Bill Gates: Vaccine-autism link 'an absolute lie'

If an elementary school teacher graded you on your involvement in your child's education, what kind of a grade would you get?
Should your kid's first-grade teacher be grading you in the first place? If Florida state Rep. Kelli Stargel's bill becomes law, public school teachers will be required to grade the parents of students in kindergarten through the third grade.
The parents' grades of "satisfactory," "unsatisfactory" or "needs improvement" would be added to their children's report card.
Stargel, a Republican who sits on several education legislative committees, says that parental involvement is key to educating children for years to come.

18 days of protest culminate in Mubarak's ouster

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down Friday and handed over power to the military, his nearly three decades of iron rule ended by a groundswell of popular protests that began January 25.
In a somber, one-minute announcement on state television, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and said the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will "run the affairs of the country."
As Suleiman spoke, deafening cheers erupted among tens of thousands of Egyptians who thronged the streets of Cairo. It was a moment they had sought throughout long, often tense days of demonstrations -- some of them violent -- that demanded Mubarak's departure.
It was a moment that many in the Arab world's powerhouse nation had not dared contemplate.
Chants of "Egypt is free!" and "God is great!" rose from the crowds, dizzy in the honeymoon of their success. Some waved Egyptian flags; others honked horns; still others set off fireworks as they savored the scene.

Bill Gates: Vaccine-autism link 'an absolute lie'

Microsoft founder Bill Gates sat down recently with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in Davos, Switzerland. The billionaire philanthropist was attending the World Economic Forum to push his mission of eradicating polio by 2012. Gates, through his foundation, also pledged $10 billion to provide vaccinations to children around the world within a decade.
Gupta asked Gates for his thoughts about the alleged autism-vaccine connection. He also asked: Who holds ultimate accountability for the billions of dollars being spent on aid? Is a certain amount of corruption and fraud expected? Below is an excerpt of their conversation.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Ten billion dollars [pledged] over the next 10 years to make it "the year of the vaccines." What does that mean exactly?

A mother in Tampa, Florida has admitted in detail to killing her two teen-aged children

A mother in Tampa, Florida has admitted in detail to killing her two teen-aged children, police said.
Police checking on the family at the request of a relative found Julie K. Schenecker, 50, on the back porch of her home Friday morning, dressed in blood-covered clothing, according to a police statement.
They found her son, Beau Powers Schenecker, 13, dead in the family's SUV, which had been parked in the garage, the statement said. Calyx Powers Schenecker, 16, was in an upstairs bedroom, also dead.
"She did tell us that they talked back, that they were mouthy," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy told CNN affiliate WTSP. "But I don't think that will ever serve as an explanation to the rest of us of how you could take a child's life."

Flavor Flav opens fried chicken restaurant in Iowa

Look out, Colonel Sanders. Flavor Flav has a fried chicken restaurant, and he's coming for you - starting in a small Iowa city.

The Public Enemy rapper and reality TV star opened Flav's Fried Chicken in Clinton, Iowa, on Monday with a business partner he met through a connection in Las Vegas, the Clinton Herald reported.

"My chicken ain't no joke. I ain't scared to go up against the Colonel, tastewise," Flav said, referring to chicken giant KFC, in a YouTube video of him frying chicken at Monday's opening.

A Pakistani court has ordered a jailed American diplomat to remain in custody for 14 more days, authorities said Friday. The man's lawyer then filed a petition calling for his immediate release, saying he is covered under diplomatic immunity.

Raymond Davis, who allegedly shot and killed two men, was transferred from police custody to "judicial remand," said Munir Ahmed Khan, a member of the police investigative team.
Pakistani law says police can only keep a suspect in custody for 14 days. After that, a judge can either release the suspect -- on bail or for lack of evidence -- or transfer him to judicial custody, which is usually a prison instead of a police station lock-up.
Davis said he was attacked by the two men on January 27 who tried to rob him as he drove through a busy Lahore neighborhood, according to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.

Arrest warrant issued for former Pakistani President Musharraf

(CNN) -- A court in Pakistan issued an arrest warrant Saturday for former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a public prosecutor told CNN.
Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said on the Anti Terrorist Court in Rawalpindi issued the warrant.
Prosecutors claim that an investigation shows Musharraf was responsible for not providing adequate protection for Bhutto and has not responded to a prosecutor's request to answer questions -- hence the court-ordered arrest warrant.
Bhutto, who spent many years in exile, was assassinated in 2007 as she campaigned against Musharraf for the presidency.

Colombia's FARC rebels have released two more of the five hostages they had promised to free this week as a gesture of peace to the government.

Politician Armando Acuna was released by FARC rebels during a humanitarian mission started by former Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel force, freed Jose Armando Acuna, a 48-year-old town councilman seized in 2009, and Henry Lopez, a 25-year old soldier kidnapped eight months ago, on Friday, AP reported. 

The hostages were handed over to a humanitarian delegation that included officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross and former Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba, who helped mediate their release. 

Two earthquakes have struck the central coastal area of Chile, rattling the same region hit by last year's magnitude 8.8 quake.

A magnitude 6.8 quake, followed by another with a magnitude of 6.3, occurred off the Pacific coast of Chile on Friday. 

The US Geological Survey and Chile's national emergency office said the first quake struck Friday in the Pacific, 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the city of Concepcion. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described talks with Japan over the disputed Kuril Islands as pointless as long as Tokyo adopts a radical position.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara (R) leaves after a press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov after a meeting in Moscow on February 11, 2011.

"When radical approaches to signing a peace treaty take over in Japan...then talks have no prospects," state-run RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying during a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara on Friday. 

The senior Russian official also proposed the establishment of a commission of Russian and Japanese historians to resolve the long-standing dispute. 

Maehara, for his part, repeated Tokyo's claim to the four Russian-held islands -- known as the Kuril Islands in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, saying they are an integral part of Japan “in terms of history and international law.” 

He noted that Japan and Russia will set up a high-level task force to study the feasibility of Tokyo participation in joint economic projects on the disputed islands. 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the island of Kunashir, one of the four disputed islands, on November 1, 2010. The visit was the first of its kind by a Russian official. 

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan quickly expressed regret over the controversial visit to the remote Pacific islands. 

“Japan's stance is that those four northern islands are part of our country's territory, so the president's visit is very regrettable,” Kan said. 

The Japanese foreign minister also said any such visit would “hurt the feelings of the Japanese people.” 

Lavrov denied that Medvedev's trip to the disputed islands was politically-motivated. 

"The Russian president does not take advice from anyone on which region of Russia he should visit,” Lavrov said. 

Japanese Ambassador to Moscow Masaharu Kono was temporarily recalled to Tokyo for consultations after Medvedev's visit to the Kunashir Island. He returned to Russia after a week. 

The Kurils Islands have rich fishing grounds, mineral deposits, as well as potential oil and gas reserves.

The archipelago of some 56 islands, which are home to about 19,000 people, has been controlled by Moscow since its seizure by Soviet troops in 1945. All of the islands are under Russian jurisdiction, but Japan claims that the four southernmost islands as part of its territory. 

Tension over the disputed Kuril Islands has snarled ties between Tokyo and Moscow, preventing the signing of a formal peace treaty to end WWII hostilities. source

Russian officials say Moscow will reconsider its strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty with Washington in case the US government builds up its missile system.

“If the US increases the size and quality of missile defense individually or together with NATO partners and the situation changes; a question will [then] arise: Should Russia comply with the treaty or take measures in response?” a Press TV correspondent quoted Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying in a news conference on Monday. 

The senior Russian diplomat noted that the new Russian-US Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) makes the link between strategic defensive and offensive armaments legally binding.

Russia has pledged to carry out an all-out clampdown on terrorism in response to a Chechnya-based militant group's admission that it was responsible for the deadly bombing at a Moscow airport last month.

"Russia will carry out an uncompromised fight against international terrorism and will always be a reliable ally of states that opposes terror by all legal means," AFP quoted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying on Tuesday during a presentation ceremony for foreign ambassadors' credentials in Moscow. 

He went on to say that terrorism, which "defies the fundamental rights, freedoms and democratic foundations of the society" and "denies the value of a human life," still poses a major threat to global security.