Changi Airport heralds in the LNY with auspicious floral displays

SINGAPORE: Changi Airport is all set to herald in the Lunar New Year decked in festive finery.In recent years, florists have started to dye the white flowers in a variety of colours including red, blue and orange. But horticulturalists said they've mostly hung on to tradition.Manager at Changi Airport Operations Planning, Look-Tan Hwee Sung said: "Like hydrangea, in Chinese is called 'xiu...

Read More..

Hurriyat leaders Farooq, Geelani placed under house arrest in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Chiefs of both factions of Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, were on Saturday placed under house arrest in the national capital as a preventive measure following the hanging of Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case. While Geelani was here for medical treatment, the Mirwaiz was camping in the national capital trying to secure a passport so that he...

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull

Solar DragonImage courtesy SDO/NASAResembling a dragon's tail, remnants of a solar filament strain to escape the sun's gravity in an image released this week by NASA's Solar Dynamics...

Read More..

Northeast Shuts Down as Blizzard Batters Millions

A blizzard of possibly historic proportions battered the Northeast Friday into Saturday, and forecasters feared as much as two feet of snow and strong winds could shut down densely populated cities such as New York and Boston, where cars were ordered off the streets.State officials declared states of emergencies throughout the region, and utilities estimated more than a half-million...

Read More..

Lawmakers divided on Postal Service plan

Lawmakers wrestled Thursday with how to address Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe’s announcement that the U.S. Postal Service plans to end Saturday mail delivery in August. Donahoe moved to circumvent Congress’s long-standing resistance to the proposal for five-day delivery, a move the Postal Service thinks will save about $2 billion annually and help ease its financial losses....

Read More..

Asian markets rise but Tokyo hit by strong yen

HONG KONG : Asian shares mostly rose on Friday following a sell-off in the previous session, but Tokyo was hit by a stronger yen and data showing Japan suffered its lowest current account surplus in nearly 30 years.Data showing China's trade surplus had risen more than expected provided extra buying support, adding to a recent trend of improvement in the world's number two economy.Tokyo...

Read More..

1996 Kerala rape case: Protests intensify against RS deputy chairman Kurien

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A massive protest was on outside the Kerala state assembly here on Friday against Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurien over his alleged involvement in the 1996 Suryanelli rape case. The angry protesters, who are firm on their demands for Kurien's resignation, have demanded a reinvestigation into the entire case. The protesters also burnt Kurien's effigy outside the Kerala...

Read More..

Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within...

Read More..

Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in the hopes of catching suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again as laid out in his chilling online manifesto.Police held a news conference late Thursday, alerting the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on...

Read More..

Nepal Maoists propose chief justice as new PM

KATHMANDU: Nepal's ruling Maoists on Thursday proposed that the chief justice be appointed prime minister and preside over parliamentary elections, calling it the only option to resolve a long-running political crisis.The proposal was made by party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known by his nom de guerre Prachanda, at the Maoists' largest meeting since they toppled the monarchy in 2006...

Read More..

TV channels' creative teams to be sensitised on women depiction

NEW DELHI: Recognising the need to sensitise channels about issues related to depiction of women in TV programmes, the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) has decided to conduct interactive sessions with their creative and programming teams. In a recent meeting, BCCC member Shabana Azmi had agreed to be a part of such sessions where she would discuss the subject with creative teams...

Read More..

Humans Swap DNA More Readily Than They Swap Stories

Jane J. Lee Once upon a time, someone in 14th-century Europe told a tale of two girls—a kind one who was rewarded for her manners and willingness to work hard, and an unkind girl who was punished for her greed and selfishness.This version was part of a long line of variations that eventually spread throughout Europe, finding their way into the Brothers Grimm fairytales as Frau Holle, and...

Read More..

Armstrong May Testify Under Oath on Doping

Facing a federal criminal investigation and a deadline that originally was tonight to tell all under oath to anti-doping authorities or lose his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban, Lance Armstrong now may cooperate.His apparent 11th-hour about-face, according to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), suggests he might testify under oath and give full details to...

Read More..

Obama’s careful claim about entitlement savings

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) “I’ve offered sensible reforms to Medicare and other entitlements, and my health care proposals achieve the same amount of savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms that have been proposed by the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson fiscal commission.”— President Obama, remarks to reporters, Feb. 5, 2013 People in Washington can debate forever...

Read More..

Multi-ministerial taskforce set up to tackle dengue

SINGAPORE: A multi-ministerial taskforce has been set up to tackle the dengue scourge in Singapore.The National Environment Agency said it comprises representatives from the Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence.The taskforce will be activated to investigate any outbreak of dengue cases which has seen a spike recently.The...

Read More..

Protest outside Delhi University's SRCC over Narendra Modi's visit

NEW DELHI: A section of students protested outside Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce ( SRCC) against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the Gujarat chief minister has begun his speech at the college.Some students crossed the barricade and shouted slogans against Modi outside the college.Modi's talk is on the theme: "Emerging business models in the global scenario".The...

Read More..

The Real Richard III

It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues...

Read More..

Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's...

Read More..

Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks. In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director...

Read More..

UBS suffers US$2.7b 2012 net loss on Libor-fixing fines

ZURICH: Swiss banking giant UBS announced on Tuesday a net loss of 2.5 billion Swiss francs (2 billion euros, $2.7 billion) as fines from the Libor rate-fixing scandal weighed on results.In the final quarter of last year UBS suffered a net loss of 1.8 billion francs when it booked provisions for the combined fines of 1.4 billion francs from regulators as well as restructuring costs.The...

Read More..

Narendra Modi to visit Kumbh Mela on Feb 12 to take holy dip

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will attend the Kumbh Mela being held in Allahabad on February 12. "Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Allahabad on February 12 to take a holy dip in the river Ganga during the Kumbh Mela," sources in the Chief Minister's office said. There were reports that VHP and some Hindu religious groups close to the Sangh Parivar might discuss...

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility."Terrestrial...

Read More..

Sarai Sierra's 2 Young Boys Don't Know Mom's Dead

The two young sons of slain New York mom Sarai Sierra are under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.Sierra, whose battered body was found near a highway in Istanbul over the weekend, was the mother of two boys aged 9 and 11.Steven Sierra, who went to Istanbul in search of his wife after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago,...

Read More..