A normally stoic president sheds tears over mass shooting of ‘our children’

President Obama, so often cool and unemotional, struggled to maintain his composure Friday as he addressed a nation reeling from a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. “The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old,” Obama said partway into a four-minute stateme...

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India PM says reforms steps "only the beginning"

NEW DELHI: India's premier Manmohan Singh said on Saturday his government's new reforms to spur the economy were "only the beginning", while lashing out at the "excessive pessimism" that he said is hurting growth.Singh's government has initiated a string of reforms to further open up sectors such as retail, insurance and aviation to foreign investment as it seeks to kickstart growth before...

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Aung San Suu Kyi praises Indian Air Force pilots

YANGON: Not treated well by her own military junta, pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi today praised Indian Air Force pilots for being "professional" and "sweet". "I enjoyed my time in India thoroughly from beginning to end, particularly impressed by the Air Force Pilots who flew me back. They are the kind of professional military men I like to see," said the 67-year-old Suu Kyi who was placed...

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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

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School Shooting: Officials Seek Details on Gunman

The FBI is in at least three states interviewing relatives and friends of the elementary school gunman who killed 20 children, seven adults and himself, trying to put together a better picture of the shooter and uncover any possible explanation for the massacre, ABC News has learned.The authorities have fanned out to New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts to interview relatives...

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The historical myth that Reagan raised $1 in taxes for every $3 in spending cuts

(Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library, Michael Evans) “In 1982, Ronald Reagan sat down with the Democrats and they had a deal—a $3 cut in spending for every dollar they raised in taxes. Guess what? They raised the taxes, and they never cut the spending.”--oft-repeated story told in Washington during “fiscal cliff” negotiations  It had become an article of faith by conservatives...

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Last-minute polls tip victory for Japan hawks

TOKYO: Japan's conservative opposition and its junior coalition partner appear headed for easy victory in this weekend's election, an opinion poll said on Friday, heralding a possible hardening of foreign policy.In one of the last gauges of the public mood before Sunday's vote, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its ally looked set to achieve a possible two-thirds majority in the lower...

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Hardline separatists must change outlook: Mirwaiz

NEW DELHI: Hardline separatist groups should change their outlook in the efforts to find a solution to the Kashmir issue rather than professing politics of status quo which will not benefit anyone except them, moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said today."Well, I think they (hardline separatists) need to change their outlook," said the Mirwaiz, who is leading a seven-member...

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Global Checkup: Most People Living Longer, But Sicker

If the world's entire population went in for a collective checkup, would the doctor's prognosis be good or bad? Both, according to new studies published in The Lancet medical journal.The vast collaborative effort, called the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010, includes papers by nearly 500 authors in 50 countries. Spanning four decades of data, it represents...

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What Is a Right-to-Work Law?

This week Michigan became the 24th state in the country to adopt a right-to-work law. The passage of the bill by the state legislature, and eventual signing by Rick Snyder, the state's Republican governor, brought a huge wave of protests in a state with deep union roots.Right-to-work laws have garnered a lot of national attention in recent years as more states have implemented...

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Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s 2012 Christmas card: Fiscal cliff, Gretzky in heaven

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen — your Rep. Loretta Sanchez Christmas card for 2012! (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez) Over the past decade, the California Democrat’s wacky holiday greetings have drawn a cult following. “I’ve seen them being sold on eBay,” the congresswoman told us. Nice topical theme this year! “The ‘fiscal cliff’ is a very serious situation,...

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Nurse in royal hoax call case was found hanged: inquest

LONDON: A nurse duped by a prank call to the London hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Catherine was found hanging in her room, an inquest heard Thursday.Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who was found in nurses' accommodation near King Edward VII's Hospital in central London on Friday, also left three notes before she died, a police officer told the hearing.The mother-of-two also had...

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Venkaiah Naidu for privilege motion against Moily

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu demanded bringing privilege motion against petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily for "misusing" his office by announcing government's intent to increase cap on subsidised LPG outside Parliament when the session was on. Raising the issue in Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour on Thursday, Naidu said the policy decision was announced by Moily outside the House...

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Hubble Discovers Oldest Known Galaxy

The Hubble space telescope has discovered seven primitive galaxies formed in the earliest days of the cosmos, including one believed to be the oldest ever detected.The discovery, announced Wednesday, is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign to determine how and when galaxies first assembled following the Big Bang."This 'cosmic dawn' was not a single, dramatic event," said astrophysicist...

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N. Korean Missile Hits Target of Alarming the World

North Korea's successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile hit its target: it bolstered the standing of its young tyrant Kim Jong Un and raised the specter of being able to eventually strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon.The pride in the success of the launch -- after several failures -- is a huge boost for Kim Jong Un, 29, who took power one year ago. He has...

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Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar dies

NEW DELHI: Legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, a major influence on musicians ranging from The Beatles to violinist Yehudi Menuhin, has died at the age of 92 after surgery in the United States, his family said Wednesday.Shankar, the father of American singer-songwriter Norah Jones, died Tuesday in a hospital in San Diego, California, where he had recently undergone heart-valve...

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NCP rejects Sena's 'PM offer' to Sharad Pawar, says not power hungry

MUMBAI: NCP scoffed at senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi's invitation to party chief Sharad Pawar to join NDA, saying there was no question of doing so as they are not "power hungry". On Tuesday in Pune, Joshi invited Pawar to join NDA, saying "he would be able to end quarrels within the BJP-led alliance and could also become the Prime Minister". Joshi attended a function organised on the eve...

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Best Space Pictures of 2012: Editor's Picks

Photograph courtesy Tunç Tezel, APOY/Royal ObservatoryThis image of the Milky Way's vast star fields hanging over a valley of human-made light was recognized in the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by the U.K.’s Royal Observatory Greenwich.To get the shot, photographer Tunç Tezel trekked to Uludag National Park near his hometown of Bursa, Turkey. He intended to watch the moon...

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Gunman 'Tentatively' Identified in Oregon Shooting

A masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two individuals and seriously injuring a third before killing himself, has been "tentatively" identified by police, though they have not yet released his name.The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask, black clothing, and a bullet proof vest, tore through the mall around...

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Football: Platini stands firm against goal-line technology

KUALA LUMPUR: UEFA president Michel Platini stood firm against the use of goal-line technology in Europe despite FIFA tests of Hawk-Eye and GoalRef at the ongoing Club World Cup in Japan.The Frenchman said goal-line referees, used in various UEFA competitions since 2009, were a cheaper way of determining whether the ball had crossed the line and warned against allowing technology to encroach...

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Anti-nuclear Kudankulam dissenters plan novel New Year's protest

NEW DELHI: Comparing air fares between Goa and Bangkok and drawing up the wine list may be part of many New Year plans. But at Idinthakarai in Tamil Nadu, the hotspot for protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, a band of activists plan to usher in 2013 with a different kind of festivity. From December 30 to January 1, Indinthakarai village will see professionals from the fields of...

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U.K. Dash for Shale Gas a Test for Global Fracking

Thomas K. Grose in London The starting gun has sounded for the United Kingdom's "dash for gas," as the media here have dubbed it.As early as this week, a moratorium on shale gas production is expected to be lifted. And plans to streamline and speed the regulatory process through a new Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil were unveiled last week in the annual autumn budget statement by...

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SEAL Killed in Rescue Mission Identified

The Pentagon has identified Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque as the Navy SEAL who died of injuries sustained in the successful rescue of an American doctor from the Taliban over the weekend.Checque, who hailed from Monroeville, Pa., died of "combat related injuries," according to a Pentagon release. Though the release only said Checque was assigned to "an East Coast-based...

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The right to petition the White House prompts grievances, gags online

Forget the “fiscal cliff”: When it comes to the nation’s most pressing concerns, other matters trump financial calamity. Several thousand Americans, for example, are calling on President Obama to nationalize the troubled Twinkies industry to prevent the loss of the snack cake’s “sweet creamy cente...

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ASEAN chair urges NKorea to call off rocket launch

PHNOM PENH: Cambodian Prime Minister and ASEAN chairman Hun Sen urged North Korea Monday to scrap a planned rocket launch, saying it would bring "fear and tension" to the region.Pyongyang on Monday pushed back the window for the controversial planned launch by a week to December 29, but stressed it was pressing ahead with the mission in the face of international condemnation."In the name...

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BJP stalled Rajya Sabha to stop quota Bill: Mayawati

NEW DELHI, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday accused the BJP of stalling the Rajya Sabha because it did not want a bill for reservations in job promotions to be passed.Mayawati asked why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had not raised the issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Lok Sabha.She was addressing reporters after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day over reports...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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Fiscal Cliff Talks: Boehner, Obama Meet Face-to-Face

For the first time in more than three weeks, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met face-to-face today at the White House to talk about avoiding the fiscal cliff.White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest would offer no details saying only, "The lines of communication remain open."Erskine Bowles, the co-creator of a debt reducing plan, who was pessimistic...

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N Korea stops rocket launch preparations: report

SEOUL: North Korea has stopped all preparations for a rocket launch at a site in the country's northwest, a South Korean official told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday.The report came after North Korea said earlier on Sunday it may delay the much-criticised launch, that was originally scheduled for as early as this week, with analysts saying the postponement could be due to technical problems.Scientists...

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India misguided, paranoid over China: Guha

Shreya Roy Chowdhury, TNN Dec 8, 2012, 06.12AM ISTMUMBAI: A good half-hour into the discussion on 'India, China and the World', historian Ramachandra Guha issued a disclaimer—all the three members on the panel had been to China only once. "We should learn their language, promote quality research, and have a panel on China driven by Chinese scholars," he said. And that was the general tenor of the...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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Gay Marriage: Will Justices Follow Popular Opinion?

The Supreme Court's announcement that it would hear two cases challenging laws prohibiting same-sex marriage has reinvigorated one of the most hotly contentious social debates in American history, a debate that has been fueled by a dramatic change in attitudes.With some states taking significant steps towards legalizing gay marriage, the hearings come at a critical moment.This...

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