Pakistan says 29 nationals beaten by Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say they are investigating allegations by neighboring Pakistan that Afghan forces severely beat Pakistani nationals.The Saturday protest note from Islamabad's Foreign Office provided no details other than to say that all 29 had valid travel documents.Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai says he has no information about the allegations, but Kabul...

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Suicide bombers attack mobile phone firms in Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Two suicide car bombers attacked the offices of mobile phone operators India’s Airtel and South Africa’s MTN on Saturday in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano, killing themselves but no civilians, police said.Islamist sect Boko Haram has previously targeted phone firms, blowing up telephone masts and offices, saying the companies help the security forces catch its members.“The...

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Ashton Kutcher files for divorce from Demi Moore

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ashton Kutcher filed court papers Friday to end his seven-year marriage to actress Demi Moore.The actor's divorce petition cites irreconcilable differences and does not list a date that the couple separated. Moore announced last year that she was ending her marriage to the actor 15 years her junior, but she never filed a petition.Kutcher's filing does not indicate that the couple...

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

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Parents hesitant about NRA armed schools proposal

MIAMI (AP) — The nation's largest gun-rights lobby called Friday for the placement of an armed police officer in every school, but parents and educators questioned how safe such a move would keep kids, whether it would be economically feasible and how it would alter student life. Their reactions ranged from supportive to disgusted.Already, there are an estimated 10,000 sworn officers serving in schools...

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US budget negotiations setback drives stocks down

PARIS (AP) — Another failed attempt find a compromise in U.S. budget negotiations sent world stock markets plummeting Friday, as investors feared the world's largest economy could teeter into recession if no deal is found.Without an agreement, the U.S. economy will fall off the so-called "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1 when Bush-era tax cuts expire and spending cuts kick in automatically. The measures were...

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Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $ 1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users’ inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called “other.”Launched in 2011, the “other” folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely...

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Country singer Tate Stevens wins Fox's 'X Factor'

NEW YORK (AP) — Tate Stevens, who was mentored by music exec L.A. Reid on the second season of "The X Factor," has won the Fox singing competition.The 37-year-old country singer from Belton, Mo., beat runner-up Carly Rose Sonenclar, a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Westchester, N.Y., and teenage girl group Fifth Harmony on the finale that aired live Thursday night.Stevens wins a $5 million recording...

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.But since then, Big Pharma has been...

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Silence, ringing of bells to honor Newtown shooting victims

NEWTOWN, Conn./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Americans will remember the victims of the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre with a moment of silence on Friday, just before a powerful U.S. gun rights lobbying group plunges into the national debate over gun control. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy called for residents of his state to observe the moment at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) to...

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SKorea's president-elect faces NKorea uncertainty

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Park Geun-hye promises to reach out to North Korea with more humanitarian aid and deeper engagement after she moves into South Korea's presidential Blue House on Feb. 25. Pyongyang, however, may be in no mood to talk anytime soon.Park's declarations ahead of Wednesday's election that she will soften five years of hard-line policy rang true with voters, even as they rejected...

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Nexus 4 ad touts Photo Sphere as the go-to app for avoiding holiday family photo headaches [video]

Title Post: Nexus 4 ad touts Photo Sphere as the go-to app for avoiding holiday family photo headaches [video]Rating: 100%based on 99998 ratings.5 user reviews.Author: Fluser SeoLinkThanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comm...

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$66M Kinkade estate dispute secretly settled

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Thomas Kinkade's widow and girlfriend have reached a settlement after a dispute over the late artist's $66 million estate, their attorneys said Wednesday.The San Jose Mercury News reports (http://bit.ly/Wq5kti ) that counsel for Nanette Kinkade and his girlfriend Amy Pinto announced the settlement but wouldn't provide further details, leaving it unclear who will inherit Kinkade's...

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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Newtown residents ready to step out of media glare

Hundreds of reporters from around the world converged on Newtown, Conn., after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary …NEWTOWN, Conn.-- Message to the media: It's time to go away.That's what many residents here have been saying about the media since Monday, when funerals began for more than two dozen adults and children killed in last week's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School."There are...

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Outrage in India over gang rape on bus

NEW DELHI (AP) — The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country Wednesday as Indians demanded action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.In the streets and in Parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including...

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