"Blade Runner" Pistorius charged with murdering girlfriend

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged on Thursday with shooting dead his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria. Police said they had opened a murder case after a 30-year-old woman was found dead at the track star's house after an incident in the upmarket Silverlakes gated...

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Stock futures point to modest gains at open

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to slight gains at the open on Wednesday, suggesting the market would continue a recent advance that lifted benchmark indexes to multi-year highs. Equities have been strong performers of late, buoyed largely by healthy growth in corporate earnings, with the S&P 500 gaining 6.5 percent so far this year. The Dow is about 1 percent from...

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Player regrets getting entangled with match-fixing

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Soccer player Mario Cizmek thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, then collect the payoff and start paying off your debts.But the broke and desperate athlete soon learned that one match wouldn't do it. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another.And so it went until, in what he described as his "worst moment,"...

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Earth-Buzzing Asteroid Worth $195 Billion, Space Miners Say

The space rock set to give Earth a historically close shave this Friday (Feb. 15) may be worth nearly $ 200 billion, prospective asteroid miners say.The 150-foot-wide (45 meters) asteroid 2012 DA14 — which will zoom within 17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers) of Earth on Friday, marking the closest approach by such a large space rock that astronomers have ever known about in advance — may harbor $ 65...

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Africa 'must think big for its children'

Children at school in the Mukuru kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi, Kenya.STORY HIGHLIGHTSNew report shows that policies across Africa are helping children's developmentBut laws must improve to help children reach potential, says Catherine MbengueScrapping fees in Malawi saw entry to primary school jump from under 50% to 99%At secondary level, education in much of the region is deeply limited, Mbengue saysEditor's...

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Obama to Republicans: Can we just move on?

President Obama highlighted numerous parts of his agenda during his State of the Union Address. AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace reports, the tough part will be turning words into action. (Feb. 13) ...

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Insight: Divided Damascus confronted by all-out war

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - MiG warplanes roar low overhead to strike rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad on the fringes of Damascus, while artillery batteries pound the insurgents from hills overlooking a city divided between all-out war and a deceptive calm. Whole families can be obliterated by air raids that miss their targets. Wealthy Syrians or their children are kidnapped....

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Stock futures dip before Obama speech, Coca-Cola shares off

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set to open little changed on Tuesday, hovering near multi-year highs as traders awaited President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. The economy will be one of the main topics of Obama's speech at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday). Investors will listen for any clues on a deal with Republicans in Congress to avert automatic spending cuts due to take...

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IOC drops wrestling from 2020 Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — IOC leaders dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games.The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon — the event considered most at risk — and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 "core sports."The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the...

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Why pope will long be remembered

Tim Stanley says Pope Benedict will be seen as an important figure in church history.STORY HIGHLIGHTSTimothy Stanley: Benedict XVI's resignation is historic since popes usually serve for lifeHe says pope not so much conservative as asserting church's "living tradition" He backed traditionalists, but a conflicted flock, scandal, culture wars a trial to papacy, he saysStanley: Pope kept to principle,...

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