First tweeting pope remains silent over resignation

VATICAN CITY - It could have been the tweet of the century.

But Pope Benedict decided not to announce his resignation on Twitter, which he joined last year in a foray into social media that has reaped uncertain spiritual returns and could be curtailed by his successor.

Obviously keen to avoid any leak of his resignation - which would have been a risk as his tweets are typed up by an aide - the pope announced it in person, in Latin, to a restricted group of cardinals. The video was then given to the world's media.
News of the first pontiff to resign in seven centuries scorched through Twitter, generating 1.5 million comments in the first 36 hours, according to analytics firm Crimson Hexagon.
But of those, a third were negative, criticising the pope or the Roman Catholic Church, and 38 percent were jokes. Just 7 percent were positive, expressing concern for the pontiff or hope about the future.

High stakes if Apple e books antitrust case goes to trial in US

NEW YORK  - As the only remaining defendant in the U.S. government's e-books antitrust case, Apple Inc appears headed for a high-stakes trial that could significantly increase the personal computer company's liability in related litigation.

Apple faces a June 3 trial date over civil allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that it conspired with five publishers to raise the price of e-books and to fight the dominance of Amazon.com Inc.

On Friday, Macmillan became the fifth and final publisher to settle with the government. The Justice Department alleges that Apple came to agreements with each of the publishers meant to ensure that e-book prices at its iBookstore and other retailers would remain higher than those offered by Amazon.com.

At the Apple trial, to be overseen by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, the Justice Department will seek not monetary damages but a judicial decree that Apple violated antitrust law, court papers said.

South Africa fightback puts Test on knife edge

 

Robin Peterson and Dale Steyn led a South African fightback which left the second Test against Pakistan evenly poised at the end of the third day at Newlands on Saturday. Pakistan were 100 for three at the close, a lead of 112.

Peterson hit 84 to enable South Africa to get within 12 runs of Pakistan's first innings total of 338 and Steyn bowled at blistering pace to take two wickets as Pakistan lost their first three second innings wickets for 45 runs.

At that stage South Africa were slightly on top but Azhar Ali and captain Misbah-ul-Haq shared a largely cautious unbeaten partnership of 55 to see Pakistan through to the close without further loss.

South Africa were hampered by a recurrence of a hamstring injury to Morne Morkel, who left the field after bowling one ball in his second spell. He had to stop bowling because of the same injury in the first innings as well and seems unlikely to take the ball again in the match.

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1. Almonds :

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2. Walnuts :

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Charles helps West Indies to consolation win

BRISBANE: The West Indies ended their disappointing tour of Australia with a morale-boosting 27-run win over Australia in a one-off T20 international on Wednesday.

After losing all five one-day internationals and a warm-up game against the Prime Minister's XI, the T20 world champions cruised to an easy win against a below-strength home side.

The West Indies romped to 191 for six in their 20 overs, then restricted Australia to 164 for eight on a perfect batting strip.

Australia, whose five-man pace attack was badly exposed by the West Indies batsmen, started brilliantly.

Working out when to exercise in the cold and flu season

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sniffles, runny noses and flu-like symptoms can deter, delay and even derail many exercisers just when enthusiasm for that New Year's resolution is beginning to flag.

Health and fitness experts advise to starve a fever of exercise. But feeding a cold moderately, with a brisk walk, may not be a bad idea.

"The classic line from every sports medicine doctor is, 'If you can do it, do it. If you can't, don't,'" said Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, author of "Running Doc's Guide to Healthy Running."

Usually if symptoms are confined to above the neck, exercising is OK, he explained. But if you're running a fever of 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 degrees Celsius) or higher, skip it.

Body heat rises during exercise due to increased metabolism, explained Maharam, who practices medicine in New York City. If you start high, your body's way of cooling you down is out of balance.

"If fever gets too high, you break down proteins, maybe in the kidneys or liver," he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 425 million case of colds and flu occur annually in the United States. The average person has about three respiratory infections per year.

Dr. David C. Nieman, a professor of health sciences at Appalachian State University, North Carolina Research Campus, said research shows that regular, moderate aerobic exercise strengthens the immune system, and that people who exercise report fewer colds than their inactive peers.

Nieman said five days or more of aerobic activity per week was found to be a powerful factor in lowering the number of sick days.

No date for Valentines Day? New apps may help

TORONTO (Reuters) - Singles who believe in love at first sight can turn to new apps that will match them with potential dates in time for Valentine's Day, but only if each person has expressed an interest.

With the new dating apps, users simply flip through photos of people in nearby locations and express their interest in dating someone. If there's a mutual attraction, the app connects them for a conversation. If not, their feelings remain anonymous.

"It limits the conversations to people you've actually expressed an interest in. So each of those conversations starts at a very deep level," said Sean Rad, co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based company Tinder, which developed the app of the same name.

Makers of the Tinder app, which is available worldwide for iPhone, said it has matched more than 10 million couples since it was launched in September.

The app pulls in member photos of people from Facebook, and then it's as simple as anonymously indicating interest in that person. If both people like each other, messages can be sent between the two users.

Finmeccanica head arrested over India bribe allegations

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian police arrested the head of defence group Finmeccanica SpA on Tuesday over bribery allegations, adding to a series of corporate scandals shaking Italy less than two weeks before a general election.

Finmeccanica Chief Executive and Chairman Giuseppe Orsi was arrested over bribes allegedly paid to secure the sale of 12 helicopters to India, when he was head of the group's AgustaWestland unit, a judicial source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

Police were searching Orsi's home and the offices of AgustaWestland close to Milan, a source close to Orsi's lawyer said. The Milan offices of state-owned Finmeccanica, Italy's second-biggest corporate employer after Fiat Spa, were also searched, the judicial source said.

An Indian defence ministry source said kickbacks worth 40 million rupees allegedly paid to Indian officials to grease contracts for Finmeccanica were being probed and that Delhi was considering the deferral of the Finmeccanica helicopter deal, worth 560 million euros.

The Italian business world has been shaken in recent weeks by a series of corruption cases, notably a derivatives scandal at Italy's No. 3 lender Banca Monte dei Paschi and a probe into alleged bribery over contracts in Algeria that has hit oil major Eni SpA and its 43-percent owned oil services group Saipem SpA.

Sourav supports selectors decision to drop Gambhir

Calcutta: Sourav Ganguly has never minced words. Neither as a player, nor now when he dons the commentator’s hat.

So it wasn’t a surprise when the former India captain said that dropping Gautam Gambhir from the squad for the first two Tests against Australia was a correct decision.

He in fact backed the selectors’ choice, the in-form Shikhar Dhawan, as one of the three openers in the squad.

“Gambhir wasn’t scoring runs… That’s why he has been dropped. Dhawan, on the other hand, has been amongst runs. So if you score, you will be in the team… And if you can’t, you won’t be considered.

“Now, Gambhir should try and get back among runs if he wants to return to the Indian team,” Sourav said on Monday, on the sidelines of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) working committee meeting.

McCullum helps New Zealand draw level

 

HAMILTON - Captain Brendon McCullum led the way with the bat while his bowlers produced a disciplined display to beat England by 55 runs in the second Twenty20 international at Seddon Park on Tuesday and level the three-match series.

McCullum had anchored New Zealand's innings to power them to 192 for six with 74 runs from 38 balls as he plundered England's attack for six boundaries and five sixes.

Mitchell McClenaghan, who took two wickets in successive balls in the second over, Trent Boult and Ian Butler then put the power-packed England batting line-up under constant pressure with aggressive pace bowling.

NASA rover drills into its first Martian rock

  The Mars rover Curiosity drilled into the Martian surface for the first time as part of an effort to learn if the planet most like Earth in the solar system ever had conditions to support microbial life, NASA said on Saturday.

Pictures beamed back to Earth on Saturday showed a hole about 0.63 inches (1.6 cm) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) deep in a patch of fine-grained sedimentary bedrock that appears to have been in contact with water.
The drilling, which took place on Friday, produced a small pile of powder that will be fed into two onboard laboratory instruments to determine the rock's chemical makeup.
"First drilling on Mars to collect a sample for science is a success," NASA posted on Twitter.
Engineers spent days preparing to use Curiosity's drill, including boring practice holes earlier in the week. Previous Mars probes have had tools to scrape and grind into rock, but never a drill to collect interior samples.

Two days after hanging, speed post reaches Guru's family

Srinagar, Feb 11 (IANS) The speed post sent by Tihar Jail superintendent to Afzal Guru's family in Kashmir Valley's Sopore town was delivered Monday, two days after he was hanged in the national capital. The letter reached postal authorities here Saturday evening, several hours after he was executed.

"A speed post letter has been delivered to us by postal authorities today. Tihar Jail authorities have sent this speed post to Afzal's family," Afzal Guru's cousin Yaseen told journalists in Daibgah (Jageer) village near Sopore town.

Senior postal officials in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital, said the speed post was received Saturday evening - Afzal Guru was executed at 8 a.m. Saturday - but delivered Monday as Sunday was a public holiday.

"We received the speed post by air Saturday evening. It was addressed to Tabassum Guru (his wife). Sunday being a public holiday, the speed post has been delivered today," John Samuel, chief post master general (Jammu and Kashmir), told journalists.

Afzal Guru, hanged for his role in the 2001 attack on parliament, last met his Tabassum and son Ghalib in August 2012.

Australia to grill Apple, others on pricing

 

CANBERRA - Apple Inc has been ordered to appear before Australia's parliament with fellow technology giants Microsoft Inc and Adobe Systems Inc to explain why local consumers pay so much for their products, despite the strong Aussie dollar.

Broadening a row between the world's most valuable company and Australian lawmakers over corporate taxes paid on Apple's operations, Apple executives were formally summonsed on Monday to front a parliamentary committee in Canberra on March 22.

"In what's probably the first time anywhere in the world, these IT firms are now being summonsed by the Australian parliament to explain why they price their products so much higher in Australia compared to the United States," said ruling Labor government MP Ed Husic, who helped set up the committee.

Hackers target Twitter, could affect 250,000 user accounts

 

SAN FRANCISCO - Anonymous hackers attacked Twitter this week and may have gained access to passwords and other information for as many as 250,000 user accounts, the microblog revealed late on Friday.

 

Twitter said in a blog post that the passwords were encrypted and that it had already reset them as a "precautionary measure," and that it was in the process of notifying affected users.

The blog post noted recent revelations of large-scale cyber attacks against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but unlike the two news organizations, Twitter did not provide any detail on the origin or methodology of the attacks.

India hoping for a spin ambush

 

Mumbai: Despite the home Test series loss against England, India are expected to welcome the young Australia batsmen with turning tracks. The Australia team, arriving in batches for the series starting in Chennai on February 22, must brace themselves for a spin-oriented bowling attack. After the victory over England in the first Test at Ahmedabad, India skipper MS Dhoni had demanded rank turners. The captain's wish was fulfilled but the plan backfired as the visitors won the four-match series 2-1. 

However, what is apparent is the wickets will not be fresh, and with an entire Ranji season having been played out, they are bound to afford turn. "Indian wickets always offer turn. After so many domestic games, there is obviously going to be turn," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Jagdale told HT when asked if tracks similar to the ones given to England will be prepared for Australia. "We will play on the wickets the curators give us."
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