Year: 2014

By Oliver Holmes and Khaled Yacoub Oweis GENEVA (Reuters) – Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition are not making much progress, the international mediator said on Tuesday after a face-to-face meeting of the warring parties in Geneva that both sides called fruitless. Negotiations intended to end Syria's three-year-old civil war began with a week-long session last month and have resumed this week in Geneva. But Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran diplomat charged with running the internationally sponsored talks, told a news conference the second round so far was as "laborious" as the first. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Tuesday was a "lost day" while opposition spokesman Louay Safi said "no progress" had been made.

The Chinese government will pump 61.66 billion yuan ($10.17 billion) in extra funds into the restive far western region of Xinjiang this year to improve housing and employment, state media said on Wednesday. Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Exiles and many rights groups though say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies including restrictions on Islam and the Uighur people's culture and language, charges the government strongly denies. But the government has begun to recognize the economic roots of some of the upheaval, especially underdevelopment and lack of job opportunities in heavily Uighur areas like rural southern Xinjiang, and has poured money in to rectify the problem.

Inventor of new zipper design was inspired by his physically challenged uncle.        

Inventor of new zipper design was inspired by his physically challenged uncle.        

Cash-strapped Zimbabwe asked for international aid on Wednesday to evacuate thousands of families threatened by a dam it feared could burst following torrential rains. Authorities said they had only managed to move 36 families out of 2,230 in immediate danger, warning any break in the Tokwe-Mukorsi dam could flood tens of thousands of other people downstream. Zimbabwe was asking for $20 million from foreign donors, Local Government and Public Works Minister Ignatius Chombo told Reuters.

The Duke Diet and Fitness Center is promoting an approximately 800-calories-a-day meal replacement program for people unable to lose weight …

WASHINGTON (AP) — Big retail stores, hotels, restaurants and other companies with lots of low-wage and part-time workers are among the main beneficiaries of the Obama administration's latest tweak to health care rules.