| World News  | Obama hints strongly he has made VP choice
Seattle Post
Running mate will join him in Illinois appearance SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Barack Obama's newly minted running mate will be hitting the trail with the Democratic hopeful Saturday. SEATTLEPI.COM For election stories, statistics, photos blogs and commentary, visit seattlepi.com/election08. A senior Obama adviser told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday that Obama and his vice presidential choice will appear together in front of the...
photo: AP / Jae C. Hong
|  | Cracks appear in Pakistan's ruling coalition
The Times
Cracks appeared in Pakistan's ruling coalition yesterday as a bomb killed 25 civilians outside a hospital, highlighting the daunting problems facing the country after Pervez Musharraf's resignation as President on Monday. Coalition leaders met for several hours in Islamabad to discuss whether to prosecute Mr Musharraf, who should replace him and how to tackle the nation's dire economic and security problems. Negotiations stalled over the thorny...
photo: AP Photo
|  | NATO-Russia feud erupts
Sydney Morning Herald
NATO-Russia relations have plunged to their lowest point in years over the conflict in Georgia and Russia's failure to withdraw from the former Soviet republic. In the latest flaring of tension in Georgia, Russian soldiers took about 20 Georgian troops prisoner in the Black Sea port of Poti, blindfolding them and holding them at gunpoint, and commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to the United States. As Western criticism...
photo: Defense Dept. by Cherie A. Thurlby
|  | Russia moves up on US agenda
TVNZ
Aug 20, 2008 8:36 AM Two weeks ago, it seemed the most pressing foreign policy problem for the next occupant of the White House would be extricating the United States from Iraq, or deciding how many troops to move to Afghanistan. Now a resurgent Russia, its tanks and troops humiliating US ally Georgia, has propelled itself to the top of the next American president's agenda. "It's not the relationship we would have wanted to inherit," Stephen...
photo: AP Photo / Sergey Ponomarev
|  | Russia blocks UN Georgia resolution
The Australian
VETO-holding Russia blocked UN Security Council action on the Georgian crisis this morning, refusing to support a Western-backed draft resolution calling for an immediate Russian military withdrawal. Even though Moscow has said it will withdraw, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council the resolution should include and endorse a six-point peace plan promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed by both Georgia and Russia. Since the...
photo: AP / David Karp
|  | Sarkozy en route to Afghanistan
BBC News
President Nicolas Sarkozy is travelling to Afghanistan to support French troops a day after one of the deadliest attacks on French forces abroad. Ten French soldiers were killed and 21 injured in an ambush by Taleban fighters east of the capital, Kabul. Mr Sarkozy said France was committed to the fight against terrorism, and the mission in Afghanistan would continue. France plans to send in 700 troops by the end of August, bringing its presence...
photo: AP / Rafiq Maqbool
|  | Risk of recession rising as stimulus fades
The Times of India
WASHINGTON: The economy is increasingly likely to slide into recession in the coming months as the recent drivers of growth -- strong exports and government stimulus checks -- fade, while the job and housing markets worsen. Recession worries ran high at the start of 2008 due to a real estate crash and soaring consumer prices. However, booming overseas economies created record...
photo: AP / M. Spencer Green, file
| Business News  | Hewlett-Packard Q3 profit jumps 14%, beats market expectations
The Times of India
20 Aug 2008, 0509 hrs IST,AP SAN FRANCISCO: Hewlett-Packard Co's fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 14 per cent, beating Wall Street's expectations, as strong laptop sales and a robust international presence lifted the technology bellwether. The Palo Alto-based company's results, reported after the market closed Tuesday, signaled that HP is still holding its ground as the world's No. 1 seller of personal...
photo: WN / James
|  | Costlier fuel clips PAL's profit margin
The Manila Times
By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter PROFITS of Philippine Airlines (PAL) ell sharply in the first quarter of its current fiscal year owing to high fuel expenses, which rose by half this year. The Lucio Tan-owned carrier said in a statement that its operating net income plunged by 78 percent to $12.4 million in the April to June period compared with the $12.4 million in the same three-month period of its fiscal year 2007. For its fiscal year ending...
photo: GNU Photo / Nixenzo
|  | Complete shutdown in state today
The Times of India
20 Aug 2008, 0513 hrs IST,TNN KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: No transport. Shuttered shops. Closed offices. The 24-hour Citu-sponso-red industrial strike is set to bring the state to a standstill today. Joining hands with Citu are thousands of junior-level staffers of both Airports...
photo: WN / Bhaskar Mallick
|  | No tolls on controversial highway, government says
Canada Dot Com
The B.C. government kick-started the controversial South Fraser Perimeter Highway project Tuesday, confirming it will be built and operated as a public-private partnership, but saying it will not be a toll road. The province wasted no time calling for qualified teams to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the highway, less than a week after it got the environmental go-ahead. The four-lane truck route is to run about 40 km along the south...
photo: WN
| Entertainment News  | Clooney, Pitt, Coens join Toronto festival lineup -
Yahoo Daily News
6 minutes ago TORONTO - Movies featuring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kate Beckinsale, Edward Norton and Colin Farrell and a documentary about Paris Hilton have joined the lineup for the Toronto International Film Festival. North America's largest cinema showcase announced Tuesday that the schedule will include Joel and Ethan Coen's CIA comedy "Burn After Reading," with Pitt, Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich....
photo: AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
|  | Country star Toby Keith in demand across the nation
Canada Dot Com
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Country star and actor Toby Keith, a.k.a. Big Dog Daddy, is about to party his way through Western Canada. His Biggest and Baddest Tour will make a stop on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at Rexall Place. The Oklahoma native will be joined by two openers -- Aaron Pritchett and Jessie Farrell. It's a "hell-raising party package," according to the tour's promoter, Live Nation. One of the company's executives, Paul Haagenson,...
photo: AP / Mark J. Terrill
|  | Dancing to a new Afrobeat
The Guardian
Once again, African music seems to be holding sway in popular culture and one blog, Awesome Tapes from Africa, captures this resurgence more than any other Reggie Rockstone ... pioneer of hiplife, Africa's homemade take on hip-hop Everyone is going Afrobeat crazy. There's Vampire Weekend, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, and Mi Ami, not to mention many Nigerian compilations on Strut and Mississippi Records and, of course, there are . African...
photo: public domain
|  | People: Paul McCartney's U.S. road trip creates chaos
Denver Post
Paul McCartney with fans in Springfield, Ill. Paul McCartney's trek across the USA on Route 66 caused pockets of chaos in some of the places where he stopped, the celebrity website janetcharltonshollywood reports. In Springfield, Ill., Paul and his girlfriend Nancy Shevell pulled into the Circle K gas station in their 1989 Ford Bronco a couple weeks ago, and no one paid attention. But when Paul got out to use the men's room, one of a carful of...
photo: Creative Common / The_Admiral
|  | Summer Movies: Which Films Hit, Missed?
WPXI
The summer movie season is quickly winding to a close, but given the lasting impact of "The Dark Knight," it won't soon become a distant memory. Now granted, a big box office returned doesn't always determine a film's success, especially given how much it took to make the movie in the first place. Still, there are many clears hits and misses, and while the jury is still out on "Tropic Thunder" (which opened with a boom) and "Star Wars: The Clone...
photo: WN / guillaume
|  | Bob Dylan sums up British property woes for Brixton chief
The Daily Telegraph
The chief executive of developer Brixton has resorted to quoting a gloomy Bob Dylan lyric to describe the beleaguered state of a commercial property market where "none of them along the line know what any of it is worth". Dylan: 'None of them along the line know what any of it is worth' Chief executive Tim Wheeler includes the lines from the folk singer's 1967 song All Along the Watch Tower in Brixton's half-year results to encapsulate the...
photo: APphoto
| Health News  | The Green Kitchen: Veggie combo: A picture of health
Seattle Post-Intelligence
Thanks to recent research on plant foods in the human diet, government nutritionists now recommend up to nine daily servings of plant-based foods. Yikes! It helps to remember that variety is as much the point as volume. Each kind and color of vegetable offers a unique blend of nutrients, as well as specific phytonutrients that promote health and battle cancer as well as many other diseases. To expand your repertoire, combine several kinds of...
photo: WN / Denise Yong
|  | 'Kids meals at restaurants not healthy'
Gulf News
Dubai: Kids meals at restaurants are scarcely a better alternative to fast food counterparts, as a study found that they also contain more calories, fat and salt than what is recommended for a meal. The US-based Centre for Science in the Public Interest issued a report recently about 13 popular restaurant chains, many of them available in the UAE. Ninety-three per cent of 1,474 meal choices exceeded 430 calories, which is the recommended amount...
photo: WN / Rubielyn Bunag
|  | Fruit Juices Block Common Drugs
CBS News
Grapefruit, orange, and apple juices block drugs commonly used to treat infections, allergy, transplant rejection, cancer, and high blood pressure. In 1991, David G. Bailey, PhD, and colleagues found that grapefruit juice increased blood concentrations of the blood pressure drug Plendil to possibly dangerous levels. Grapefruit juice, they later learned,...
photo: WN / Rubielyn Bunag
|  | Ridge woman dies from injuries in Monday car crash
Newsday
A 22-year-old woman critically injured in a car crash Monday died of her injuries Tuesday at Medical Center. said Yasemin Bolat of Woodbrook Drive, , succumbed to injuries suffered in a two-car crash on Horseblock Road near Eagle Avenue in Medford at 1:24 p.m. on Monday. Police said Monday they believe the driver of a 1994 Cadillac, Timothy McCoy, 27, of Riverhead, was turning left from westbound Horseblock Road when he collided with a car being...
photo: GFDL photo / Coolcaesar
|  | FDA seeks stronger warning for diabetes drug
CNN
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators are working on a stronger label for a widely used diabetes drug marketed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. as deaths continue to be reported despite earlier government warnings. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it has received six additional reports of patients developing a dangerous form of pancreatitis while taking Byetta. Two of the patients died and four were recovering....
photo: Public Domain file
|  | Qantas finance boss Peter Gregg bales out
The Australian
MANAGEMENT changes at Qantas began to roll through yesterday, as the airline announced chief financial officer Peter Gregg would step down at the end of September. The speed of the move surprised analysts, even though they had been tipping that Mr Gregg and Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti might leave after being pipped at the post for the chief...
photo: WN
| Politics News  | Obama faces new criticism on abortion
The News & Observer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Painted during the Democratic primary as weak on abortion rights, Barack Obama is now being portrayed as an extremist who literally supports killing babies. Both portraits are based on his handling of a related issue in the Illinois Senate, and Obama insists they distort his position. The Democratic presidential candidate says he firmly supports a woman's right to choose but can accept some restrictions - including a...
photo: AP Photo / Mike Wintroath
|  | Giovanni Trapattoni keeps Ireland focused on Norway
The Times
Sport and politics should not mix, yet, inevitably, Georgia was on the mind of the Ireland squad yesterday as they prepared for their friendly against Norway at the Ullevaal Stadium this evening. It could be no other way. Giovanni Trapattoni, the Ireland manager, had hoped to restrict discussions to his third match in charge of the national team. Robbie Keane, the captain, was expecting to be asked about his embryonic partnership with Fernando...
photo: AP / Winfried Rotherme
|  | Committment is the priority
The Star
KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called on the wives of Barisan Nasional elected representatives to serve the people regardless of whether their husbands still held positions in government or not. He said they should continue to serve and help the less fortunate, not just when times were easy. "It's more difficult when your husbands are no longer holding...
photo: (AP Photo / Vincent Thian)
|  | Pakistan: After Musharraf
Arab News
Osama Al Sharif I osama@mediaarabia.com THE general who wanted to become a civilian president has finally bowed out. In a highly emotional message to the nation, Pervez Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan for more than nine years, asked his people for forgiveness. Musharraf's saga epitomizes the turbulent history of a struggling country of more than 169 million, from its tumultuous birth as a nation, to its cataclysmic partition in 1971, and to the...
photo: PIB
|  | UK's Brown set to fight back
TVNZ
Aug 20, 2008 8:27 AM British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will start his political fightback this week after a month of speculation that he could be ousted as leader of the ruling, but flagging, Labour Party | |
