Badminton: Olympic scandal prompts rule revamp

BANGKOK: The Badminton World Federation on Friday announced changes to Olympic doubles rules following a match-throwing scandal at the London Games, but said it would take no further action against coaches.It said the new system, which will be introduced for the Rio Olympics in 2016, would "ensure such a regrettable spectacle is never witnessed in badminton again".The BWF said that in...

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Hate speech case: Court frames charges against Varun Gandhi

LUCKNOW: After three years of legal process, a local court in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh framed (UP) charges against Varun Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Pilibhit, in the 2009 hate speech case. Varun had allegedly made inflammatory comments against Muslims in his speeches at public meetings in Pilibhit during 2009 Lok Sabha election campaign.Framing of charges by the court...

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Kenya village of AIDS orphans hangs hopes on trees

NYUMBANI, Kenya (AP) — There are no middle-aged adults in the Kenyan village of Nyumbani. They all died years ago. Only the young and old live here.The 938 children here all saw their parents die. The 97 grandparents saw their middle-aged children die. But put together, the bookend generations take care of one another.UNAIDS says that as of 2011 an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV resided...

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2 Towns Hint at Powerball Winners

The $587 million question on the identity of the winners in the historic Powerball jackpot is still a mystery, but residents in Missouri and Maryland say they already know who the two lucky winners are.Employees and customers at Marlboro Village Exxon in Upper Marlboro, Md., said a tall, black, bald man held the winning ticket purchased in Arizona, according to ABC News affiliate...

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U.N. set for implicit recognition of Palestinian state, despite U.S., Israel threats

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly is set to implicitly recognize a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government. A resolution that would change the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state,"...

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US jobless claims recede, still show Sandy impact

WASHINGTON: US jobless claims fell back to 393,000 in the most recent week, the Labour Department said on Thursday, still showing the impact of superstorm Sandy which blasted the Northeast in late October.Claims in the week to November 24 fell from 416,000 the previous week and 451,000 in the November 10 week.But they remained well above the 360-380,000 range held most of this year.The...

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Facebook case: Maharashtra Police to drop case against girls

MUMBAI: Facing flak, Maharashtra Police today decided to drop charges against the two girls whose arrests over their Facebook post criticising the shutdown here during Bal Thackeray's funeral sparked a national outrage.In a relief to the girls, the dropping of charges came on a day when the Supreme Court said it was considering to take suo motu cognisance of recent incidents of arrest of people...

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons...

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Two Winners in Record Powerball Jackpot

Winning tickets for the record Powerball jackpot worth more than $587 million were purchased in Arizona and Missouri.Missouri Lottery official Susan Goedde confirmed to ABC News this morning that one of the winning tickets was purchased in the state, but they would not announce which town until later this morning.Arizona lottery officials said they had no information on that...

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Egypt protests continue in deadlock over Mursi powers

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters were in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a sixth day on Wednesday, demanding that Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi rescind a decree they say gives him dictatorial powers. Five months into the Islamist leader's term, and in scenes reminiscent of the popular uprising that unseated predecessor Hosni Mubarak last year, police fired teargas at stone-throwers...

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