LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) - Around 100 Pakistani heart patients have died after taking faulty medicine made locally and dozens more are in a critical condition in hospital, government officials said Thursday."Nearly 100 patients have died due to a reaction to heart drugs," said Shahbaz Sharif, the head

TOKYO (AP) _ The Japanese government's worst-case scenario at the height of the nuclear crisis last year warned that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to leave their homes, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. But fearing widespread panic, officials

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Yahoo!’s brand new chief executive Scott Thompson promised urgent action to turn the company around on Tuesday after it reported another quarter and year of falling income and profits.Thompson, named Yahoo! CEO only on Jan. 4, said the web giant needed to move quickly to exploit its huge bank of user data to regain market share, especially in display ads where it has lost ground.The former PayPal chief stressed that Yahoo! needed to become an agile and “disruptive” force te

Firm sold 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads during the holiday season quarterNEW YORK (AP) ― The iPhone is taking over Apple. For the first time, the device that changed how people use mobile phones, accounts for more than half of the behemoth company’s sales. Apple Inc. on Tuesday said it sold 37 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, vastly exceeding analyst estimates and propelling the company to record quarterly results. The phone accounted for 53 percent of Apple’s revenue

Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally has suggested that his stylish new Fusion sedan is seeking sales supremacy over Toyota Motor Corp.’s Camry. That’s not exactly what the boss wants, executives said. Ford can’t make enough Fusions to outsell the Camry, the top car in the U.S. for the past decade, according to researcher IHS Automotive. Instead, with Fusion, Mulally is aiming for a balance between commanding top dollar for each car and selling a lot more of them. “Between price a

Trade deficit stood at $32 billion in 2011, the first time since 1980TOKYO (AP) ― Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls caused by the devastating tsunami and manufacturers shifted production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen. The 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) deficit for 2011 reflects a 2.7 percent decline in the value of Japan’s exports to 65.55 trillion yen ($843 billion). In December, the trade b

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Global leaders are sharply at odds over how to rescue Europe from its escalating debt crisis: Should they focus more urgently on economic growth or on budget cuts?The disagreement presents another obstacle to solving the region’s financial crisis, and it pits one of the world’s most important lenders against Europe’s strongest economy.The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that encouraging growth should be policymakers’ highest priority. It issued the warning on a day whe

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Spain is sticking to its deficit goal even as the economy shrinks, underlining a rift in the month-old Cabinet over whether the nation can halve its shortfall during a recession. De Guindos said the government’s commitment to budget cuts is “total” and there’s “no change” to this year’s target. His comments in Brussels Tuesday came after reporters asked him about Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro’s call on Jan. 22 for the European Union to ease Spain’s 2012

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) ― U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown, the nation’s oldest sitting federal judge, has died at age 104.Brown died Monday night at the Wichita assisted living center where he lived, his law clerk, Nanette Turner Kalcik, said Tuesday.During his long tenure, the senior judge in Wichita repeatedly tried to explain why he had not yet fully retired from the federal bench.“As a federal judge, I was appointed for life or good behavior, whichever I lose first,” Brown quipped in a 2011 in

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s military ruler on Tuesday decreed a partial lifting of the nation’s hated emergency laws, an apparent attempt to ease criticism of his policies ahead of the first anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi said in a televised address that the draconian laws, in force for more than three decades, would be lifted effective Wednesday but would remain applicable to crimes committed by “thugs.” The military has often labeled organ

CAMP PENDLETON, California (AP) ― The lone Marine to face sentencing for the killing of two dozen unarmed Iraqis in one of the Iraq War’s defining moments walked away with no jail time Tuesday after defending his squad’s storming of the homes of Haditha as a necessary act “to keep the rest of my Marines alive.”Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich’s sentence ends a six-year prosecution for the 2005 attack that failed to win any manslaughter convictions. Eight Marines were initially charged; one was acquitte