National / International News

English cricket bosses are planning to step up testing for recreational drugs in the wake of batsman Tom Maynard's death.

An inmate at a high-security Pennsylvania prison kills a guard, the first time a federal officer has died at work in almost five years.

A new round of talks on Iran's nuclear program is under way. But international sanctions haven't led to the type of concessions the West hoped for, and prospects for a breakthrough are limited.

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Between them, Google Android and Apple's iOS account for more than 90 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, with Windows Phone, BlackBerry and a few smaller players rounding out the mobile market. But the tech world never stands still and other players are making a run for a piece of the growing mobile pie.

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Is the operating room staff Facebooking when they should be monitoring vital signs? The nurse anestheticists say that's a potential patient safety problem.

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The head teacher and five staff members are suspended from a primary school as police investigate the alleged ill treatment of pupils.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is married to former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan. The PAC has been pushing messages that try to draw connections between McConnell's politics and his wife's heritage. His spokesman calls those messages "disgusting."

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President Obama has begun his second term with great momentum, but history warns that he will be challenged to sustain himself by forces all around — and within — him.

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A 15-year-old rape victim has been sentenced to 100 lashes for engaging in premarital sex with another man, say court officials in the Maldives.

The death of cricketer Tom Maynard, who was struck by a Tube train while drunk and high on drugs, was accidental, a jury decides.

A government agency in Quebec, Canada, has come under intense criticism after attempting to get pasta stricken from a restaurant's menu. The move had nothing to do with the food: Officials said Italian words such as pasta, calamari, and antipasto should be replaced with French words.

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The health minister defends patient safety at the Ulster Hospital after paramedics complain that they had to wait for hours for their patients to be admitted.

As Congress and the White House try to figure out gun control legislation, there's some support for limiting high-capacity magazines. That, in turn, has turned at least part of the debate about guns to a debate about bullets.

Joanna Pearlstein is a senior editor at Wired magazine and her latest piece looks at the business of bullets.

"There's about 10 billion bullets manufactured in the United States every year," said Pearlstein.

Federal regulations mostly restrict buying bullets based on who you are, said Pearlstein. For example,there are limits and restrictions for those are who are not in the country legally, those who are dishonorably discharged from the military, those who have certain felony convictions or for those under the age of 18.

"That said," she continued, "there's not a lot of background checks that are being done. So the onus is on you as the purchaser to basically be honest when you go into a store and buy ammunition."

Comedian Chris Rock once famously stated in a stand-up routine that instead of gun control, "all bullets should cost $5,000."

Pearlstein said you can really see why a bullet tax might be a good idea. "As cigarette taxes have increased over the years, consumption of cigarettes has declined; the tobacco industry has been up in arms about this for years," she said. "It stands to reason that if you can buy a box of 50 bullets for $20, maybe if that box cost $40 or $80 or $10,000, maybe we'd be buying fewer of them."

The court blocked a suit contending the law is unconstitutional from going forward, saying the challengers had no legal standing because they had not shown with sufficient certainty that they had been monitored. That decision all but ensures there will be no further challenge to the law.

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Up-to-the-minute news, pictures and video from Europe's biggest mobile phone festival in Barcelona.

Boxer Herbie Hide denies claims made by a national newspaper that he can rig fights and knows drug dealers.

Lib Dems bedded in; Tories to take flak, and other musings

The Egyptian authorities suspend all hot air balloon flights near Luxor and launches an investigation following the deaths of 19 tourists in a crash.

Northampton duo Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes are two of 10 England players released for next weekend's league games.

The BBC is told Cardinal Keith O'Brien is "very upset" over the circumstances of his resignation.