At home and in cafes, Chinese consumers are waking up and smelling the coffeeWhen Diego Panucci left home for his first trip to China in 2000, there was one very important thing he forgot in his weeks of preparation ― his coffee maker. The young Italian, who came to study Chinese, was facing a year without caffeine as precious few coffee shops existed in China back then, when the growing middle classes had yet to begin developing a taste for arabica and robusta beans.“It was really killing me, a

Britain's prime minister and Scotland's first minister signed an agreement on Monday to hold a referendum in 2014 on Scottish independence that could lead to the United Kingdom breaking up after 300 years.Prime Minister David Cameron and pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond inked the deal and shook hands in cold autumn sunlight after a meeting at the Scottish government building, St Andrews House, in Edinburgh.Cameron strongly opposes a Scottish breakaway, and the signing of the terms fo

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (AP) ― Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan focused on rallying supporters Saturday in the pivotal state of Ohio, hammering at President Barack Obama for going easy on China over unfair trade practices. Obama took precious time off the campaign trail to practice for the next critical debate against his Republican rival.Both sides are devoting huge time and effort to Ohio, this year’s battleground to end all battlegrounds, where polls show Ob

(123rf)An undergraduate residence hall at Massachusetts' Harvard University is drawing criticism for an in-house social event dubbed "IncestFest."Organizers said the idea behind "IncestFest" is to encourage students in the Kirkland House residence hall to hook up with other residents in the same building, the New York Daily News reported Friday."House life is incredibly close-knit, bordering on do

DAMASCUS (AFP) ― The war of words between Syria and Turkey escalated on Thursday when Ankara said it had found military supplies on a passenger plane it intercepted en route between Moscow and Damascus.The Syrian Foreign Ministry accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan of lying after he said the jet had been carrying “equipment and ammunition shipped to the Syrian Defense Ministry” from a Russian military supplier.France warned of the risks posed by the rising tensions between the two neigh

DANVILLE, Kentucky (AP) ― Vice President Joe Biden and the man who wants to succeed him, Republican Paul Ryan, clashed over the Obama administration’s policy in Libya and Iran in the opening minutes of the vice presidential debate, with Ryan citing it as evidence that it is weakening America’s standing in the world. The stakes aren’t generally this high in vice presidential debates, but Biden was under pressure to undo some of the damage from President Barack Obama’s lackluster debate performanc

LONDON (AP) ― Keith Campbell, a prominent biologist who worked on cloning Dolly the sheep, has died at 58, the University of Nottingham said Thursday. Campbell, who had worked on animal improvement and cloning since 1999, died Oct. 5, university spokesman Tim Utton said. He did not specify the cause, only saying that Campbell had worked at the university until his death. Campbell began researching animal cloning at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in 1991. The experiments led to the birth in

Basil L. Plumley, a renowned career soldier whose exploits as an Army infantryman were portrayed in a book and the movie “We Were Soldiers,” has died at 92 ― an age his friends are amazed that he lived to see. Plumley fought in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam and was awarded a medal for making five parachute jumps into combat. The retired command sergeant major died Wednesday. Friends said Plumley, who died in hospice care in west Georgia, never told war stories and was known to hang up

A photo taken on March 22, 2006 shows European flags at the EU headquarters in Brussels . The crisis-torn European Union will win this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the usually well-informed Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported an hour before the widely anticipated announcement on October 12, 2012. (AFP-Yonhap News)The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to promote