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Honda recall over faulty brakes

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Honda is to recall more than 410,000 vehicles in the US because of braking problems that could make it harder to stop if it is not repaired.

US presidential candidate's mistress: 'I'm no gold-digger'

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:08:18 +0000

THEIR EYES met across a crowded room. "You're so hot!" she said. "Why thank you!" he replied. One thing led to another, and a few hours later, the 42-year-old divorcee was waking up with one of America's best-known politicians. "You know what?" he gently whispered. "Falling in love with you could really f**k up my plans for becoming President!"

Obama in threat to Democrats who reject health bill

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Barack Obama will not campaign for any Democratic congressmen who fails to support healthcare reform, he has said.

Pentagon aide 'ran spy ring' in Pakistan

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A PENTAGON official has been accused of setting up a secret network of private contractors to spy on militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan so that they could be hunted down and killed.

Drug gang kills pregnant embassy worker

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Suspected Mexican drug cartel killers have shot dead a pregnant American consulate worker and her husband as they drove home with their baby from a children's birthday party.

Toyota chief told of safety fears four years ago

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

TOYOTA was forced yesterday to hand over to US congressional investigators a "smoking gun" memo produced by its own factory workers that warned management as far back as 2006 of systemic threats to car safety.

America on course for white minority by 2050

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

THE United States could reach a "tipping point" this year when the number of babies born to minorities would outnumber those born to whites for the first time.

Mexican magnate named world's richest man

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

THE Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim Helu has been named the world's richest man, with a net worth of $53.5bn (€39bn), the first time since 1994 that the number one spot has been held by a non-American.

New York chef offers customers cheese made from wife's breast milk

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:44:01 +0000

A New York restaurant chef has been warned by city health officials after he offered customers the chance to taste cheese made from his wife's breast milk.

Congressman gets naked dressing down in shower

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

President Barack Obama's troubled effort to reform the US health industry took a bizarre twist yesterday after a Democrat congressman said that he was lambasted over the issue by a naked Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, in a men's changing room.

US citizens among 28 killed in Mexico

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

THREE people connected with the American consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico were murdered yesterday as violence raged across the country.

Ground Zero workers win $657m compensation fight

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

More than 10,000 workers who say they suffered health problems from the toxic conditions at Ground Zero after the September 11 terror attacks have won compensation of $657.5m (e478m) in a deal ending years of legal fighting.

I'm proud we 'tortured' terrorists, says Bush's chief of staff

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

The man known for much of his career as "Bush's brain" has caused a storm of protest by saying that he is proud of waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on prisoners by the US as they "broke the will of these terrorists and gave us valuable information".

Pay up or the parrot gets it, says bank

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:37:26 +0000

IT SOUNDS like the basis for a Monty Python sketch, rather than a $50,000 lawsuit. A woman from Pennsylvania is suing Bank of America, after a contractor wrongly repossessed her home and impounded her beloved pet parrot.

Ban salt to save lives, restaurants in New York told

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:12:44 +0000

FOUR YEARS ago New York City's health commissioners banned artery-blocking transfats in restaurants. Now, if a legislator has his way, the chefs at every eatery in the Big Apple and across the state will have to make do without salt.

Sushi chef in hot water for serving whale

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A sushi chef in California and the restaurant in which he worked have been charged with illegally serving endangered Sei whale meat, the US Justice Department said yesterday.

America confronts its worst nightmare: blonde 'Jihad Jane'

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:39:08 +0000

The case of "Jihad Jane" – the middle-aged woman from suburban Philadelphia linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist held to have insulted the prophet Mohamed – represents the worst nightmare of US security authorities: a white, female, all-American terrorist.

Toyota to face €2bn case over car recalls

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

THERE was no let up for the troubled Toyota car company yesterday as American owners of the cars filed dozens of group lawsuits claiming that massive safety recalls have destroyed the value of their cars.

Orca's future uncertain after trainer death

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

SeaWorld has not decided whether an orca that killed its trainer by dragging her into the water will keep performing, an official said yesterday.

Video: Tornado rips through Oklahoma town

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:04:06 +0000

Dramatic footage has been released of the moment when a tornado struck a town in Oklahoma.

Dear Jackie: How America mourned JFK

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:44:51 +0000

They arrived from every corner of the country. They were from men women and children, of every race, age, class and calling. Half a century on, they have come to life again, expressing Americans' grief, shock and collective sense of bereavement at the news of John F Kennedy's assassination.

Floating 'garbage patch' doubles in size

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Oceanographers have found that a vast floating island of rubbish in the Pacific has doubled in size over a decade and is now twice as large as Texas.

Palin plans reality TV show on family life in Alaska

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Sarah Palin is said to be in talks to make a reality television programme that shows her family's life in Alaska.

No food, water or medicine as quake death toll rises to 796

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

AS INTERNATIONAL aid finally began arriving in some of the smaller towns and port cities along the coastline of Chile that bore the brunt of the weekend's earthquake, they reported finding scenes of destruction worse and more desperate than some had ever encountered.

Most detailed pictures of Earth revealed by Nasa

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:35:58 +0000

The most detailed and amazing set of composite satellite images of the Earth ever produced, have been disclosed by Nasa scientists.

Pack in the smokes and eat better, Obama told

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has failed to stop smoking and needs to eat better to lower his cholesterol, according to a medical that found him otherwise fit and "in excellent health".

Clinton brings help to stricken zone

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday she will bring 20 satellite phones and a technician with her when she visits earthquake-damaged Chile.

Troops deployed on streets to quell riots and looting

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

WHEN THE earth began to buckle, Alberto Rozas instinctively grabbed his seven-year-old daughter and waited in the bathroom for it to be over.

Tears flow as killer whale act returns

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

EMPLOYEES wept and audience members fell silent at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, as the theme park's popular killer whale show resumed with a photo montage memorial for a trainer who was killed by one of the orcas in front of horrified spectators five days ago.

Desperation replaces fear as death toll from quake hits 708

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

DESPERATION and sporadic lawlessness were replacing the fear of falling masonry in towns across Chile last night, as hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find shelter, food and drinking water.

US Diary: How to avoid makeing a right Charlie of yourself

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

You've got to hand it to Charlie Sheen. The actor, due in court on March 15 to face felony charges of assaulting, menacing and threatening his wife Brooke during a Christmas Day dispute in Aspen, entered a rehab facility on Tuesday in a move his publicist described as "a preventative measure".

World news in brief: Suspected al-Qaeda militants kill 11 people in southern Philippines village

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

SUSPECTED al-Qaeda-linked militants raided a village in the southern Philippines early yesterday, killing 11 people in the country's worst militant attack on civilians in nine years.

Pow! $1.07m Batman sale beats Superman

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A 1939 comic book in which Batman made his debut sold at auction for more than $1m, breaking a record set just three days earlier by a Superman comic, Heritage Auction Galleries said.

Hockey team says sorry for rink booze-up

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

THE Canadian women's ice hockey team has apologised after players celebrated winning Olympic gold by quaffing champagne and beer and smoking cigars.

Seinfeld's parking permit is no joke

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

NOBODY knows more about the parking problems in New York than Jerry Seinfeld. The TV comic made the shortage of parking spaces a perennial topic on his eponymous 1990s sit-com "about nothing".