Irish rock star Bono says Canadian Prime Minister mystifies him

05:46
Florence: hundreds of artworks still awaiting restoration after Florence's 1966 flood
Scattered among Tuscan villas' garrets and stores, hundreds of frescos, paintings, statues and pieces of wooden furniture have lingered for nearly 40 years. More details...

04:08
Irish rock star Bono says Canadian Prime Minister mystifies him
Irish rock star Bono says Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's inability to further increase foreign aid mystifies him, especially facing an election in a country that clearly favors more foreign aid. More details...

02:51
Canada: man who allegedly shot Chicago police officer in 1969 ordered extradited to U.S.
A judge on Friday ordered a fugitive accused of shooting a Chicago police officer more than 35 years ago to be extradited to the United States. More details...

23:59
London: security concerns prompt college to ban face-obscuring hoods and veils
Security concerns following the July bombings in London have prompted a University of London college to ban clothing that obscures the face, including the full veils some Muslims wear. More details...

03:53
Italy: general strike expected to bring traffic, services to a halt Friday
A four-hour general strike Friday was expected to bring public transport to a halt and close banks, post offices and public offices across Italy in a protest by unions of the government's proposed 2006 budget. More details...

00:54
Brazilia: inmates compete for the title of Miss Penitentiary
Like beauty pageant contestants everywhere, Caroline Goncalves hoped a victory could launch her modeling career. But she'd be satisfied if it helps shave some time off her prison sentence. More details...

19:59
Schroeder gets Swiss job
Swiss publisher Ringier has hired former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as an adviser on international political affairs. The announcement comes a day after Schroeder handed the keys of the German parliament to Christian Democrat rival Angela Merkel. Schroeder will take up his post in January at the Zurich-based Ringier, the largest publishing house in Switzerland More details...

19:02
Jordan's king declares all-out war against Islamic militancy
Jordan's King Abdullah II appointed his national security adviser as the new prime minister Thursday, giving him a mandate to launch an all-out war against Islamic militancy in the wake of this month's triple hotel blasts. He also called for a new anti-terrorism law to replace the current, general one that does not specify punishment for different terrorist acts and their perpetrators More details...

18:41
Fake FBI virus hits computers
A Windows virus that warns users about illegal net use is spreading online. The bug-bearing message claims to come from either the FBI, CIA or German BKA police agency, and warns users they have been detected visiting illegal sites. Those opening a questionnaire attached to the message will be infected by a variant of the well-known Sober virus More details...

18:28
French rapper faces prison for calling France slut
A French court agreed yesterday to consider a complaint brought by a conservative MP against the rapper Monsieur R for referring to France as a slut in a song. The court in Melun, south of Paris, said it would rule early next year on the complaint filed by Daniel Mach, MP for the Pyrйnйes Orientales, who said he had the backing of 150 MPs More details...

18:02
More Afghan farmers give up cultivating opium poppies
Cultivation of opium poppies decreased in Afghanistan this year for the first time since 2001, a success that saw one in every five farmers abandon the drug-producing plant for legal crops, according to a United Nations report. The decision by some 50,000 farmers to give up the highly lucrative poppy was undercut by the 2005 crop being one of the best in years More details...

17:51
Elton John and his partner plan private ceremony
Rock star Elton John says he and his partner David Furnish plan to small private ceremony to seal their civil partnership under new legislation offering gays many of the legal protections available to married heterosexuals. The ceremony will be held on Dec. 21, the effective date of the legislation creating civil partnerships More details...

15:45
Rating of food that makes you smart
Today it is widely known what's good for your heart is also good for your brain. This statement was made by some nutrition and brain scientists about a month ago. However the most exciting thing about healthy food is that it can be found on a holiday table.Here is the rating of food that has the most positive influence on our brain More details...

13:12
Noise leads to heart attacks
Constant exposure to loud noise may lead to a heart attack, says a team led by Stefan Willich of the Charit Medical Centre in Berlin. According to the research, living or having a job in a noisy environment raises the risk of suffering a heart attack by around 50%. The scientists made the discovery after quizzing heart-attack patients in Berlin hospitals. They then looked at 'noise maps' and data from workplaces to quantify how noisy the patients' lives were More details...

18:16
China confirms second human death from bird flu
China on Wednesday reported its second confirmed human fatality from bird flu. The 35-year-old woman died Tuesday after developing a fever and pneumonia-like symptoms following contact with sick and dead poultry. Tests concluded the woman was positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus More details...

17:58
England enjoys 24-hour drink law
It's last call for the early pub closing times that have shocked many a visitor to Britain since their introduction during World War I. The British government hopes the change, which takes effect at midnight (0000 GMT) Wednesday in England and Wales, will stop the flood of drunks onto city streets just after the traditional 11 p.m. closing time More details...

17:42
Pinochet indicted and put under house arrest
Former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted and put under house arrest on Wednesday, accused of tax evasion and corruption related to the multi-million-dollar accounts he owns overseas. It was the first time the retired general, who will mark his 90th birthday on Friday, was indicted for charges not related to the massive human rights abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship More details...

17:28
U.S. warns sailors on piracy off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen
Boats and ships near Somalia and Yemen should travel in convoys and maintain good radio communications at all times because of the threat of pirate attacks, a U.S. travel advisory warns. Sailors should avoid the Somali port of Mogadishu and remain at least 200 nautical miles off the Horn of Africa nation to avoid pirate attacks, armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom More details...

15:47
Internet to treat panic
People who suffer panic disorders can get help from the Internet. Australian scientists from Monash University say that now it is not necessary to consult psychiatrist face-to-face. Their study shows that Internet-based treatments may be just as effective as face-to-face methods More details...

05:38
Great-grandson of Henry Ford pushes for tax incentives for alternative vehicles
Ford Motor Co. Chairman and CEO Bill Ford urged Congress Tuesday to offer a package of tax incentives to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil and to drive innovation in the struggling domestic auto industry. More details...

03:58
Anti-Racism efforts in 25 EU nations were mixed in 2004
EU governments' record of fighting racism and xenophobia in 2004 was mixed, at best, and they must do more to end discrimination in employment, housing, education and other sectors, the EU's racism monitoring agency said Wednesday. More details...

03:31
Mexico: police using more sophisticated torture techniques
Some police in Mexico still use torture to extract confessions and information from suspects, though the practice remains less frequent than a decade ago, the country's National Human Rights Commission said Tuesday. More details...

02:51
Egyptian restaurant owner released from custody after federal officials determined no ties to terrorism
An Egyptian restaurant owner, arrested when his name turned up on a terrorist watch list, was released Tuesday after federal officials determined he had no ties to terrorism, his attorney said. More details...

19:41
Engineers to preserve Venice
A group of engineers and geology experts are considering injecting seawater under Venice to raise the waterlogged Italian city by one foot to rescue it from the tides and floods that bedevil it. From their words that would enable Venice to regain nearly the same height it lost in the last 300 years More details...

19:28
Sexy posters drive motorists mad
Almost a quarter of British motorists admit they have been so distracted by roadside billboards of semi-naked models that they have veered dangerously out of their lane. Research released this week said one in five male drivers said their eyes were diverted from the road by posters of scantily clad women - such as model Eva Herzigova's famous adverts for Wonderbra More details...

19:14
U.N. Refugee chief pays visit to Afghanistan
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees begins a two-day visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday. "High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, who took office in June, plans to travel first to Kabul, where he will meet President Hamid Karzai, other senior officials and UNHCR staff to discuss the repatriation and reintegration [of Afghan refugees] operation in the country" More details...

17:55
Syria asks for U.N. help on Hariri probe
Syria has asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to intervene and help broker a cooperation agreement between Damascus and an inquiry into the killing of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik Hariri. The Syrian call in a letter by Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara came after a meeting last week between a Syrian legal advisor and chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis More details...

15:26
Exclusion of Sir2 gene to extend human lifespan 6 times
Human beings are created to be immortal. It's hard to deny that everybody wants to believe in it. And everybody believes. This kind of self-love among biological species is not unusual and one should not be ashamed of it because evolution is too slow to raise any feelings and that's why humans are hiding from epochs falling in love with themselves More details...

18:09
S.Korea to combat obesity in children
South Korea is considering banning daytime TV commercials for fast food and soft drink vending machines in schools in an effort to tackle obesity in children. The Ministry of Health also plans to demand that fast food and soft drink companies include dietary information on their products, including number of calories and fat content More details...

17:26
French commuters brace for rail strike
Travelers and commuters in France braced for severe disruptions to train traffic as unions at the state-run rail operator prepared to strike Monday evening. The open-ended strike at the SNCF rail network was one of the biggest protests in a week of demonstrations planned by groups including teachers, researchers and Paris transit workers More details...