Debt Limit Negotiating Tactic? No Negotiating

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk away from the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AnalysisNew for 2013: In the Washington, D.C. fiscal wars we’ve gone from everything must be on the table to politicians declaring...

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Chavez swearing-in can be delayed: Venezuelan VP

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on Friday. Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding...

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Thousands stuck in China airport as country freezes

BEIJING: Thousands of angry passengers were stranded after heavy fog delayed flights at a Chinese airport early on Saturday, as the country was shivered through its coldest weather in almost three decades.Ten thousand passengers were stuck in Changshui International Airport in the southern Chinese city of Kunming on Saturday morning after thick fog grounded more than 280 flights, state-run...

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NIA arrests Lokesh Sharma in 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case

MUMBAI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) today formally arrested key accused in 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case, Lokesh Sharma, in connection with the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case. Sharma, who is already under judicial custody, was produced before a special court here, which remanded him in NIA custody till January 19, police said. "Sharma was produced before the court which remanded him...

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FDA: New rules will make food safer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of foodborne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year.The rules, the most sweeping food safety guidelines in decades, would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are...

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Chelsea Clinton Raises Profile During Mom's Illness

While Hillary Clinton was in the hospital it was daughter Chelsea -- not the secretary of state or the former president Bill Clinton -- who spoke for the family.She, along with the State Department, doled out what little information the family wanted to share in a series of tweets and when her mother was released from the hospital, it was Chelsea who delivered the thanks on...

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Abbas sees Palestinian unity as Fatah rallies in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas predicted the end of a five-year split between the two big Palestinian factions as his Fatah movement staged its first mass rally in Gaza with the blessing of Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave. "Soon we will regain our unity," Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 civil war between the two factions,...

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Spare elephants or I'm off to Russia: Bardot

PARIS: French cinema legend Brigitte Bardot on Friday threatened to follow Gerard Depardieu to Russia unless two elephants under threat of being put down are granted a reprieve.In a surreal twist to the saga over Depardieu's move into tax exile, the veteran animal rights campaigner said she would emulate his request for Russian nationality unless authorities intervened to save Baby and...

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No consensus on death penalty for rape

NEW DELHI: Central and state governments today failed to evolve a consensus on death penalty for rape convicts even as they seem to have agreed on the definition of juvenile by bringing down the age bar to 16 from 18 years. The day-long meeting of chief secretaries and DGPs, convened by the Centre in the wake of the gang rape of a girl in Delhi, discussed threadbare various ways to check crime...

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Indian court to rule on generic drug industry

NEW DELHI (AP) — From Africa's crowded AIDS clinics to the malarial jungles of Southeast Asia, the lives of millions of ill people in the developing world are hanging in the balance ahead of a legal ruling that will determine whether India's drug companies can continue to provide cheap versions of many life-saving medicines.The case — involving Swiss drug maker Novartis AG's cancer drug Glivec — pits...

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Senate Swears in a Historic 20 Female Senators

Today the Senate will make history, swearing in a record-breaking 20 female senators – 4 Republicans and 16 Democrats – in office.As the 113th Congress is sworn in today on Capitol Hill, ABC "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer has an exclusive joint interview with the historic class of female Senators.Diane Sawyer's complete interview will air on World News this evening."I can't tell...

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Myanmar says jets used against Kachin rebels

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military has used jets to attacks rebel fighters in northern Kachin state, the government said on Thursday, its first admission of an intensification of a conflict that has raised doubts about its reformist credentials. Rebel sources have reported aerial bombings, shelling and even the use of chemical weapons since December 28 after the Kachin Independence...

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Guang Ming Industrial Building at Paya Lebar up for collective sale

SINGAPORE: Guang Ming Industrial Building, located at No 65 Upper Paya Lebar Road, has been put up for collective sale. The freehold industrial 'white site' has a land area of 19,789 square feet.Its marketing agent Cushman & Wakefield says the site is expected to fetch more than S$58 million.Among the likely interested parties for the site include small to mid-sized developers and...

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Nine more succumb to cold wave in North

NEW DELHI: North India was gripped by bone chilling cold today as temperatures nosedived across the region claiming nine more lives. Capital Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 12.7 degrees celsius, 8 less than normal and a minimum of 4.4 degrees celsius, 3 less than the usual. Kashmir Valley continued to reel under intense cold as temperatures across the state plunged further, even as the fringes...

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Flu? Malaria? Disease forecasters look to the sky

NEW YORK (AP) — Only a 10 percent chance of showers today, but a 70 percent chance of flu next month.That's the kind of forecasting health scientists are trying to move toward, as they increasingly include weather data in their attempts to predict disease outbreaks.In one recent study, two scientists reported they could predict — more than seven weeks in advance — when flu season was going to peak...

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Obama Hails 'Cliff' Deal, Warns of Next Fiscal Fight

Minutes after the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" and preserve Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans making less than $400,000 per year, President Obama praised party leaders and wasted little time turning to the next fiscal fight."This is one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy for everybody," Obama said.Obama...

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Air raid on petrol station in Damascus suburb kills 30: activists

AMMAN (Reuters) - At least 30 civilians were killed on Wednesday when Syrian warplanes bombed a petrol station in a rebellious suburb on the eastern edge of Damascus, two opposition campaigners on the scene said. "I counted at least 30 bodies. They were either burnt or dismembered," said Abu Saeed, an activist who arrived at the area in the Muleiha suburb of Damascus an hour after the...

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Gold rallies on fiscal deal

SINGAPORE: Gold prices receive a boost as US lawmakers finally approved a bill to address the fiscal cliff.The precious metal rose as much as US$29 an ounce from last week's close of US$1,655.70 a troy ounce on December 28.The deal struck in the US Congress has helped arrest the threat of the world's largest economy falling into a deep recession.But some analysts said it is just a knee-jerk...

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Direct cash transfer scheme a sham, says Mayawati

LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's direct cash transfer scheme here, describing it as a ploy to hoodwink voters in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. "This is an old book with a new cover," the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo told reporters, pointing that scholarships for the scheduled castes (SC) and the scheduled...

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Brain image study: Fructose may spur overeating

This is your brain on sugar — for real. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating.After drinking a fructose beverage, the brain doesn't register the feeling of being full as it does when simple glucose is consumed, researchers found.It's a small study and does not prove...

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Senate Approves 'Fiscal Cliff' Deal, Sends to House

Two hours after a midnight deadline for action, the Senate passed legislation early New Year's Day to avert the so-called fiscal cliff with an overwhelming vote of 89-8.Senate passage set the stage for a final showdown in the House, where a vote could come as early as today."While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing...

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Syria starts 2013 with aerial strikes and clashes

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrians woke on New Year's Day to countrywide aerial bombardment, while President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fighting to topple him clashed on the outskirts of the capital. Residents of Damascus entered the new year to the sound of artillery hitting southern and eastern districts that form a rebel-held crescent on the outskirts of the capital, the center of...

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Sengkang West LRT loop now fully operational

SINGAPORE: Some commuters in Sengkang will find it easier to get around the estate on the LRT.On Tuesday, the trains on the Sengkang West LRT ran in both directions throughout the day, instead of only during the morning and evening peak hours.Cheng Lim LRT Station, which is on the Sengkang West LRT, also started operations on Tuesday.Previously, trains on the Sengkang LRT ply either one...

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Pakistani judicial panel to arrive in India by end of January

NEW DELHI: The Pakistani judicial commission, which will cross examine four witnesses in 26/11 terror attack case, is expected to arrive here by the end of January after approval of the Bombay high court. The agreement on the visit of the second Pakistani judicial commission to Mumbai was finalised on December 25 in Islamabad following several rounds of discussions on complex technical and legal...

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Clinton receiving blood thinners to dissolve clot

WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors treating Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for a blood clot in her head said blood thinners are being used to dissolve the clot and they are confident she will make a full recovery.Clinton didn't suffer a stroke or neurological damage from the clot that formed after she suffered a concussion during a fainting spell at her home in early December, doctors said in a...

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Deal or No Deal, 'Cliff' Debate Will Linger Into 2013

Dec 31, 2012 6:00am AP Photo/ Evan VucciAnalysisThe fiscal cliff is just the beginning.Regardless of whether Democrats and Republicans reach some kind of last-minute bargain to avoid the worst effects of tax hikes and spending cuts, the disaster that has been the fiscal cliff negotiations has broad implications for the Washington agenda in 2013 and beyond.The tone...

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