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Obama welcomes Iran's election of moderate president
WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has urged Iran's newly elected president to prove to the world that the Islamic republic was not pursuing a nuclear weapon programme as the White House welcomed election of a moderate leader as a hopeful sign. "I think it says that the Iranian people want to move in a different direction," Obama said of the election results in Iran that saw a surprising ...
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Widespread anti-graft protests rock Brazil
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Anti-graft protests swept Brazil's main cities as some 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets against alleged mis-governance, forcing President Dilma Rousseff Tuesday to acknowledge the need for better public services and effective administration. The assurance from Rousseff came a day after biggest protests rocked at least ten Brazilian cities, including Sao ...
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No breakthrough in talks between UK and Ecuador over Assange
LONDON - Talks between the United Kingdom and Ecuador have ended without any breakthrough over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's fate with the Andean nation. Ecquador said it was vowing not to succumb to diplomatic pressure and was ready to consider any request from Edward Snowden, another whistleblower, for asylum. As the fugitive anti-secrecy advocate marks one year holed up in the ...
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Gaddafi's son to stand trial in Libya in August
LONDON - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of deceased Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, will stand trial in August along with Gaddafi's last prime minister and a former intelligence director, the prosecutor's office has announced. The men will be tried for crimes against the Libyan people during the 2011 uprising that toppled the former regime. Notorious former spy chief Abdullah ...
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Ex-Im Bank loan guarantee to Air India upheld by US appeals court
WASHINGTON - A U.S. appeals court has upheld a decision by the U.S. Export-Import Bank to finance the sale of 30 Boeing wide-body jets to Indian state-owned carrier Air India in a legal challenge brought by Delta Air Lines to the loan guarantee. The court has however directed the government-run bank to better explain its rationale for providing loan guarantee, which Delta claimed as a ...
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Movie Review
The Aviator
Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, his most assured and fluid film since 1995's Casino, is a bold portrait of Howard Hughes, a man who was larger than life in every conceivable way. Pioneering aviator, independent movie producer, millionaire playboy, victim of mental ... ...
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Google spending $7mn to fight child pornography
LONDON - Internet giant Google said it is spending $5 million to wipe images of child abuse off the Internet and another $2 million to create tools to find the images and eradicate them. "We're in the business of making information widely available, but there's certain 'information' that should never be created or found," wrote Jacqueline Fuller, director of Google Giving, in a blog post. ...
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Aspen seeks to acquire GSK thrombosis drug and plant
DURBAN / LONDON - South Africa's biggest generic drug maker Aspen Pharmacare and its subsidiary Aspen Global Incorporated have made an offer to acquire thrombosis drugs and their associated manufacturing site at Notre Dame de Bondeville, France, from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). "AGI will acquire from GSK the Arixtra and Fraxiparine/Fraxodi brands and business worldwide, except in China, Pakistan ...
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Shenzen to be first Chinese city to begin carbon trading
BEIJING - China, the world's biggest carbon emitter, is set to launch Tuesday its first carbon trading scheme as a pilot project in the southern city of Shenzhen as part of efforts to cut emissions in its key cities. Carbon emissions trading schemes are meant to encourage companies to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by setting a limit or a cap, on the level of emission that can be ...
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Leaders of G8 call for peace in Syria and pledge humanitarian aid
ENNISKILLEN - The Group of Eight industrialised nations called for a swift end to the bloody civil war in Syria and urgent peace talks but stopped short of calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in its joint statement at the end of talks Tuesday. Despite the lack of consensus among the G8 on the fate of Assad, as well as the use of chemical weapons by his regime, Canadian ...
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UK inflation rises to 2.7pc in May pushed by higher transport cost
LONDON - The consumer price index (CPI) inflation increased to 2.7% in May, up from 2.4% in April, mainly due to higher fuel costs pushing up transportation costs particularly airfares, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Tuesday. The ONS said the rise was due to a record increase in airfares and higher fuel prices. "The inflation rate has returned to the levels seen between ...