching for 'modern Marco Polo'

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:11 AM PDT

A Chinese city is searching for a foreign traveller to become a "modern Marco Polo", with a 40,000 euro ($52,000) salary on offer to the winner, a tourism official said Wednesday.

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Japan firm prints needle-eye sized book

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:10 AM PDT

A book with pages the size of the eye of a needle has been printed in Japan, the publishing company said Wednesday, with each tiny page showing a microscopic flower.

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Hong Kong 'snake kings' stand the test of time

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 12:06 AM PDT

In a quiet corner of bustling Hong Kong, iron cages containing writhing serpents are stacked up at the entrance to an old shop that has been selling snake soup for more than a century.

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Thailand, rebel group to open peace talks March 28

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 11:52 PM PDT

Thailand and one of several rebel groups in the country's Muslim south will open peace negotiations in Malaysia on March 28 to try to end a bloody insurgency, a Thai official said Thursday.

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Vietnam anti-China activists mark island battle

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 11:52 PM PDT

Activists in Hanoi chanted anti-China slogans and laid flowers Thursday at a protest marking the anniversary of a battle over the contested Spratly Islands in which 64 Vietnamese soldiers died.

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Turkey's Kurds see best hope yet of end to three-decade war

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 11:19 PM PDT

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Kurdish politician Abdullah Demirbas is haunted by the nightmare vision of his two sons meeting in the hills of southeastern Turkey.


India court bars Italian envoy from leaving country in marines dispute

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 11:07 PM PDT

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's top court has temporarily barred the Italian ambassador from leaving the country amid a dispute between the two countries over the killing of two Indian fishermen by Italian marines, a lawyer in the case said on Thursday.


Opponents fail to overturn shark protection deal

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 10:50 PM PDT

Japan and other pro-shark fishing nations on Thursday lost a bid to overturn a landmark deal to offer international trade protection for several species of the ocean's oldest predator.

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Singapore expected to order F-35 fighter jets soon - sources

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 10:51 PM PDT

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore is in the "final stages of evaluating" the F-35 to upgrade its air force, a process U.S. sources say should turn quickly into orders for several dozen of the stealthy warplanes that have been beset by cost overruns and delivery delays.


The fate of Wong Tack

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 10:41 PM PDT

However, shifting from green movement to the political runway means that Wong Tack has to walk down from the "altar" and from being universally respected to questioned, criticised and even attacked. Does it worth it?

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Ieng Sary, minister for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, dies in hospital

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:57 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Ieng Sary, who was standing trial for crimes against humanity during his time as the Khmer Rouge's foreign minister in Cambodia in the 1970s, died on Thursday, the court said.


Chavez leader with a difference: Ban Ki-Moon

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:36 PM PDT

The late Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, was one of the leaders who mark the difference in their country, the region and the world, said UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon Wednesday.

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Habemus Papam

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:32 PM PDT

White smoke rising from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel indicating that the cardinals have elected a new pope on the second day of the conclave at the Vatican.

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World's largest telescope array to open in Chile

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:04 PM PDT

(Chile, San Pedro de Atacama-AFP) - In a super-arid desert at an altitude of 5,000 meters, with almost no humidity or vegetation, the world's largest ground-based astronomy project opens for business ready to probe the universe with unprecedented might. Copyright (AFP RELAXNEWS/ AFPTV), 2013.

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S. Korean TV celebs charged with propofol abuse

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 08:58 PM PDT

South Korean prosecutors said Thursday they had charged four TV celebrities with illegal use of propofol, a short-acting sedative and anaesthetic blamed in the death of US pop legend Michael Jackson.

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China's Xi appointed president, completes rise to the top

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:12 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's parliament formally elected heir-in-waiting Xi Jinping as the country's new president on Thursday, completing the country's second orderly political succession since the Communist Party took power in 1949.