Turkish, Chinese firms to ink $1.38 billion deals: minister
24 min 45 sec ago - AFP

Turkish, Chinese firms to ink $1.38 billion deals: minister

Turkish and Chinese companies will sign on Wednesday contracts totalling almost $1.38 billion as the two countries boost their economic ties, Turkey's Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said."Today, Chinese and Turkish firms will ink deals worth nearly ...
Rooney out of Ajax match
29 min 53 sec ago - AFP

Rooney out of Ajax match

England striker Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's Europa League match against Ajax at Old Trafford on Thursday with a throat infection, Sir Alex Ferguson said Wednesday.United lead the last 32 tie 2-0 after a first leg win in Amsterdam last ...
Egyptian judge sets Mubarak verdict for June 2
40 min 41 sec ago - AFP

Egyptian judge sets Mubarak verdict for June 2

The verdict in the landmark murder and corruption trial of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak has been set for June 2, Judge Ahmed Refaat told the court on Wednesday.Mubarak, his former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs are accused of ...
Barcelona 'nothing' without Guardiola: Alves
47 min 43 sec ago - AFP

Barcelona 'nothing' without Guardiola: Alves

Brazilian defender Dani Alves on Wednesday said Barcelona would be "nothing" without Pep Guardiola, as the coach ponders whether to renew his contract at the Nou Camp."I think that Guardiola will sign again because without him we're nothing.
Syrian opposition group warns on Tunis conference
58 min 6 sec ago - AFP

Syrian opposition group warns on Tunis conference

An international conference on Syria this week will do little to help resolve the crisis and the delay is dragging the country closer to full-scale civil war, an opposition figurehead warned Wednesday.Prominent writer Louai Hussein, president of the ...
Lassa fever 'kills 40 in Nigeria'
1 hour 22 sec ago - AFP

Lassa fever 'kills 40 in Nigeria'

An outbreak of Lassa fever has killed 40 people and infected dozens of others in a third of Nigeria's 36 states over the past six weeks, a senior health official said Wednesday."We have 40 deaths, including two doctors and six nurses, from lassa ...
New cyber-attack on Greek ministry after arrest
1 hour 4 min ago - AFP

New cyber-attack on Greek ministry after arrest

Greece's justice ministry on Wednesday sustained a cyber-attack, the second this month, after the arrest of a teenager accused of participating in the first hacking, police said."There has been another attack on the justice ministry website," a ...
Football must 'crush' racism: British PM
1 hour 6 min ago - AFP

Football must 'crush' racism: British PM

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called on football to crush "racism" within the game before the impact of recent incidents had a negative effect on society at large.But Cameron, speaking at a Downing Street anti-discrimination summit with ...
Obama proposes to cut corporate tax rate to 28%
1 hour 9 min ago - AFP

Obama proposes to cut corporate tax rate to 28%

President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday unveiled plans to lower the top corporate tax rate to 28 percent and choke off lucrative loopholes, an election-year gambit testing Republicans' pro-business credo.Doubling down on his pledge to ...
Brigitte Bardot backs French far-right candidate Le Pen
1 hour 21 min ago - AFP

Brigitte Bardot backs French far-right candidate Le Pen

Screen legend Brigitte Bardot backed French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen in a handwritten note published Wednesday in regional daily Nice-Matin.The actress made an appeal to local elected officials to endorse the National Front ...
West slams Syria over killing of journalists
1 hour 25 min ago - AFP

West slams Syria over killing of journalists

Western powers condemned Syria on Wednesday for the killing of two foreign journalists, with Washington slamming the regime's "shameless brutality" and Paris demanding an immediate end to attacks.American war correspondent Marie Colvin of Britain's ...
Strauss-Kahn questioned for second day in vice probe
1 hour 37 min ago - AFP

Strauss-Kahn questioned for second day in vice probe

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was questioned by French police for a second day on Wednesday over allegations that he took part in sex parties organised by a corrupt vice ring.The 62-year-old former Socialist minister, who until last year ...
Ethiopia, Somali troops capture rebel stronghold
2 hours 22 min ago - AFP

Ethiopia, Somali troops capture rebel stronghold

Truckloads of Ethiopian and Somali troops on Wednesday captured the strategic Somali city of Baidoa from Al-Qaeda allied Shebab insurgents, who vowed to avenge the loss."We have taken control of Baidoa without a single shot, it is a great day for ...
Microsoft files EC complaint against Motorola Mobility
2 hours 30 min ago - AFP

Microsoft files EC complaint against Motorola Mobility

Microsoft filed a complaint against Motorola Mobility with the European Commission on Wednesday, accusing it of seeking to block sales of Windows personal computers, Xbox game consoles and other products."In legal proceedings on both sides of the ...
Centrica buys Total oil and gas assets in North Sea
3 hours 12 sec ago - AFP

Centrica buys Total oil and gas assets in North Sea

British energy provider Centrica said Wednesday it had agreed to buy oil and gas assets in the North Sea from French peer Total for $388 million (292 million euros) in cash.The portfolio includes seven producing fields, Centrica said in a ...
Four changes for Scots in France Six Nations clash
3 hours 14 min ago - AFP

Four changes for Scots in France Six Nations clash

Scotland coach Andy Robinson has made four changes in personnel for Sunday's crucial Six Nations clash with France at Murrayfield.Scotland have yet to get off the mark this season, kicking off with a bitterly disappointing home defeat against ...
Real's Benzema to have scans on groin injury
3 hours 22 min ago - AFP

Real's Benzema to have scans on groin injury

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema will undergo scans on a suspected groin injury suffered in the 1-1 Champions League draw away to CSKA Moscow, the Spanish league leaders said Wednesday."Karim Benzema is to undergo scans" to determine the ...
Going up: Japan builder eyes space elevator
3 hours 26 min ago - AFP

Going up: Japan builder eyes space elevator

A Japanese construction firm claimed Wednesday it could execute an out-of-this-world plan to put tourists in space within 40 years by building an elevator that stretches a quarter of the way to the moon.Obayashi Corp claims it could use carbon ...
Egypt wraps up legislative elections
3 hours 27 min ago - AFP

Egypt wraps up legislative elections

Egypt on Wednesday wraps up two-stage elections for the upper house of parliament, which caps a landmark legislative poll that saw Islamists propelled to the centre stage of politics.Many polling stations were empty in the final day of voting for ...
India's new star-studded league postponed
3 hours 48 min ago - AFP

India's new star-studded league postponed

A new football league in the Indian state of West Bengal featuring semi-retired world stars has been postponed after encountering "many problems", organisers said Wednesday without elaborating.The franchise-based Premier Soccer League (PLS), based ...
Train derails wounding 340 in Buenos Aires: official
4 hours 4 min ago - AFP

Train derails wounding 340 in Buenos Aires: official

Around 340 people were injured Wednesday when a train derailed and struck a railway station platform in Buenos Aires, transport and health officials said.Around a dozen ambulances were sent to the accident in the west of the Argentine capital to ...
Vettel fastest in Formula One testing
4 hours 25 min ago - AFP

Vettel fastest in Formula One testing

Germany's two-time defending Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest time in the morning test runs here on Wednesday.The 24-year-old Red Bull driver clocked a fastest lap time of 1min 23.056sec in his 20-lap spell on the ...
Brit Award organisers sorry for cutting off Adele
4 hours 26 min ago - AFP

Brit Award organisers sorry for cutting off Adele

The Brit Awards apologised Wednesday for cutting off Adele's speech as she accepted the main prize of the ceremony, a move which prompted thesinger to raise her middle finger at the crowd.British singer Adele said the gesture was not aimed at her ...
Four bodies located in Concordia wreck
4 hours 35 min ago - AFP

Four bodies located in Concordia wreck

Up to four bodies have been located in the wreckage of the semi-submerged cruise liner Costa Concordia, the office of the official tasked with the clean up of the January 13 disaster said Wednesday."Bodies of victims have been located.
Chelsea crisis not over, says 'keeper Cech
4 hours 38 min ago - AFP

Chelsea crisis not over, says 'keeper Cech

Chelsea 'keeper Petr Cech said Wednesday his side's 3-1 Champions League defeat to Napoli was a sign the English Premier League side's crisis is far from over.Injury-plagued Chelsea are already struggling in the league and the FA Cup, leading to ...
Oil prices slip on poor eurozone data
4 hours 43 min ago - AFP

Oil prices slip on poor eurozone data

World oil prices dipped on Wednesday as weak economic data and fears over Greece sparked demand concerns, overshadoweding geopolitical concerns surrounding key crude producer Iran, dealers said.Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April fell 11 ...
Tunisia court throws out porn websites ban
4 hours 52 min ago - AFP

Tunisia court throws out porn websites ban

Tunisia's court of cassation on Wednesday threw out a ruling banning pornographic websites, a judicial source and a press freedom watchdog said."The court quashed the first instance and appeals ruling that ordered the censorship of pornographic ...
Below-par Bayern out to avoid a slip at Basel
5 hours 5 min ago - AFP

Below-par Bayern out to avoid a slip at Basel

Bayern Munich will face FC Basel on Wednesday in the Champions League last 16, first-leg tie, eager to avoid slipping on the same Swiss banana skin which toppled Manchester United.Sir Alex Ferguson's team are now in the Europa League after their ...
Spiralling Inter seek second wind at Marseille
5 hours 9 min ago - AFP

Spiralling Inter seek second wind at Marseille

For Inter Milan, Wednesday's Champions League last 16 encounter with Marseille at Stade Velodrome represents an opportunity to rejuvenate a campaign that is unravelling at bewildering speed.Both sides enjoyed similar fortunes in their respective ...
Russia backs Red Cross call for daily Syria truce
5 hours 17 min ago - AFP

Russia backs Red Cross call for daily Syria truce

Russia on Wednesday expressed "serious concern" about the humanitarian situation in Syria and said it backed an International Committee of the Red Cross call for a daily two-hour truce that could provide help to civilians."We are seriously concerned ...
EU refers anti-online piracy pact to court
5 hours 24 min ago - AFP

EU refers anti-online piracy pact to court

The European Commission said Wednesday it has asked the EU's highest court to rule on the legality of a controversial treaty covering copyright, counterfeiting and Internet freedom.The EU executive "decided today to ask the European Court of Justice ...
New amphibian family found in northeast Indian
5 hours 24 min ago - AFP

New amphibian family found in northeast Indian

Researchers digging through mud in northeast India have discovered a new family of legless amphibians in a rare scientific breakthrough detailed in a study released on Wednesday.The family of burrowing, tailless creatures was identified by ...
Libya court 'incompetent' in Kadhafi backers case
5 hours 43 min ago - AFP

Libya court 'incompetent' in Kadhafi backers case

A Libyan military court on Wednesday declared itself incompetent in the first trial of alleged loyalists of the toppled regime of Moamer Kadhafi."We decided the court is incompetent in this matter," said Ali Hamdi, a judge in the court in the ...
Unions call protest as Greece works on bailout laws
5 hours 57 min ago - AFP

Unions call protest as Greece works on bailout laws

Greece braced for fresh protests on Wednesday as officials began setting up necessary legislation tied to a unprecedented eurozone bailout and debt swap needed to secure the deal.European stock markets fell and the euro weakened as questions over ...
Reporters killed in Syria 'were US and French'
6 hours 10 min ago - AFP

Reporters killed in Syria 'were US and French'

France identified two Western reporters killed in Syria on Wednesday as veteran American war correspondent Marie Colvin of Britain's Sunday Times and freelance French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.Colvin was a renowned reporter who had covered ...
Mitsubishi to step up search for buyer of Dutch auto plant
6 hours 13 min ago - AFP

Mitsubishi to step up search for buyer of Dutch auto plant

Japanese car maker Mitsubishi will step up efforts to find a buyer for its sole western European plant where production is set to cease by year-end, the Dutch Economics Ministry said Wednesday.The company announced in Tokyo this month it was ...
Taiwan police bust pigeon-kidnapping ring
6 hours 47 min ago - AFP

Taiwan police bust pigeon-kidnapping ring

Seven people have been arrested in southern Taiwan for allegedly kidnapping dozens of racing pigeons for ransom, police said Wednesday.The suspects were accused of setting traps along the racing routes to capture the pigeons and demanding up to ...
European stocks downbeat amid eurozone concerns
7 hours 6 min ago - AFP

European stocks downbeat amid eurozone concerns

European stock markets fell and the euro slipped against the dollar in early cautious trade on Wednesday amid lingering eurozone debt concerns despite Greece's new huge bailout.In morning deals, London's FTSE 100 eased 0.11 percent to 5,921.72 ...
Accor posts net profit rise for 2011
7 hours 14 min ago - AFP

Accor posts net profit rise for 2011

French hotel giant Accor posted a net profit of 27 million euros for 2011 on Wednesday with operating profits, a key measure for the company, up by 18.8 percent from a year ago to 530 million euros ($701 million).Accor, which runs a series of hotel ...
Rheinmetall posts record earnings in 2011
7 hours 17 min ago - AFP

Rheinmetall posts record earnings in 2011

Rheinmetall, a specialist maker of automotive components and defence equipment, said Wednesday it achieved its best-ever results last year on strong demand particularly for its car parts.Rheinmetall said in a statement that underlying profits, as ...
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