Arias Leaves Stand After Describing Killing, Her Lies

Jodi Arias stepped down from the witness stand today after mounting an emotional effort to save herself from death row, insisting to the Arizona jury that an explosive fight with ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander led to his death, and that her lies about killing him masked deep regret and plans to commit suicide.Arias, 32, will now face what is expected to be a withering cross-examination...

Read More..

Insight: Rome will burn, regardless of Italian election result

ROME (Reuters) - Regardless of who wins next weekend's parliamentary election, Italy's long economic decline is likely to continue because the next government won't be strong enough to pursue the tough reforms needed to make its economy competitive again. Bankers, diplomats and industrialists in Rome and Milan despair at how Italians are shifting allegiances ahead of the February 24-25...

Read More..

Pistorius "fought non-stop" with girlfriend on night of killing

PRETORIA: "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius returned to court Wednesday to hear explosive allegations that he fought "non-stop" with his slain girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on the night of her killing.With the South African sporting hero already facing a tough fight to win bail, the prosecution presented police evidence to flesh out the charge he deliberately murdered the cover girl on Valentine's...

Read More..

CBI summons Shahid Balwa for questioning in 2G scam

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday summoned 2G scam accused Shahid Balwa for questioning with regards to audio recordings of purported conversation between its prosecutor A K Singh and another accused Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra on the case. Agency sources said Swan and DB Realty promoter Balwa was asked to join investigations in the case as his name cropped up in the purported conversation....

Read More..

Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines."The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed...

Read More..

Former Navy SEAL on Coming Out of Shadows

It used to be that Navy SEALs didn't just operate in the shadows. They trained in them too. Their whole story stayed shrouded in mystery. Their secret missions stayed secret to the rest of us.But when they got Osama Bin Laden, snatched back an American cargo ship taken by pirates and rescued two air workers held hostage in Somalia, then suddenly, it seemed that SEALs were headline-makers.Add...

Read More..

Chavez back in Venezuela, on Twitter with four million followers

CARACAS (Reuters) - After Hugo Chavez spent two months out of the public eye for cancer surgery in Cuba, the Venezuelan government hailed his homecoming on Monday and said the president had achieved another milestone - four million followers on Twitter. The 58-year-old flew back from Havana before dawn and was taken to a military hospital. No new details were given on his health, and...

Read More..

Turkey crackdown on radical group after US embassy attack

ANKARA: Turkish police launched a massive nationwide crackdown on Tuesday against a radical Marxist group which claimed a suicide bomb attack against the US embassy this month, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.Police issued arrest warrants for 167 people in 28 cities as part of the operation against the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C), which is classified as...

Read More..

20 fishermen assaulted by Sri Lankan naval personnel

RAMESWARAM (TN): Twenty fishermen from Tamil Nadu were allegedly assaulted by Sri Lankan navalmen while they were fishing near Katchathivu islet early Tuesday morning, officials said. The navy personnel surrounded the fishermen's boats, allegedly beat them up and then took away the GPS equipment.They also cut the fishing nets and threw the catch into the sea, officials said. Katchathivu is an...

Read More..

Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models...

Read More..