Argentina’s ex-military leader Jorge Rafael Videla has died aged 87 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity, local media report. He is said to have died of natural causes in prison. The general was jailed in 2010 for the deaths of 31 dissidents during the 1976-83 military dictatorship, of which he was overall [...]
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The New York Times quotes unnamed US officials as saying the missiles could be used to counter any potential future foreign military intervention in Syria. Without confirming details, Russia’s foreign minister said Russian supplies did not break any international rules. It comes amid growing alarm that chemical weapons may be being used in Syria, something [...]
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Aleppo soap: War threatens an ancient tradition By Golda ArthurBBC World Service Aleppo soap – widely considered to be the first soap ever made – is popular across the Middle East and far beyond. But the intense fighting is making business in Syria’s second city all but impossible – and the soap’s future is uncertain. [...]
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The Obama administration is forecast to turn a record $51 billion profit this year from student loan borrowers, a sum greater than the earnings of the nation’s most profitable companies and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets. Figures made public Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office [...]
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Google CEO Larry Page is finally disclosing the health problem that spooked investors last summer when he mysteriously lost his voice. In a Tuesday post on his Google Plus profile, Page says he is afflicted with a paralyzed left vocal cord and a severely restricted right vocal cord. He traced the trouble to a bad [...]
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China is one of a number of countries that has gained permanent observer status on the Arctic Council. At a meeting in Sweden, the eight members of the Council accepted India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. However following dissent from Canada, a decision on the EU’s application has been deferred. The permanent observers have [...]
Continue reading …IRS Tea Party Scandal: White House Did Not Drive Investigation, Inspector General Says
May 15, 2013 No CommentWASHINGTON — The IRS Inspector General said Tuesday that incompetence, not malice, was behind the tax agency’s heavy scrutiny of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the lead-up to the 2012 elections. A 48-page IG report explicitly stated that the IRS behavior was “not politically biased,” that it was due to lower-level staff who [...]
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WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. deficit is shrinking considerably more quickly than previously thought, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday in a report that could sap Congress’ sense of urgency to find further budget savings. In one fell swoop, the non-partisan budget referee slashed its deficit forecast for the current fiscal year [...]
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Scientists in India have unveiled a new low-cost vaccine against a deadly virus that kills about half a million children around the world each year. Rotavirus causes dehydration and severe diarrhoea and spreads through contaminated hands and surfaces and is rampant in Asia and Africa. India says clinical trials show the new vaccine, Rotavac, [...]
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PARIS — The euro zone economy shrank more than expected in the first three months of 2013, official data showed Wednesday, marking a sixth consecutive quarter of decline as France returned to recession and Germany marked time. The 17-nation euro zone contracted by 0.2 percent from the last three months of 2012, Eurostat, the statistical [...]
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