Other News

Asia stocks in hesitant mood; euro holds gains

(Reuters) – Asian share markets were in hesitant mood on Wednesday as investors keep a wary eye on interest rates in China, though the euro left the dollar in its dust after more soft U.S. economic data. The action was light, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan barely changed and Australia up a slim 0.3 percent. Shanghai stocks were flat while Seoul lost 0.6 percent. Japan’s Nikkei pared its early losses to […]

Several injured when Montana-bound United flight hits turbulence

(Reuters) – Three flight attendants and a number of passengers were injured after a United Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence as it approached a Montana airport, an airline spokesman said on Tuesday. One passenger, Bill Dahlin, told Billings television station KTVQ there was a lot of screaming when the airplane dropped sharply during its descent on Monday, and a woman struck her head on the ceiling so hard a panel cracked. The three flight attendants […]

Venezuela opposition leader surrenders, protesters flood streets

(Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces arrested opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez on Tuesday on charges of fomenting unrest that has killed at least four people, bringing tens of thousands of his angry supporters onto the streets of Caracas. Crowds of white-clad protesters tried to block the vehicle carrying the 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist after he made a defiant speech, said an emotional farewell to his family, and gave himself up to soldiers. Opposition leaders hope Lopez’s arrest […]

Ukraine police charge protesters after nation’s bloodiest day

(Reuters) – Ukrainian riot police charged protesters occupying a central Kiev square early on Wednesday after the bloodiest day since the former Soviet republic, caught in a geopolitical struggle between Russia and the West, won its independence. Police battled their way into Independence Square, center of three months of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich, and demonstrators, some armed with clubs and wearing helmets and body armor, were losing ground. Smoke billowed from burning tents and […]

U.N. rights commissioner urges prosecution of North Korean crimes

GENEVA Tue Feb 18, 2014 5:52pm EST (Reuters) – U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged world powers on Tuesday to refer North Korea to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) following a U.N. report documenting crimes against humanity. North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un himself should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, U.N. investigators said on […]

First U.S. bitcoin ATMs to open soon in Seattle, Austin

(Reuters) – Robocoin said on Tuesday that later this month it will install the first automated teller machines in the United States that let users buy and sell bitcoin, the latest step into the mainstream for the digital currency. The kiosks, to be installed in Seattle, and Austin, Texas, are similar to ATMs but have scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver’s license or a passport to confirm users’ identities. The ATMs will […]

Egyptian militants warn tourists to leave or face attack

(Reuters) – A militant Islamist group has warned tourists to leave Egypt and threatened to attack any who stay in the country after February 20, raising the prospect of a new front in a fast-growing insurgency. The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed two South Korean tourists and an Egyptian on Sunday, made the statement on an affiliated Twitter account. “We recommend tourists to get out safely […]

Winter Weather Packs Another Punch In Parts Of U.S

A new round of winter weather walloped the Philadelphia region on Tuesday (February 18). Area residents awoke to a fresh blanket of snow early in the morning and local media images from South Philly showed highways covered in white ahead of the morning commute. Further east, similar scenes were reported from Delaware Countyprompting concern that the new layer of snow was covering icy spots left behind by earlier snow storms. The snow has forced schools and businesses in […]

Sochi Olympics 2014: Snow Disrupts Winter Games

The mountains around Sochi have been bathed in sunshine and shrouded in fog but on Tuesday (January 18) it was snow which hit the Winter Olympics, ironically delaying competition. The second run in the women’s giant slalom was held up as heavy snow fell on the course at Rosa Khutor before Slovenia’s Tina Maze won the gold medal. Heavy rain and fog also affected the mountains and the men’s snowboard cross event was run in wet and murky conditions. Forecasters […]

Lone Filipino Olympian Eager For 2018

At the age of just 17 Michael Christian Martinez is the first Filipino to compete as a figure skater at the Olympics and although he came 20th in the competition that ended on Friday (February 14), he has come a long way in a short time from a humble start to be his country’s flag bearer and sole representative inRussia. “At first me and my mum went to a shopping mall and I saw the skaters doing jumps […]