Scientists to resume work with lab-bred bird flu

WASHINGTON (AP) — International scientists who last year halted controversial research with the deadly bird flu say they are resuming their work as countries adopt new rules to ensure safety.The outcry erupted when two labs — in the Netherlands and the U.S. — reported they had created easier-to-spread versions of bird flu. Amid fierce debate about the oversight of such research and whether it might...

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Lone Star College Evacuated After Shots Fired

Three people were injured during a shooting on the campus of Lone Star College in Houston, Texas, this afternoon, causing the school to be locked down and evacuated while police searched for a suspect.Police officials who spoke on campus at 3 p.m. today said that shots were fired on the campus and at least three people were injured."A person of interest has been detained," said...

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Netanyahu tops Israel vote despite losses: exit polls

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel's election on Tuesday, with his hawkish bloc unexpectedly losing ground to resurgent center-left challengers, exit polls showed. They suggested the Israeli leader's Likud party, yoked with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, would still be the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly with...

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US existing-home sales dip in December: NAR

WASHINGTON: US existing-home sales dipped in December, capping a year that saw the briskest sales pace in five years as the housing market recovers, a trade group said Tuesday.Sales fell 1.0 per cent from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million last month, the National Association of Realtors said.The NAR revised downward its November estimate to 4.99 million, from...

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Is FDI in retail a gimmick? SC asks

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would test the constitutional validity of the Centre's decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and asked the UPA government to spell out the safeguards put in place to protect small traders from possible onslaught of multinationals in future.Parliament's approval of the policy decision was cited by Attorney General G...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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Live Updates: Inaugural Parade Kicks Off

Four years and one day after President Obama first took his first oath of office, America is once again celebrating his Inauguration. This time the schedule includes performances by Beyonce and Katy Perry, a parade with more than 2,000 members of the military and two Inaugural balls.Refresh here for updates throughout the day.Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page on Monday morning starting at...

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Algeria says 37 foreigners died in siege led by Canadian

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A total of 37 foreigners and an Algerian died at a desert gas plant and five are still missing after a four-day hostage-taking coordinated by a Canadian gunman, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday. Sellal also told a news conference that 29 Islamists had been killed in the siege, which Algerian forces ended by storming the plant on Saturday, and...

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Pakistan suspends PM graft probe after investigator's death

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's anti-corruption watchdog Monday said it had suspended a probe into a graft scandal involving the prime minister pending an inquiry into the death of an officer investigating the case.Kamran Faisal was found dead on Friday in the government hostel where he lived in Islamabad with colleagues from anti-corruption watchdog the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).According...

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Over 40 lakh pending cheque bouncing cases very serious: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought suggestions from the Centre and state governments to resolve the grave problem of over 40 lakh pending cheque bouncing cases, which slowed down the justice delivery system already over burdened by more than 2.7 crore cases.Entertaining a PIL filed by Indian Banks' Association (IBA), a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said: "It is a...

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