PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A roadside bomb killed two Pakistani polio workers on their way to vaccinate children in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border on Thursday, an official said. Iraq confirms it's holding French journalist
BAGHDAD (AP) -- An Iraqi official says security forces arrested a French journalist several days ago while he was taking photos in a restricted area.
Calgary judge to sentence psychiatrist who molested court-appointed patients
CALGARY – A Calgary psychiatrist who molested three of the male patients that were assigned to him by the justice system could be sent to prison today.
Asset manager BlackRock buys into Manchester United
LONDON (Reuters) – Asset manager BlackRock has built a stake of more than 8 percent in the listed shares of football club Manchester United. The U.S. company owns 8.21 percent of the English Premier League club's Class A shares, listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The asset manager has also invested in the Formula One motor racing business. United are seven points clear at the top of the Premier League and have had a good start to the year commercially, signing up a series of sponsorship deals. … Impoverished soldiers deserve more dignified burials: Royal Canadian Legion
OTTAWA – The Royal Canadian Legion is launching a national letter-writing campaign aimed at forcing the Conservative government to cover the full cost of burying impoverished soldiers.
International Co-operation minister hears from staff about political control
OTTAWA – Employees at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) vented to their minister last fall about political micromanagement inside the organization, saying it was hampering their work.
Ikea 'monkey mom' back in court fighting to get Darwin back
TORONTO – When a baby monkey in a little shearling coat made international news by hopping around an Ikea parking lot, it would have been hard to predict he would become such a polarizing primate.
Rugby-Wallaby Barnes to quit Australia for Japan - report
Jan 31 (Reuters) – NSW Waratahs utility back Berrick Barnes will quit Australia at the end of the Super Rugby season and sign for the Panasonic Wild Knights in the lucrative Japanese Top league, Fairfax media reported on Thursday. The 26-year-old has won 50 caps for the Wallabies playing at flyhalf, centre and fullback and the loss of the goalkicker, who was a mainstay of the side last year, would be a blow to Australia coach Robbie Deans. …
Exclusive: Huawei CFO linked to firm that offered HP gear to Iran
LONDON (Reuters) – A Hong Kong-based firm that attempted to sell embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone ope rator has much closer ties to China's Huawei Technologies than was previously known, corporate records show. Cathy Meng, Huawei's chief financial officer and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, served on the board of Hong Kong-based Skycom Tech Co Ltd between February 2008 and April 2009, according to Skycom records filed with Hong Kong's Companies Registry. … Neighbors of Ala. man suspected of holding child in standoff say he was threatening, violent
MIDLAND CITY, Ala. – Jimmy Lee Dykes moved to a rural Alabama neighbourhood on a rutted red clay road more than a year ago. It didn’t take long before he had developed a frightening reputation as a volatile man with anti-government views who threatened his neighbours at gunpoint and was viciously violent to wandering pets.
Diplomats say Iran plans to install modern machinery that will vastly speed up nuke program
VIENNA – Diplomats tell The Associated Press that Iran plans to vastly increase the speed of its uranium enrichment program, which can make both reactor fuel and the core of nuclear warheads.
Diplomats: Iran prepared to up nuclear program
VIENNA (AP) -- Diplomats tell The Associated Press that Iran plans to vastly increase the speed of its uranium enrichment program, which can make both reactor fuel and the core of nuclear warheads.
South African commuter train crash injures 150
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – At least 150 people, including children, were injured on Thursday when two commuter trains collided near the South African capital of Pretoria, emergency services said. The accident occurred when a train crashed into a stationary locomotive near Attridgeville, a suburb west of Pretoria. “Many are walking wounded and already left. There are 20 people in serious condition and one, the driver of the second train, is in a critical condition,” local emergency services spokesman Johan Pieterse said. …
Asset manager BlackRock buys into Man United
LONDON (Reuters) – Asset manager BlackRock has built a stake of more than 8 percent in the listed shares of British soccer club Manchester United . The U.S. company owns 8.21 percent of the English Premier League club's Class A share s, listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The asset manager has also invested in the Formula One motor racing business. United are seven points clear at the top of the Premier League and have had a good start to the year commercially, signing up a series of sponsorship deals. … After massive storm system rakes Southeast, unleashing tornadoes, 2 dead, splintered debris
ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. – As rain pelted down, Kandi Cash trudged through the splintered debris of her grandparents’ house, hoping to salvage photos and other prized family keepsakes after a day of violent storms raked the Southeast, leaving two people dead.
French defence minister says French don't intend to stay but now 'not time to disengage'
PARIS – France’s defence minister is calling the nearly three-week-old military operation in Mali a success.
Exclusive: Glencore turns setbacks into supremacy in Russian oil
DAVOS (Reuters) – The world's largest trading house Glencore is fast turning itself into a Russian oil trad e leader from an outsider by mending fences in just one year with Rosneft, the Kremlin's national energy champion. Through a $10 billion oil funding deal with state-controlled Rosneft, the Swiss-based firm that has been big in Russian coal, grains and aluminum for two decades is extending this grip to a sector where it played second fiddle to companies such as rival trader Vitol or Royal Dutch Shell. … French defense minister: Mali operation a success
PARIS (AP) -- France’s defense minister is calling the nearly three-week-old military operation in Mali a success.
Greek transport workers, doctors strike over austerity cuts
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek trains and ferries ground to a halt and hospital staffing was cut to a minimum on Thursday as transport workers and doctors went on strike to protest austerity m easures demanded by the country's foreign lenders. Greece has seen a surge in protests and strikes in recent weeks as public anger simmers over wage and spending cuts that are deepening hardship in a country suffering through its sixth consecutive year of recession. … Cyprus jobless turn to illegal songbird trapping
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) -- It's just before first light and the bird-catcher strings nets among the orange, pomegranate, fig and carob trees in his orchard. The sound of chirping emanates from inside a massive carob -- a trick sent from speakers to attract tiny songbirds. By mid-morning, the man disentangles about a half-dozen blackcaps, snaps their necks with his teeth and drops them in a bucket. 
NAGASAKI/TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) – A Bank of Japan deputy governor has flagged the strongest signal yet that it will boldly implement more stimulus if needed to achieve the bank's new 2 percent inflation target. Deputy Governor Hirohid e Yamaguchi shrugged off global criticisms that the central bank was intentionally weakening the yen by monetary easing, stressing that it never deliberately targets exchange rates. "I won't rule out the chance of our easing indirectly affecting currency moves and weakening the yen. … 
VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has informed the U.N. nuclear agency that it plans to use more modern uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Natanz plant, a diplomat said on Thursday. Such a step could enable Iran to refine uranium faster than it can at the moment and increase concerns in the West and Israel about the goals of Tehran nuclear program. The diplomat who declined to be identified, said Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the plan in a letter dated January 23. … 
ZURICH (Reuters) – Diageo , the world's biggest spirits group, reported steady sales growth in the second half of 2012, driven by price rises and the growth in the United States of premium brands like Ketel One vodka and Bulleit Bou rbon. The maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Guinness beer saw sales grow 5 percent like-for-like to 6.04 billion pounds ($9.54 billion) in the half year to December, while pre-exceptional earnings per share rose 9 percent to 60.9 pence. Analysts had expected sales to rise 5.1 percent to 6.05 billion pounds, according to Thomson Reuters data. … 
BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanon's militant Hezbol lah group has condemned Israel's air raid on Syria, saying it targeted a "scientific research center." 
LONDON (Reuters) – Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch/Shell pledged an ambitious 4.7 percent increase in its quarterly dividend on Thursday and pushed ahead with plans to deliver more oil and gas, despite an "uncertain" outlook for some parts of the world economy. The company was delivering profits that un dershot expectations at $5.582 billion for the fourth quarter on an adjusted current cost of supply basis, up from $4.846 billion a year ago thanks in part to stronger refining margins, but compared with expectations of around $6.2 billion. … 
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes bombed a convoy near Syria's border with Lebanon, sources told Reuters , apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah in what some called a warning to Damascus not to arm Israel's Lebanese enemy. Syrian state television accused Israel of bombing a military research center at Jamraya, between Damascus and the nearby border, but Syrian rebels disputed that, saying their forces had attacked the site. No source spoke of a second Israeli strike. … 
BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese man sent to a labor camp for a joke about Bo Xilai said he was awarded minimal compensation by a court on Thursday, in what could be a blow to others ja iled by the disgraced leader's administration and hoping for substantial damages. Fang Hong, 46, was sentenced to a year of re-education in 2011 after posting a poem online that mocked Bo and his then police chief Wang Lijun for miscarriages of justice during an anti-crime campaign in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where Bo was Communist Party chief. … 
PARIS (AP) -- The French are all for sex and all for family -- so long you're having sex to create one. Anything dealing with assisted reproduction makes a sizable portion of them uncomfortable, as the president's plans to legalize gay marriage have unexpectedly exposed. 
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia faces a possible fourth straight year of p olitical instability after opposition leader Tony Abbott, on track to win power in a September election, threatened a second poll if a hostile upper house rejects his plan to scrap a tax on carbon. One day after Prime Minister Julia Gillard surprised voters by announcing a September 14 election, Abbott on Thursday promised to scrap a carbon tax if he wins office, but added he would call a second election if a hostile Senate rejected his plans. … 
LONDON (Reuters)- British house prices rose more than expected this month compared with December and stopped their annual decline, helped by the central bank's scheme to boost lending, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Thursday. Nationwid e data showed that house prices ticked up 0.5 percent on the month after a slightly upwardly revised flat reading in December. Compared with January 2012, prices were unchanged, avoiding a decline for the first time since last February. Both the monthly and the annual figures were better than forecast by analysts. … 
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank's posted a fourth-quarter pretax loss of 2.6 billion euros ($3.5 billion) hit by hefty litigation and restructuring charges as the bank downsizes to a leaner investment banking environment under new leadership. Germany's largest lender said strong operating results at its business divisions were overshadowed by a 1.9 billion euro goodwill impairment to pay for a new divisional structure and to hive off assets into a non-core unit. … 
DOUENTZA, Mali/PARIS (Reuters) – French troops seized the airport in Mali's northern town of Kidal, the last urban stronghold held by Islamist insurgents, as they mov ed to wrap up the first phase of a military operation to wrest northern Mali from rebel hands. France has deployed some 4,500 troops in a three-week ground and air offensive to break the Islamist rebels' 10-month grip on major northern towns. The mission is aimed at heading off the risk of Mali being used as a springboard for jihadist attacks in the wider region or Europe. …