Egypt's ultraconservative party names new leader

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's largest ultraconservative Islamist party, which has emerged as a potent political force in the country, elected a new leader on Wednesday after the previous head broke away to form his own political group following months of infighting.Younis Makhyoun, a 58-year-old cleric and trained dentist, was selected in a consensus vote to lead the Salafi Al-Nour party, one of several religion-based...

Read More..

Saudi executes maid despite appeals for reprieve

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi authorities say a Sri Lankan domestic worker has been executed for killing a Saudi baby in her care in 2005.The case spurred global appeals to call off the beheading of Rizana Nafeek because she was 17 at the time of the killing. Rights groups called the death sentence a violation of international codes governing the rights of minors. She had denied strangling the...

Read More..

Winter storm slams Mideast, 2 die in West Bank

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The fiercest winter storm to hit the Mideast in years has unleashed deadly flash flooding in the West Bank, dumped a rare foot of snow on desert Jordan, and disrupted traffic on the Suez Canal in Egypt.The unusual weather was a particularly harsh blow for the vulnerable Syrian refugees, especially about 50,000 sheltering in the Zaatari tent camp in Jordan's northern desert. Torrential...

Read More..

Native protest disrupts Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal rail service

TORONTO (Reuters) - Aboriginal demonstrators disrupted passenger rail service on routes connecting Toronto with Ottawa and Montreal on Saturday, a day after Canada's prime minister agreed to meet with First Nations leaders to discuss grievances behind a growing native protest movement.About 1,000 people traveling on four trains were stranded on VIA Rail routes in eastern Ontario when the railway stopped...

Read More..

Navy supply ships set to join F-35 as political lightning rod in 2013

OTTAWA - The navy's long-delayed, much-studied joint support ship program is expected to come under the political microscope within weeks in what is likely another defence equipment embarrassment for the Harper government.The parliamentary budget officer has been examining the program and is poised to release his findings soon after MPs return from their Christmas break later this month.Kevin Page's...

Read More..

'Gangster Squad' actor Josh Brolin arrested for public intoxication in Calif on New Year's Day

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Actor Josh Brolin spent some of New Year's Day and the following morning in a Southern California jail cell after getting arrested for misdemeanour public intoxication.Santa Monica Police Lt. Darrell Lowe says the actor was not given a citation for the Tuesday arrest, which means he likely won't have to appear in court.Lowe says Brolin was arrested just before midnight January...

Read More..

Retailer John Lewis posts record Christmas sales

 John Lewis said on Wednesday it had posted a 14.8 percent rise in sales in the run-up to Christmas and the first days of its clearance, helped by demand for technology and a leap in online offerings.Britain's biggest department stores group reported sales of 684.8 million pounds for the five weeks to December 29, including a record take of 31.7 million pounds for the first day of its sales in...

Read More..

UK norovirus sickness cases reach over 1.1 million

 More than 1.1 million people in Britain have succumbed to the norovirus winter vomiting disease so far this season, and health officials expect cases to jump higher after a Christmas and New Year dip.Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said cases of highly contagious norovirus have risen earlier than expected this winter - a trend that has also been seen across Europe, Japan and other parts...

Read More..

Governor announces lawsuit vs NCAA over Penn State scandal

 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said on Wednesday he will ask a federal court to throw out the multimillion-dollar sanctions levied by the NCAA against Penn State University over the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal, saying the punishment threatens to cause devastating damage to the state's residents and economy.The sanctions, which included an unprecedented $60 million fine, are "overreaching...

Read More..

Catholic Church closes London's gay-friendly "Soho Masses"

 The Catholic Church will stop gay-friendly Masses in the central London church that has held them for the past six years, London's archbishop said on Wednesday.The 18th-century church in Soho, the heart of London's gay scene, has been hosting the twice-monthly Masses with the support of the local Church hierarchy, but Archbishop Vincent Nichols said in a statement that gay Catholics should attend...

Read More..

Malala's father given diplomatic role in UK

The father of a teenage Pakistani activist shot in the head by Taliban for advocating girls' education has been given a diplomatic post in the U.K.Malala Yousufzai has been recovering at a hospital in Birmingham, England, after she was shot in October in Pakistan. The Taliban have vowed to target her again.Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, confirmed a BBC report Wednesday...

Read More..

Cold weather kills 61 people in Poland since Oct.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Police in Poland have appealed to residents to dress warmly and look out for elderly and homeless people, after saying that 61 people have died of the cold weather since October.Another 41 have been killed by carbon monoxide inhalation from coal or other ways of heating their homes since temperatures started falling.The Interior Ministry said Friday the death toll from sub-freezing...

Read More..

French leader honors troops home from Afghanistan

PARIS (AP) — President Francois Hollande on Friday declared "mission accomplished" for French combat troops in Afghanistan, hailing their 11-year military commitment even as the fight goes on for France's NATO allies.After his election in May, Hollande announced a fast-track pullout of French combat troops from NATO's mission in Afghanistan by year-end — a goal now achieved. Increasingly, France has...

Read More..

Russian parliament passes anti-US adoption measure

MOSCOW (AP) — The lower house of the Russian parliament on Friday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would ban adoption of Russian children by Americans, sending the controversial legislation a step closer to President Vladimir Putin's desk.Putin hasn't said whether he will sign the measure into law if it passes its next stage of being approved by the upper house.Some top government officials including...

Read More..

UK doctor stripped of license over death of Iraqi

LONDON (AP) — A British doctor was stripped of his medical license Friday for misconduct and dishonesty over the death of an Iraqi man who was beaten and killed while in the custody of British troops.The latest fallout from Britain's troubled occupation of Iraq came as defense officials confirmed they have paid 14 million pounds ($23 million) to settle claims of abuse from more than 200 Iraqis.Dr....

Read More..

NATO: Syria using Scud-type rockets again

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Syrian military has continued to fire Scud-type missiles, NATO's top official said Friday, describing the move as an act of desperation of a regime nearing its end.Although none of the Syrian rockets hit Turkish territory, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmusen said the use of the medium-range ballistic rockets showed that NATO was justified in deploying six batteries of Patriot...

Read More..