Horsemeat 'contamination' could date back to August: Findus

LONDON: French frozen food supplier Comigel told the Findus brand that "the contamination" of processed beef products with horsemeat could date back to August 2012, Findus said in a statement Saturday."Findus want to be absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year," it said in a statement."They were only made aware of a possible August...

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Tihar Jail witnesses hanging after 24 years, Afzal Guru was hanged for eight minutes

NEW DELHI: The Tihar Jail, the largest prison of India, witnessed a hanging on Saturday after 24 years, when the 2001 parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was executed early morning, an official said. Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh, assassins of then prime minister Indira Gandhi were hanged inside the jail in 1989. Afzal Guru is the seventh man hanged inside the prison since 1981, a Tihar Jail official...

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull

Solar DragonImage courtesy SDO/NASAResembling a dragon's tail, remnants of a solar filament strain to escape the sun's gravity in an image released this week by NASA's Solar Dynamics...

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Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast overnight, where more than 650,000 homes and businesses in the densely populated region lost power, roads were impassable and New Englanders awoke Saturday to more than 2 feet of snow.More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut, and an 82-mph wind gust...

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White House faith office head leaving; more waterboarding jokes in the Senate; lawmakers try for laughs at dinner (read-this roundup)

Here’s what the Loop is reading Friday: (Jacquelyn Martin - AP) Guard-changing — More second-term shifting at the White House: Josh DuBois, the man heading the office that coordinates with faith-based organizations is leaving — and word is, some hope the president picks a more “senior” replacement.Knock, knock — In Jerry Seinfeld-speak, what’s up with waterboarding? Sen.Richard...

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DPM Teo issues correction to footnote in Population White Paper

SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday issued a corrigendum to the Population White Paper in Parliament to delete a segment of a footnote that classified nursing as a low-skilled job.Mr Teo said, in the Notice of Corrigendum, that he intends to delete the part of Footnote 12 on Page 40 of the White Paper, which said: "Certain low-skilled jobs like personal services,...

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No power cuts in Tamil Nadu from this year end, says Jaya

CHENNAI: Chief minister J Jayalalithaa today said, there will be no power cuts from 2013-end with the state set to realise 3,000 MW by then and her government expeditinga series of projects. Replying to a discussion in the Assembly on the governor's address to the House, she blamed the previous DMK government for acute power shortage in Tamil Nadu and said, during her 2001-06 regime, various power...

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Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within...

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in hopes of catching suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again, as laid out in his rambling online manifesto.Police late Thursday night alerted the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding...

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Hagel on ice; a peak-scaling Interior Secretary; and synonyms for lobbying (read-this roundup)

Former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination is still pending. (J. Scott Applewhite - AP) Here’s what the Loop is reading today: Vote delayed — Senators want to know more about former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s finances — like who has paid him for speeches — before they vote on his nomination to be defense secretary. Rough terrain ahead — More on Sally Jewell, the White House’s pick...

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S'pore the single largest foreign investor in Iskandar Malaysia

SINGAPORE: Global Capital & Development (GCD), the lead investor of Medini in Iskandar Malaysia's Nusajaya development zone, says the region has attracted some S$2 billion in investments from Singapore since 2006.GCD says investment from Singapore in Iskandar Malaysia is set to soar; Singapore is already the single largest foreign investor in the region. Link (THM) Holdings, a Singapore...

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Congress workers hooliganism in Murshidabad

BEHRAMPORE: A Congress delegation to the Murshidabad district magistrate today turned violent after the latter refused to meet them in his office here. District magistrate Rajiv Kumar refused to accept a memorandum from Congress leaders and instead asked the ADM to receive it, Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharjee said. Congress workers who were sitting in a demonstration in...

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Severed Heads Were Sacrifices in Ancient Mexico

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of more than 150 skulls from an ancient shrine in central Mexico—evidence of one of the largest mass sacrifices of humans in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.The skulls, many facing east, lay beneath a crude, slightly elevated mound of crushed stone on what was once an artificial island in a vast shallow lake, now completely dry."The site is barely a bump...

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Ex-LA Cop Sought in Shootings of 3 Cops, 2 Slayings

Police in Southern California say they suspect that a fired cop is connected to the shootings -- one fatal -- of three police officers this morning, as well as the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in the suspect's online manifesto.Former police officer Christopher...

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Population White Paper will benefit S'pore economy: SICC

SINGAPORE: The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) said the Singapore economy will benefit from the many long-term principles outlined in the Population White Paper.In a statement on Wednesday, the SICC pointed out that early planning to build the infrastructure for a growing population will help Singapore maintain its competitive edge.SICC said that while attracting foreign...

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Congress slams fatwa against Kashmir's all-girl band

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday criticised the 'fatwa' against the state's all-girl rock band and supported the Jammu and Kashmir government's stand. "The state government has taken correct steps," Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters here. Stating that the 'fatwa' against the girls' band was a "serious" issue, Alvi said, "There could be no restrictions on an individual's freedom...

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The Real Richard III

It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues...

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Hostage Taker Waged Firefight With SWAT Agents

Jimmy Lee Dykes, the man who held a 5-year-old boy hostage for nearly a week in an underground bunker in Alabama, had two homemade explosive devices on his property and engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents before they stormed the bunker and killed him, according to the FBI.One explosive device was found inside the bunker and another was located in the PVC pipe negotiators...

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks. In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director...

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New SAFRA Toa Payoh officially opens

SINGAPORE: President Tony Tan officially opened the new SAFRA Toa Payoh on Tuesday.The facility will provide better facilities to NSmen and their families.The new club features a fencing academy which is a first for all SAFRA clubs.Members can also look forward to a new gym, which will be the biggest among the clubs.There is also an indoor playground for children.The club at Toa Payoh...

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MP minister presents AICC with Advani autobiography

BHOPAL: Reacting sharply to Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed's statement on LK Advani, Madhya Pradesh minister for industries and commerce Kailash Vijayavargiya on Tuesday sent a copy of the former deputy Prime Minister's biography 'My Country My Life' to AICC president Sonia Gandhi. The book went with a letter to the Congress president asking her to pass it down to senior Congress leaders...

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility."Terrestrial...

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Boy Rescued in Ala. Standoff 'Laughing, Joking'

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was...

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Football: Europol uncovers vast match-fixing ring

THE HAGUE: European police warned on Monday that the integrity of football was at stake, as they revealed they had smashed a criminal network fixing hundreds of matches, including in the Champions League and World Cup qualifiers.Europol said a five-country probe had identified 380 suspicious matches targeted by a Singapore-based betting cartel, whose illegal activities stretched to players,...

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Good samaritans will not face interrogation or forced to be witnesses

MUMBAI: In a significant step, the Centre has acknowledged that citizens often face harassment when they come forward to assist women in distress. Now such Good samaritans will not be subject to any interrogation or be forced to become witnesses. They will be protected so they may freely report a crime and help the victim or police. In a parallel move towards better policing, more women will...

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, APThe magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg...

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Ravens Defeat 49ers in Historic, Unusual Super Bowl

The Baltimore Ravens emerged Super Bowl champions after one of the strangest and most incredible Super Bowl games in recent memory.It's the second championship for the Ravens, who pulled out a 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome in New Orleans.The Super Bowl is the biggest spectacle in American sports, and each year becomes the most watched television event...

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Accident at Pasir Panjang leaves one dead

SINGAPORE: An accident at Pasir Panjang Terminal Building on Sunday afternoon has left one man dead.The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said its officers were alerted to the incident and found the driver trapped in a crushed cabin of a container truck. It added that Pasir Panjang Terminal Building's in-house emergency response team was already at the scene when its officers arrived.The...

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No noble family will allow girls to become dancers: Hurriyat

SRINAGAR: Hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference today expressed surprise over Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah's support for the valley's only all-girls rock band, saying there is no room to nourish western culture and immoral values in the state."Kashmir is a place of sufis and saints and there is no room to nourish western type of culture and immoral values," Hurriyat spokesman...

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