Yen rebounds slightly against dollar

NEW YORK: The yen edged higher against the dollar Friday after days of declines on expectations Japan would implement more monetary easing under its new prime minister.The dollar stood at 85.98 yen around 2200 GMT, down from 86.09 late Thursday.In Asian trade earlier in the day, the yen sat at more than two-year lows against the greenback.Investors have been selling the yen on expectations...

Read More..

Centre won’t encroach upon states' rights on water, PM says

NEW DELHI: The National Water Resources Council (NWRC) on Friday approved the new National Water Policy in its meeting here after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured states that the Centre did not intend to encroach upon the constitutional rights or to centralize the regulation over water resources. The new policy envisages a National Framework law for water resources that will set general principles...

Read More..

Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

Read More..

'Cliff' Summit Brings Hope for a Deal

Washington brinkmanship appears to have created a last minute chance for the White House and Congress to agree on a plan to avoid sending the country over the fiscal cliff.President Obama emerged from a White House summit this evening to say "we had a constructive meeting today" and that he was "optimistic" that they could devise a proposal ahead of a Jan. 1 deadline that would...

Read More..

Russia's Putin signals he will sign U.S. adoption ban

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signaled on Thursday he would sign into law a bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children and sought to forestall criticism of the move by promising measures to better care for his country's orphans. In televised comments, Putin tried to appeal to people's patriotism by suggesting that strong and responsible countries should take care...

Read More..

Egypt's Mubarak back in hospital as health worsens

CAIRO: Egypt's state prosecutor on Thursday ordered imprisoned former dictator Hosni Mubarak transferred to a military hospital after his health deteriorated, a source at the prosecutor's office said.Mubarak, serving a life sentence over the killings of protesters, was briefly taken to hospital on December 19 for scans after he fell in his prison bathroom and hurt his head.Mubarak, 84,...

Read More..

Varun Gandhi likely to contest Lok Sabha 2014 from Sultanpur

LUCKNOW: Pilibhit MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party Varun Gandhi might contest 2014 Lok Sabha election from Sultanpur-the constituency adjoining Amethi represented by his cousin Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Congress' Sanjay Singh is the sitting MP from Sultanpur.So far, two things have actually given credence to the speculation that Varun might contest from Sultanpur. A team of around...

Read More..

Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

Read More..

Utah Teachers Flock to Gun Training

The perception of schools as sanctuaries from violence has been "blown up" by recent events and some believe it's time for educators to literally take the situation into their own hands and carry guns."We've had this unwritten code, even among criminals, that schools are off limits. Those are our kids. You don't mess with that," Utah Shooting Sports Council (USSC) Chairman Clark...

Read More..

Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said. Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying...

Read More..

Toyota reaches US$1.1b deal with US owners over recalls

CHICAGO: Toyota has agreed to pay about $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit launched by US vehicle owners affected by a series of mass recalls, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday.Toyota did not accept any blame but agreed to compensate owners who argued that the value of about 16.3 million vehicles took a hit from dozens of deadly accidents allegedly caused by Toyota vehicles...

Read More..

Delhi gang rape case: Mega rally today to keep agitation alive

NEW DELHI: With the crowd at Jantar Mantar thinning considerably after the Sunday's clampdown, protesters have planned a huge non-violent rally to revive the movement. On Thursday, several student and women's rights organizations will march from Nizamuddin Sabz Burj to India Gate and place five specific demands. Many students who gathered at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday said the movement was slowing...

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

Read More..

WH Lashes Out at 'Congressional Stupidity'

With only days to come up with a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, the White House said “congressional stupidity” was damaging the economy but that an agreement could be reached if Republican leaders don’t get in the way.President Obama cut his Hawaiian vacation short and headed back to Washington today while the Senate is scheduled to reconvene on Thursday. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said...

Read More..

Egypt approves constitution drafted by Mursi allies

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's allies, results announced on Tuesday showed, proving that liberals, leftists and Christians have been powerless to halt the march of Islamists in power. Final elections commission figures showed the constitution adopted with 63.8 percent of the vote in the referendum held over...

Read More..

NGOs roped in to combat litter menace

SINGAPORE: Senior members of non-government organisations such as the Waterways Watch Society (WWS) and the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) have been roped in to undergo training to combat the litter menace.Last month, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan wrote on his blog that, under the National Environment Agency's (NEA) new empowerment scheme, it...

Read More..

i-age protests rob govt comfort zone

NEW DELHI: Frequent street mobilization with participation of politically non-aligned public has left parties and governments bereft of the comfort of not being seriously questioned or held to account in between elections when voters express their anger through the ballot. Activists and opposition leaders argue that the response of the government to a swiftly developing situation like the one that...

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

Read More..

Gunman Killed Firemen With Bushmaster, Left Note

A convicted killer, who shot dead two firefighters with a Bushmaster assault rifle after leading them into an ambush when they responded to a house fire he set in Western New York, left behind a typewritten note saying he wanted to "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said.William Spengler, 62, set his home and a car on fire early Monday morning with the intention...

Read More..

Afghan policewoman kills coalition contractor in Kabul: NATO

KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan woman wearing a police uniform shot dead on Monday a civilian contractor working for Western forces in the police chief's compound in Kabul, NATO said. The incident is likely to raise troubling questions about the direction of an unpopular war. It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of Afghanistan's security forces carried out such...

Read More..

Son of late icon Kennedy rules out US Senate run

WASHINGTON: A son of late political icon Edward Kennedy said Monday he will not run for the US Senate in Massachusetts -- the same state his father represented for nearly five decades -- US media reported.Edward Kennedy Jr's brother, former US representative Patrick Kennedy, had said over the weekend that the health care lawyer was seriously considering running for the US Senate seat that...

Read More..

Govt draws up plan to revamp cyber security of critical sectors

NEW DELHI: In its bid to meet the challenge of ever increasing cyber attacks and security in the virtual world, the government has set in motion a five-year project to revamp the entire cyber security apparatus of critical sectors in the country. In the past one year, India has suffered 13,000 cyber incidents. The responsibility for the job has been vested in National Critical Information Infrastructure...

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

Read More..