Google lawyer slams Apple, Microsoft over patents

Google's top lawyer accused Apple, Oracle, Microsoft and other companies on Wednesday of using "bogus patents" to wage a campaign against the Internet giant's Android mobile platform.

In a blog post, Google senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond said Google's rivals were seeking to "make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices."

"Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation," Drummond said.

3 dead in suicide blast at hotel in Kunduz city: Afghan Official

Kabul (Afghanistan):  A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside a small residential hotel frequented by foreigners just after dawn on Tuesday, killing at least three guards in the latest of a rising number of violent attacks in northern Afghanistan.

After the attacker detonated his cache of explosives, two other militants stormed inside the hotel in Kunduz city and engaged police in a two-hour gun battle, said Mubobullah Sayedi, a provincial spokesman.

Indonesia: Bride discovers groom is a woman

Jakarta:  An Indonesian Muslim woman stopped her wedding after she found out her future husband was a woman.

She learned about her partner's gender when her family gathered to read the Koran at the ceremony in western Java.

The groom did not bring relatives and suspicions were raised when "Rio" failed to show documents, China Daily reported quoting the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

Waitress tells UK PM to get his own coffee

Rome:  A barmaid made a name for herself but no tip after telling British Prime Minister David Cameron he could carry his own cappuccino during his holiday breakfast in Tuscany.

Francesca Ariani was alone and swamped with customers on Sunday when Cameron ordered two cappuccini and a coffee for himself, his wife and someone else, the barmaid's boyfriend told The Associated Press by phone on Monday.

US considered tunneling to Osama bin Laden: Report

New York:  US commanders of the raid on Osama bin Laden considered a more down-to-earth way of entering his compound than swooping in by helicopter, a report said today.

The short-lived idea would have avoided ground troops having to sneak through the nearby town of Abbottabad as they penetrated the walled house where the Al Qaeda leader was hiding, The New Yorker reported.