National / International News

Infra-red holography could be used to help firefighters locate people trapped in fires, researchers say.

Vicky Pryce, ex-wife of former Lib Dem minister Chris Huhne, tells her retrial she was not thinking straight when she went to newspapers with the speeding points story.

Many people are under-reporting how much alcohol they are drinking. But what else are we fibbing to researchers about and why do we do it?

Chuck Hagel is sworn in as the new US defence secretary, a day after the Senate approved his appointment following a bruising nomination battle.

Bumpy ride ahead for Italy after indecisive polls

Two assembly members are attempting to change the law to make it illegal to perform an abortion outside the NHS.

The Department of Health in Stormont says it will publish draft advice on abortion in Northern Ireland next week.

Some of the UK's leading historians endorse Education Secretary Michael Gove's new history curriculum for schools in England, but others express concern over the plans.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is back on Capitol Hill today to field another round of questions from lawmakers. Yesterday, he warned members of the Senate Banking Committee that the sequester's spending cuts, which kick in on Friday, will harm the already fragile economic recovery.

Juli Niemann, analyst with Smith Moore and Company, joins Marketplace Morning Report host Jeremy Hobson to break down how the cuts could trickle out into the consumer economy.

Piracy levels are falling, thanks to a combination of legal action and better legal alternatives, a market research firm says.

Rosslyn rapist Robert Greens is ordered to serve another year of his original jail sentence after breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

Hessel, France's surprise elder icon, dies at 95

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Sir Ranulph Fiennes has left his Antarctic base after abandoning his polar mission because of frostbite

Fashion giant DKNY apologises to a US street photographer after hundreds of his photos were used in a Bangkok shop window display without permission.

Madness will perform a special show in the car park in front of BBC Television Centre to bid a "fond farewell" to the building after 53 years.

Some results of first lady's anti-obesity effort

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Dubai adds tallest hotel to superlative list

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Also: Flooding follows snow in the Midwest; Iran will continue international nuclear talks; Taliban uses poison to kill Afghan police and civilians; and Ill. candidate field narrowed for elections to fill Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s seat.

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Yesterday wasn’t a good day for Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company announced its profits fell last quarter, by almost five percent, and it got saddled with three lawsuits alleging the company has misrepresented how much alcohol is in its beer. 

Budweiser is what’s called an American lager. For many years, Anheuser-Busch was run by a family with exacting standards.

“They specified the barley, the hops,” says Peter Reid, the publisher of  Modern Brewery Age, a magazine about the beer industry. “All the ingredients were top notch.”

He says that InBev, the company that bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008, has a reputation for cost-cutting, but still, he says he is skeptical of what the plaintiffs claim.

“I was surprised in the suit that they hadn’t done independent testing of the alcohol content.”

In a statement, Anheuser-Busch says the claims are “completely false,” and these lawsuits are “groundless.”

Many large-scale beer makers do brew high-alcohol beer, then water it down to a normal level, to sell to consumers.

“It’s much quicker, easier, and cheaper to water down a product later on,” says Matt Simpson, owner of “The Beer Sommelier.” He says that’s one thing, but if the company mislabeled what it was selling, that’s another.

Taliban kill 17 Afghans in attack in east

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