China octogenarian on trial for four decade-old murder

BEIJING: A man in his eighties has gone on trial in a Chinese court for a murder he allegedly committed during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution over four decades ago, state media reported Wednesday.A court in the eastern province of Zhejiang this week tried the man for the 1967 murder of a doctor suspected of being a spy, the state-run China News Service reported.It said the defendant...

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Chopper scam: CBI engages two law firms in Italy

NEW DELHI: CBI has engaged two law firms in Italy for liaisoning with the authorities to get legal assistance in probing the role of Indians in connection with the alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal. Official sources said on Wednesday that Chiomenti law firm and Grippo law firm have been asked to help in coordinating with the Italian authorities for getting documents and...

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Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines."The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed...

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Pistorius Shots Said to Come From High Angle

At the second day of a bail hearing for Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African investigator who arrived at the scene of the Feb. 14 fatal shooting said that Reeva Steenkamp was shot from a high angle, which prosecutors say contradicts the runner's account that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he shot his girlfriend to death.Pistorius, a double-amputee who runs on carbon-fiber...

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Venezuela's Maduro would win if Chavez goes: poll

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro would comfortably win a presidential election should his boss Hugo Chavez's cancer force him out of power, according to an opinion poll. The first survey on such a scenario, by local pollster Hinterlaces, gave Maduro a potential 50 percent of votes, compared to 36 percent for opposition leader Henrique Capriles. ...

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Foul smelling tap water at Yishun HDB block

SINGAPORE: Residents at an HDB block in Yishun Avenue 11 reported that their tap water has been giving off a foul smell.Water agency PUB said tests on water samples from the block show the water is safe for drinking.It has since given the block's three water tanks a thorough cleaning.Residents said the problem started on February 14. One resident who stayed at the ninth floor said she...

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Centre not releasing funds on time, alleges Akhilesh Yadav

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the Union government of not releasing funds of the centrally-aided projects and schemes in time, thus slackening the development process in the state.Interacting with reporters after presenting the Budget for the financial year 2013-2014, Akhilesh Yadav said the Union government was delaying funds not only for Uttar Pradesh...

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Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models...

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Oscar Pistorius Charged With Premeditated Murder

A South Africa magistrate has charged Olympian Oscar Pistorius with a Schedule 6 offense, meaning that the alleged murder of his girlfriend was preplanned or premeditated.Pistorius, a double-amputee who gained worldwide fame for running on carbon-fiber blades, allegedly shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, four times at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 14. South...

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U.N. says has list of Syrian war crimes suspects

GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrians in "leadership positions" who may be responsible for war crimes have been identified, along with units accused of perpetrating them, United Nations investigators said on Monday. Both government forces and armed rebels are committing war crimes, including killings and torture, spreading terror among civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict, they said. ...

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