World
Mystery of Chinese bird flu outbreak grows
By Megha Rajagopalan and Kate Kelland, Reuters on April 19, 2013, at 9:51 a.m.
BEIJING and LONDON — Health officials raised further questions on Friday about the source of a new strain of bird flu infecting humans in China after data indicated that more than half of patients had had no contact with poultry. The H7N9 virus has been found in 87 people, mostly ...
Thousands gather for ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher’s funeral
By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times on April 17, 2013, at 9:36 a.m.
LONDON — With stately solemnity and military honors, Margaret Thatcher’s body was borne through the streets of the British capital Wednesday morning to a funeral service where hundreds of world leaders, colleagues and friends paid their last respects to this country’s first and only female prime minister. Inside imposing St. ...
Canada’s Liberals go for youth over experience in Trudeau scion
By Randall Palmer, Reuters on April 14, 2013, at 10:32 p.m.
OTTAWA — Canada’s Liberals crowned charismatic rising political star Justin Trudeau as their party leader on Sunday, relying more on hope and a youthful image than on experience and substance to contest seven years of Conservative rule. The 41-year-old son of the swashbuckling former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin ...
Venezuelans vote on future of ‘Chavista’ socialism
By Daniel Wallis and Todd Benson, Reuters on April 14, 2013, at 9:27 p.m.
CARACAS — Venezuelans voted on Sunday on whether to honor Hugo Chavez’s dying wish for a longtime loyalist to continue his self-styled socialist revolution or hand power to a young challenger promising business-friendly changes. Acting President Nicolas Maduro led opposition rival Henrique Capriles in most polls heading into the vote, ...
Pope Francis says hypocrisy undermines Church’s credibility
By Steve Scherer, Reuters on April 14, 2013, at 6:27 p.m.
ROME — Pope Francis on Sunday said clergy and Christians must not betray the word of God with their actions or they undermine the credibility of the Catholic Church. Francis, elected a month ago, inherited a Church struggling to restore credibility after a series of scandals, including the sexual abuse ...
Kerry says U.S. ready to ‘reach out’ to North Korea
By Arshad Mohammed and Kiyoshi Takenaka, Reuters on April 14, 2013, at 5:19 p.m.
TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday stressed the United States is willing to engage with North Korea as long as it takes steps to give up nuclear weapons. He also vowed Washington would protect its Asian allies against any provocative acts by the North, but said ...
Egypt sells $600 million to import basic goods
By Ulf Laessing and Asma Alsharif, Reuters on April 14, 2013, at 4:07 p.m.
CAIRO — Egypt’s central bank sold $600 million to banks in a special auction of foreign exchange on Sunday to pay for wheat, meat, cooking oil and other essential imports to a country struggling with a currency crisis. The size of the auction — 15 times the amount the central ...
VIDEO
South Korean students at UMaine worry about families back home
ORONO, Maine — North Korea’s belligerent threats are taken with a grain of salt by neighbors to the south, but uncertainty about the intentions of the normally secretive country is sparking some concern for South Korean University of Maine students with families back home. “People in South Korea have been ...
Microsoft Windows weak demand drives worst PC decline on record
By Aaron Ricadela, Bloomberg on April 11, 2013, at 7:12 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO — Personal-computer shipments plummeted in every region of the world in the first quarter as buyers opted for smartphones and tablet computers and Microsoft’s newest operating system met with weak demand. Global PC unit shipments fell 14 percent in the first quarter — the worst such decline on ...
Death toll from new bird flu strain in China reaches nine
SHANGHAI — The death toll in China from a new strain of bird flu rose to nine on Tuesday, said state media, who also quoted Chinese authorities saying a vaccine should be ready within months. The latest victim was from Anhui province, the official Xinhua news service reported. The H7N9 ...
Kerry, Netanyahu claim peace talk progress
By Anne Gearan, The Washington Post on April 09, 2013, at 9:05 p.m.
TEL AVIV — Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed progress Tuesday in preparing for possible new peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, opening a new chapter in U.S. peacemaking after what Kerry acknowledged is a long history of disappointments. “Nobody is entering this ...
Maine Sen. Susan Collins among lawmakers calling for tighter squeeze on Iran
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Bloomberg News on April 09, 2013, at 2:20 p.m.
WASHINGTON — A group of U.S. lawmakers, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins, is proposing to intensify the economic pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program by drafting the harshest penalties to date on a nation whose income from oil exports has been cut in half by sanctions since 2011. ...
Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, Britain’s only woman prime minister, dies at 87 in England
By Stephen Addison and Adrian Croft, Reuters on April 08, 2013, at 9:08 a.m.
LONDON – Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady”, was a towering figure in British 20th century politics, a grocer’s daughter with a steely resolve who was loved and loathed in equal measure as she crushed the unions and privatized vast swathes of industry. She died on Monday, aged 87, after suffering a ...
Remains of 40 soldiers from time of Christ excavated
By Guy Gugliotta, Special to The Washington Post on April 04, 2013, at 9:03 p.m.
In the days of ancient Rome, it was never a good idea to send amateurs to pacify the Germanic tribes. The Emperor Augustus found this out in A.D. 9, when his handpicked crony, Varus, blundered into a series of ambushes in the Teutoburg Forest and lost about 20,000 men in ...
Dissident Cuban blogger gets warm reception from Miami exiles
By David Adams, Reuters on April 01, 2013, at 8:12 p.m.
MIAMI — Cuba’s best-known dissident, independent journalist and blogger Yoani Sanchez, received a hero’s welcome on Monday from the Cuban-American exile community in Miami, her latest stop in an 80-day tour of more than a dozen countries. In was the largest and most politically unified reception in at least a ...
Record gene haul points to better cancer screening
By Ben Hirschler, Reuters on March 27, 2013, at 9 p.m.
LONDON — New research has nearly doubled the number of genetic variations implicated in breast, prostate and ovarian cancer, offering fresh avenues for screening at-risk patients and, potentially, developing better drugs. The bumper haul of 74 gene changes that can increase risks for the three hormone-related cancers, announced by scientists ...
Canada consumer prices post fastest monthly gain since 1991
By Theophilos Argitis, Bloomberg on March 27, 2013, at 5:29 p.m.
OTTAWA — Canadian consumer prices rose at the fastest monthly pace in more than 20 years in February on higher prices for gasoline and clothes, as the nation’s inflation rate rebounded from three-year lows. Consumer prices rose 1.2 percent in February, the biggest monthly gain since January 1991 when the ...
Wall Street ends flat on late buying, Cyprus woes linger
By Rodrigo Campos, Reuters on March 27, 2013, at 5:16 p.m.
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rebounded from early declines to close little changed on Wednesday, but investors were still worried about the chance of a run on Cypriot banks and its possible implications for other euro-zone lenders. Financial shares fell on both sides of the Atlantic on concerns that depositors ...
German shoemaker says Atheist-branded packages mistreated by USPS
A Berlin-based shoe company that brands their old-style footwear with a non-religious message recently alleged unnamed U.S. Postal Service employees engaged in “differential handling” of shipments made to the shoemaker’s U.S. customers. Atheist Shoes, whose footwear bears the slogan “Ich bin [I am] Atheist,” said on their website that they ...
North Korea to cut all channels with South as “war may break out any time”
SEOUL — Reclusive North Korea is to cut the last channel of communications with the South because war could break out at “any moment”, it said on Wednesday, days of after warning the United States and South Korea of nuclear attack. The move is the latest in a series of ...
Former Bangor YMCA building sold to new dental technology school
University of Maine hockey job has been offered to former assistant Red Gendron
Millinocket company unearths logging history for niche market
Bangor man charged with murder, escape from psychiatric hospital found not competent to stand trial
Bangor police seeking suspect in assault that left man face-down in road
After 27 years, a father continues to search for his daughter, presumed dead
Why is DHHS always asking for more money?
Maine GOP disappoints on Medicaid
Meet Riley and help her get from cancer to Kilimanjaro
Lawrence, Connolly help UMaine advance to America East baseball title game
Bucksport’s Cassidy Adams strikes out 19 in single game
Jonesport-Beals basketball standout Garet Beal named Parade All-American
Hampden’s Norris among three players heading to Husson men’s basketball program