| World News  | UN envoy paints rosier picture of Afghanistan
Canada Dot Com
UNITED NATIONS -- The "gloom and doom" predictions for Afghanistan have been overplayed and become a distraction from efforts to help Afghans get on their feet, the chief United Nations envoy to Afghanistan said Tuesday. Addressing the UN Security Council, Kai Eide said that a recent focus on rising violence in the country had overshadowed significant advances on Afghanistan's political and war-on-drugs fronts. While he emphasized the ultimate...
photo: USAF / TSgt Laura K. Smith
|  | Public urged to question Darling
BBC News
MPs have asked the public to suggest questions to put to Chancellor Alistair Darling about the government's £37bn rescue package for banks. The Commons Treasury committee will grill him during its "urgent inquiry" into the...
photo: AP / Sang Tan, Pool
|  | Sri Lanka: Heavy fighting kills 49 rebels
Syracuse
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Government forces pounded rebel defenses with airstrikes and ground assaults as heavy fighting across northern Sri Lanka killed 49 Tamil Tiger fighters and seven soldiers, the military said Wednesday. The new fighting came as soldiers closed in on the rebels' administrative capital of Kilinochchi in a campaign aimed at routing the guerrillas and ending a 25-year-old war that has killed more than 70,000 people. Out of the...
photo: AP Photo / Gemunu Amarasinghe
|  | Sources: Deal reached for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON - U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain. The draft calls for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone...
photo: US DoD / Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon
|  | Taleban raid on key Afghan town
BBC News
At least 18 Taleban militants have been killed while attacking a police checkpoint in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials say. Police say dozens of insurgents took part in the attack - the second major assault on Lashkar Gah this week. At least six policemen died in fighting elsewhere in the area, officials say. On Tuesday, UN special envoy Kai Eide said attacks on...
photo: AP / Abdul Khaleq
| Business News  | Googling is good for the ageing brain
The Guardian
More power to the brain Photograph: Tom Stewart/Corbis Could Googling actually be good for you? That is the conclusion drawn by researchers who believe that searching the internet could improve brain function – at least among older people. A team from the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that searching the web can stimulate the brain more than other activities such as reading a book. In a study to be published...
photo: AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes
|  | Apple unveils new laptop that ditches mouse for iPhone-inspired touchpad
The Daily Mail
Apple have unveiled their latest laptop, which ditches the mousepad in favour of a glass multi-touch trackpad similar to the technology used on their iPhone. Chief executive Steve Jobs, who revealed the new MacBook range at company headquarters in California, said he believed they would be a 'huge success'. The sensitive trackpad has 39 per cent more tracking area compared to the old mousepad. The key new feature and will allow users to...
photo: Creative Commons
|  | Phone block won't let teens talk and drive
The Columbus Dispatch
Plugged-in teens don't always have the willpower to ignore their cell phones while driving, so one company's solution is to take away that option. Columbus-based insurer Nationwide has teamed up with a Canadian company, Aegis Mobility, which hopes to offer a service starting next year that informs a caller or texter that the intended recipient is driving and can't be reached at the moment. Meanwhile, the driver would be oblivious to the call and...
photo: WN / Yolanda Leyba
|  | Dice-K looks to extend ALCS
MLB
BOSTON -- The Red Sox have grown accustomed to Daisuke Matsuzaka's high-wire acts, even marveling at his ability to walk the tightrope under dangerous circumstances. With those situations an accepted part of the cost of doing business on the wild side, all of Boston will now look to Dice-K for a replica of his performance on Friday to open the American League Championship Series as the Red Sox hope to stave off elimination and keep the Rays out...
photo: Creative Commons / AMAPO
| Entertainment News  | ‘I made an actor out of Bipasha’
The Times of India
15 Oct 2008, 0000 hrs IST, TANVI TRIVEDI ,TNN Text: Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar doesn’t quite feel he’s a star maker. He is one of those rare breed of filmmakers who hasn’t let critical acclaim or commercial success colour his way of making films. Each film of his, from Satta, Chandni Bar, Page 3 or Corporate, has something creatively refreshing to offer. From being somebody who ran a video...
photo: PIB
|  | Haunted Madonna 'prepares for £50m divorce from Guy'
The Daily Mail
Madonna looked tired and stressed as she arrived back at her New York apartment last night - as friends claimed she and Guy Ritchie are to divorce. After months of speculation, the couple are expected to end their nearly eight-year marriage, one of showbusiness's most volatile unions, imminently. A divorce settlement could leave film director Guy pocketing up to £50million. It is believed the couple did not sign a pre-nuptial agreement....
photo: GFDL / David Shankbone
|  | Carey loads up on luggage
Canada Dot Com
The celebrity life: Mariah Carey, going to Las Vegas the other night for some party, had a problem getting there from L.A.: She had too much luggage for her chartered Gulfstream jet. She solved it: two of her hangers-on took a commercial flight with the extra suitcases, while Mariah and hubby Nick Cannon took the Gulfstream. - - - Miley Cyrus, in England for something, told reporters there: "I've already fallen in love with 20 guys since I've...
photo: Creative Commons / Albert Domasin
|  | Perfect weekend for pumpkin hunt
The Press Democrat
Whether you believe in the Great Pumpkin or not, theres something to be said for a making a pilgrimmage to an authentic pumpkin patch rather than a glitzy, fabricated experience. The good news is that here in Sonoma County, there are plenty of real, working farms where kids can pick their own pumpkin on the vine, pet the farm animals and frolic in real dirt fields planted to corn and peppers, zinnias and sunflowers. Some farmers will let you dig...
photo: Public Domain Photo
|  | Ellen makes pro-gay video
News24
Los Angeles - Ellen DeGeneres has made a public service announcement urging California voters to oppose a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage. DeGeneres married actress Portia de Rossi on August 16, two months after the California Supreme Court ruling that legalised gay marriage took effect. In recent days, the popular talk show host has been criticised in the gay press for not giving money to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8...
photo: AP/Chris Pizzello
|  | Is People Neglecting Angelina Jolie For Sarah Palin? [Magazines]
The Examiner
Gawker.com - 19 mins ago Is People magazine totally in the tank (like Pareene) for John McCain and his non-English-speaking VP lady? We hear that some staff members of the nation's leading smiling-coverperson mag are grumbling that People is giving too much positive press to the Republican candidates—for example, this feature where they ask readers to submit questions for the Palin family, without once mentioning they engage in...
photo: AP
|  | Katy Perry to host MTV Europe Music Awards
Canada Dot Com
LONDON (Billboard) - Katy Perry, the singer/songwriter of the summer smash "I Kissed a Girl," will host the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool on November 6. The pop singer has been nominated in two categories -- best new act and most addictive track for "I Kissed A Girl," which topped America's Billboard Hot 100 chart for seven weeks. Presenters at the 15th annual event, which takes place in a different European city each year, will include...
photo: Creative Commons / Matt DiGirolamo
| Health News  | CSL raises profit forecast as Australian dollar falls
The Australian
CSL has boosted its net profit guidance due to a recent fall in the Australian dollar. Elizabeth Alexander, chairwoman of the world's second-largest maker of plasma products, today said net profit after tax at CSL could rise as much as 44 per cent to $1.01 billion in the year ending June 30. CSL's performance in the September...
photo: WN/Pat Seng
|  | Hunger Rampant in India
Voa News
India has the largest number of hungry people in the world, despite the strong economic growth witnessed in recent years. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha says a new report shows that India's economic boom has brought new prosperity to its middle class and pulled many out of poverty, but that millions of people n the vast country still struggle on low incomes. A report by the International Food Policy Research Institute says hunger, across India's...
photo: WN / Yeshe Choesang
|  | Why Women Have Bad Teeth -
Yahoo Daily News
Staff Writer 17 minutes ago Women had poor dental health compared to men back in the hunter-gatherer era, and it got worse as societies turned to farming. Now an anthropologist is pointing to an overlooked explanation - hormonal and dietary changes related to . Anthropologists usually argue that women's poor dental health resulted from culture-driven factors, such as and the ongoing nibbling that can go along with that. But that narrow focus may...
photo: Jamal Penjweny
|  | Joburg pupils get cooked meals
Independent online (SA)
By Bongani Masango The donation of mobile kitchens to several schools in Joburg means some children will never be hungry in class again. On Tuesday, 1 443 pupils at the Elethu-Themba Combined School got their first hot meals made in a container kitchen known...
photo: WN / bojana
|  | Health programs take a bitter hit
Seattle Post
Sims' county budget plan cuts $19 million Starting in January, schools in King County will have to pay more for food inspection fees, the number of immunization clinics will shrink and low-income pregnant women will receive less support. TO LEARN MORE For more on the public health budget, visit kingcounty. gov/healthservices/health To learn read about programs for poor at risk of being cut, visit goto.seattlepi.com/382106 By June, things could...
photo: WN / Yolanda Leyba
|  | Bottled water has contaminants too, study finds -
Yahoo Daily News
By JEFF DONN, AP National Writer Wed Oct 15, 12:17 AM ET Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group. The findings challenge the popular impression - and marketing pitch - that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers say....
photo: WN / Yolanda Leyba
| Politics News  | Sarkozy to shorten Quebec visit
Canada Dot Com
The already short visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Canada this week has been trimmed back further so Sarkozy can meet with U.S. President George Bush on Saturday. The two leaders are to meet at Camp David in Maryland. Sarkozy had been slated to visit Montreal , then head for Quebec City for the Francophonie summit. He was to have met Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Montreal, but that leg of the trip has been...
photo: AP / Jacques Brinon, Pool
|  | House minority to back impeach rap
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines -- Refusing to be cowed by the numbers game, members of the minority at the House of Representatives have agreed to support the fresh attempt to impeach President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and appealed to their colleagues to give them the chance to bring out their evidence to the public. "We have agreed to support the impeachment complaint. ... We are in complete sympathy with the purposes of the impeachment complaint," Minority...
photo: WN / Renzelle Mae Abasolo
|  | Excerpt: "Speaking for Myself"
ABC News
Oct. 15, 2008 FONT SIZE Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, shares her life from her childhood on into the courtship with and marriage to one of the most influential men in British politics. Read an excerpt of Cherie Blair's autobiography below and check out Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, pens her autobiography. (amazon.com)Chapter 1: The Beginning The story starts in the early 1950s,...
photo: AP / Riccardo Gangale
|  | US: Mugabe violating deal
News24
Washington - The United States on Tuesday accused Zimbabwe's President of violating a power-sharing deal with rival by offering key government posts to his own party. "President Mugabe apparently overstepped the bounds of that agreement in claiming several ministers that were not part of the power-sharing agreement that was brokered," State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters. "What we hope is that you get back the...
photo: AP Photo / Pier Paolo Cito
| |
