General news

• Homeland Security says aware of no credible threat against malls

  22-02-2015 23:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Anna Yukhananov and Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Sunday it was not aware of any specific plot against U.S. shopping malls, backing away from comments by the department's chief that he takes seriously a threat by Somali-based Islamist militants against the Mall of America in Minnesota and other shopping sites in the West. Some U.S. and Canadian officials had earlier cast doubt on the credibility of the threat made in a video attributed t
  
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• Canada's Valeant to acquire Salix in $10.1 billion deal

  22-02-2015 23:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Canada's Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. agreed to acquire gastrointestinal drugmaker Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in an all-cash deal valued at about $10.1 billion, the two companies said on Sunday. The deal for Salix, known for its irritable bowel syndrome drug Xifaxan, was approved by the boards of directors of both companies, the companies said in a news release. The companies said the deal had an enterprise price value of $14.5 billion, which would include Salix's debt an
  
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• Ukraine crisis: Fears grow that vital port of Mariupol is Moscow's next target following Kharkiv blast

  22-02-2015 23:25
  
  Violence in Ukraine spread today as the country’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, was struck by a bomb attack that killed at least two people.
  
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• Solicitor: Fan in Paris incident apologizes, denies racism

  22-02-2015 23:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — The solicitor for one of the Chelsea fans involved in an alleged racist incident in Paris has apologized on his behalf to the victim and says he will co-operate with police.
  
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• Battle of the skies: London and New York compete for starchitects

  22-02-2015 23:07
  
  When Sheikh Hamed paid £100m for the best residence at London’s One Hyde Park apartment building in 2007, it confirmed the city as the world’s premier deluxe property investment honeypot.
  
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• Joey Logano gives Roger Penske another Daytona 500 win

  22-02-2015 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Joey Logano, the driver who seemed washed up at 22 years old, has won his first career Daytona 500.
  
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• Valeant to acquire Salix in $14.5 billion deal

  22-02-2015 22:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. agreed to acquire Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for $158.00 per share, or a total enterprise value of $14.5 billion, the two companies said on Sunday. The transaction, an all-cash tender offer for all the outstanding shares of Salix, was approved by the boards of directors of both companies, the companies said in a news release.
  
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• Joey Logano gets first career Daytona 500 win under caution, takes NASCAR season opener

  22-02-2015 22:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Joey Logano gets first career Daytona 500 win under caution, takes NASCAR season opener.
  
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• SHOW BITS: Early fans at Oscars eager to seeing celebs

  22-02-2015 22:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Moments of pouring rain didn't faze Jana Kahn, who traveled all the way from balmy Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with her teen daughters and husband to join other celebrity-loving fans in bleachers above the Oscars' red carpet.
  
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• Appalachia report cites progress, challenges after 50 years

  22-02-2015 22:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The agency created five decades ago to fight poverty in Appalachia has helped county economies grow with nearly $4 billion in spending, but the region still lags in key measures of educational, economic and physical well-being, according to a new study.
  
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• 'Al-Shabab video' calls on Muslims to attack London shopping attractions including Oxford Street and Westfield Stratford City

  22-02-2015 22:37
  A video claiming to be by Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked rebels has urged Muslims to attack London shopping sites including Oxford Street and Westfield Stratford City.
  
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• 'Al-Shabab video' calls for attacks on London shopping centres including Oxford Street and Westfield Stratford City

  22-02-2015 22:37
  A video claiming to be by Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked rebels has urged Muslims to attack London shopping sites including Oxford Street and Westfield Stratford City.
  
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• 'Al-Shabaab video' calls for attacks on London shopping centres including Oxford Street and Westfield

  22-02-2015 22:37
  A video claiming to be by Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked rebels has urged Muslims to attack London shopping sites including Oxford Street and Westfield Stratford City.
  
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• Ukraine truce rocked by Kharkiv blast

  22-02-2015 22:35
  
  Two killed including a police officer in explosion in Ukraine’s second-largest city as violations of ceasefire continueTwo people were killed and about a dozen injured when a bomb exploded in Ukraine’s second-largest city at a march on to mark the first anniversary of the ousting of president Viktor Yanukovych, the country’s interior ministry said.The ministry said Sunday’s blast in the eastern city of Kharkiv was due to an “unknown explosive device” and was being considered a terror
  
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• Solicitor for a Chelsea fan involved in Paris train incident apologizes, denies racism

  22-02-2015 22:30 via feeds.foxnews.com
  The solicitor for one of the Chelsea fans involved in an alleged racist incident in Paris has apologized on his behalf to the victim and says he will co-operate with police.
  
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• Oscars 2015: Live Report Coming Soon

  22-02-2015 22:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Los Angeles (AFP) - AFP will launch a live report on the Oscars at 24:00 GMT. Check back for continuing coverage as Hollywood hits the red carpet for the biggest night of the annual awards season.
  
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• Zionism debate at heart of bitter Israeli vote

  22-02-2015 22:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JERUSALEM (AP) — What is Zionism? The ideological question, rooted in the 19th century, has gained surprising urgency in an Israeli election campaign that seems more open than had been expected.
  
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• Shopping mall terror threat 'serious'

  22-02-2015 22:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The head of US homeland security urges vigilance after Somali-based militants call for attacks on shopping centres in the US, Canada and Britain.
  
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• Threat of attack draws shrugs at North American malls

  22-02-2015 22:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Todd Melby and Dan Riedlhuber BLOOMINGTON, Minn./EDMONTON, Alberta (Reuters) - It was business as usual at Minnesota's Mall of America and Canada's West Edmonton Mall on Sunday, with most people either oblivious to any threat to attack the shopping centers or confident that the risk was too small to worry about. Shoppers, employees and recreational "mall walkers" were out in full force despite news of a videotape attributed to al Shabaab, a Somali-based Islamist militant group behind a deadly
  
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• Hong Kong 'radicals' up ante in democracy push against China

  22-02-2015 22:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By James Pomfret and Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Nearly three months after police cleared away the last of Hong Kong's pro-democracy street protests, lingering anger is stoking a new front of radical activism that has turned shopping malls and university campuses into a fresh battleground. While still relatively few in number, a cluster of outspoken groups have staged small but disruptive protests in recent weeks targeting mainland Chinese visitors - tapping a seam of grassroots res
  
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• Disney hikes ticket prices at US theme parks

  22-02-2015 22:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Visiting Mickey and Minnie just got more expensive.
  
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• Durant has foot procedure, expected back this season

  22-02-2015 22:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kevin Durant had surgery Sunday to alleviate foot pain, and the Thunder expect him to return during the regular season.
  
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• 'Birdman' and 'Boyhood' battle for Oscars glory

  22-02-2015 22:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Hollywood hits the Oscars red carpet Sunday for the biggest night of the annual awards season with dark comedy "Birdman" in the ascendancy but coming-of-age drama "Boyhood" hot on its heels. As the hours ticked down, Tinseltown's finest awoke to unusually cloudy Los Angeles skies that gave way to showers for the 87th Oscars, which gets going at 5:30 pm (0130 GMT Monday) at the Dolby Theatre. Rain or no rain, A-listers -- fresh from pre-Oscars parties across Hollywood and
  
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• New Defense Secretary hosts U.S. gathering on Islamic State strategy

  22-02-2015 21:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Phil Stewart KUWAIT CITY (Reuters) - New U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is gathering top U.S. military commanders and diplomats for talks in Kuwait on Monday about the battle against Islamic State, as America's military effort approaches major hurdles in both Iraq and Syria. Carter says he hopes the roughly six hours of largely unscripted discussions will help assess the war that he is inheriting after swearing-in on Tuesday as President Barack Obama's fourth defense secretary. &
  
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• Storm drops more snow on Colorado areas, I-70 backs up

  22-02-2015 21:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DENVER (AP) — Coloradans took to cross-country skis, snowshoes and sleds on Sunday as a snowstorm dumped more than 2 feet of snow on some areas, breaking some local records and forcing churches to close.
  
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• The Korean Republic of New Malden: How Surrey became home to the 70 year-old conflict

  22-02-2015 21:48
  
  “I came here because Britain is the greatest democracy in the world.” Choi Joong-hwa’s voice briefly crackles on the phone. Choi, 49, is from North Korea and escaped in 2007, risking his life. He now lives in New Malden, a south-west London suburb, alongside 700 other North Koreans (the largest population anywhere outside Korea) and several thousand Southerners. I am interviewing him as part of a quest to understand why, of all the possible spots on the planet, this quiet suburb would att
  
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• Former Maldives president detained under anti-terror law

  22-02-2015 21:32
  
  Mohamed Nasheed recently called for the international community to consider sanctions against the island nation’s leadershipA week ago, the former president of the Maldives warned that the island nation was on a “dangerous and precarious slide” towards authoritarianism, and called on the international community to consider introducing sanctions against its leadership.Now, days after voicing his concerns in an interview with the Guardian, Mohamed Nasheed – who says he has spent more than
  
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• Israeli political foes battle over meaning of Zionism in bitter election campaign

  22-02-2015 21:30 via feeds.foxnews.com
  
  What is Zionism? The ideological question, rooted in the 19th century, has gained surprising urgency in an Israeli election campaign that seems more open than had been expected.
  
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• Head of Cuba's Ladies in White opposition group will submit her leadership to vote by members

  22-02-2015 21:30 via feeds.foxnews.com
  
  Berta Soler, one of Cuba's best-known dissidents as head of the Ladies in White opposition group, says she'll submit her leadership to a vote by members of the organization inside the country.
  
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• Bahamas: Report cites poor decisions by crew as probable cause of plane crash that killed 9

  22-02-2015 21:30 via feeds.foxnews.com
  
  Investigators probing the cause of a small plane crash in the Bahamas that killed a prominent Christian minister and eight others say it was likely caused by bad decisions by the crew during stormy weather.
  
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• Striking FairPoint workers ratify tentative agreement

  22-02-2015 21:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Striking FairPoint workers ratified a tentative agreement that ends a four-month strike by more than 1,700 telecommunications workers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, two unions announced Sunday.
  
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• Giants manager Bochy returns to camp after heart procedure

  22-02-2015 20:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy has rejoined the team, three days after having a heart procedure.
  
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• South Africa: All 486 miners trapped by fire are found safe

  22-02-2015 20:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — All 486 miners trapped underground after a fire broke out at a South African goldmine have been found safe, the mine's spokeswoman said Sunday.
  
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• Time for some common sense about the Ukrainian crisis

  22-02-2015 20:42
  
  What a refreshing change to see common sense written about the Ukrainian crisis. Mary Dejevsky (Russia’s “sinister” long-term plan? A stable Ukraine, 19 February) is right to say that sanctions against Russia, and sabre-rattling by the west, will only make matters worse.The greeting of last week’s ceasefire deal with “pessimism laced with cynicism” was only to be expected, especially as the UK and US were not involved in the Minsk agreement. We can expect more of “diplomacy’s wro
  
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• Chelsea fan apologises over alleged racist incident on Paris metro

  22-02-2015 20:39
  
  Richard Barklie, a former RUC officer, admits involvement in incident that resulted in a black man being unable to board a train, but insists he is not a racist Continue reading...
  
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• Tony Stewart now 0-for-17 in NASCAR's Daytona 500

  22-02-2015 20:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tony Stewart's Daytona 500 drought continues.
  
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• Isis in Iraq: Assyrian Christian militia keep well-armed militants at bay - but they are running out of ammunition

  22-02-2015 20:25
  “We have only 90 rounds for each of our Kalashnikovs and we haven’t the money to buy more ammunition,” says Sergon, commander of a band of two dozen ill-armed Christian militiamen living in the deserted village of Bakufa, close to the Isis frontline. The 1,500 Assyrian Christians who once lived in Bakufa fled when Isis fighters from Mosul 18 miles to the south captured and later lost the village during their offensive last August.
  
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• South Africa: 18 miners missing after underground fire

  22-02-2015 20:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African mining company says 18 miners are missing after a fire broke out underground.
  
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• Fans, former players attend public memorial for Dean Smith

  22-02-2015 20:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Fans, former players and coaching colleagues are gathering to honor the late Dean Smith.
  
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• West hikes warnings over Ukraine truce as new flashpoint ignites

  22-02-2015 20:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The West sounded more forceful warnings over Ukraine's battered truce Sunday as fighting raged around the port city of Mariupol and the warring sides wrangled over withdrawing heavy weapons. The volatility was underlined by a bomb blast in the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv that killed two people during a pro-government march. Meanwhile, intensifying fighting around Mariupol, on the Avoz Sea, heightened concerns the pro-Russian rebels might be preparing a new offensive after storming the k
  
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• Kurdish Peshmerga call for heavy weaponry to take their fight to Isis

  22-02-2015 20:15
  
  Fighters deride western fears that sending them weapons could give real impetus to frequent talk of sovereignty at the expense of Iraq Continue reading...
  
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• Alabama woman set for trial in granddaughter's running death

  22-02-2015 20:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — A prosecutor calls Joyce Hardin Garrard the "drill sergeant from hell," a woman so mean she made her 9-year-old granddaughter run until the girl collapsed and died, all as punishment for lying about candy.
  
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• Syrian Kurds attack Islamic State in northeast

  22-02-2015 19:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish forces advanced towards an Islamic State stronghold in northeastern Syria on Sunday in an offensive backed by U.S.-led air strikes, a Kurdish official and a monitoring group said. The Kurdish YPG militia, which last month flushed Islamic State out of the town of Kobani with the help of U.S. and allied air support, launched the offensive in the northeastern Hasaka province overnight. It is the latest example of coordination between the U.S.-led coali
  
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• Islamic State militants claim attacks on Iranian ambassador's residence in Libya

  22-02-2015 19:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State said they were behind Sunday's twin bomb attacks on the residence of the Iranian ambassador in the Libyan capital and a rocket strike on the eastern Labraq airport. The attack on the ambassador's residence came two days after the group claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in the eastern town of Qubbah, one of the worst attacks on civilians since a 2011 uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Western powers are c
  
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• Ethel Raine: The untold story of a woman who spied for Britain during the Great War

  22-02-2015 19:50
  
  David Gosling was for four years principal of Edwardes College in Peshawar, trying to keep the Taliban from his academy in the old British North-West Frontier Province of what is now Pakistan. But he could scarcely imagine receiving a letter from MI5 confirming that his own grandmother, Ethel Raine, had served the British empire in its heyday as “a member of the Security Service between 1915 and 1920”. But then came the rebuff: “Unfortunately we are unable to provide any further details o
  
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• Somalia extremists urge attacks on US shopping malls

  22-02-2015 19:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A video purported to be by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab urged Muslims to attack shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, Britain and other Western countries.
  
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• Al-Shabaab mall threat 'all the more reason' to avoid shutdown, says homeland security chief

  22-02-2015 19:26
  
  Somali terror group releases video threatening US, Canada and UK mallsDHS funding will end Friday if immigration impasse is not solvedThe US homeland security secretary on Sunday seized on a new threat of attacks against western shopping centres by Islamist terrorists to pressure Congress to avert a partial shutdown of his department and agree to a funding deal.Jeh Johnson said a propaganda video released by al-Shabaab on Saturday calling for strikes on the Mall of America in Minnesota, Oxford S
  
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• Saudi Arabia morality police arrest men for dancing at Saudi birthday party complete with cake and candles

  22-02-2015 19:24
  
  Saudi Arabia’s morality police have arrested men at a birthday party for “loud music and inappropriate dancing,” according to state-linked media reports.
  
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• Chinese police to film interrogations as government promises end to torture following miscarriages of justice

  22-02-2015 19:16
  
  The announcement of major new reforms of the police force in China has sparked hopes that police torture and corruption are to be curbed and further miscarriages of justice avoided.
  
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• Ten days that shook the euro; how Greece came to the brink

  22-02-2015 19:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble, the "immovable object" in the words of one economist, stopped Greece's charismatic new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis in his tracks, forcing Athens to extend a bailout program on Friday on terms its government was just elected to get out of. The new Greek found itself without a single firm ally among 18 euro zone peers in its drive to reverse austerity and renegotiate its debt pile. The 10 days it took to strike a deal featured a shambolic rou
  
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