Fiscal Cliff Deal Vote Likely in Senate

The so-called "fiscal cliff" came tonight -- but now there is a specific deal on the table to try to soften it after the fact, according to congressional sources.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the deal would get a vote in the Senate tonight. The House would not vote before Tuesday, having adjourned for the evening before word of the agreement spread."It is a...

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North Korean leader, in rare address, seeks end to confrontation with South

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media. The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place...

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Philippines set to quit Marcos wealth chase

MANILA: The Philippines is to wind down a near-30-year hunt for the embezzled wealth of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, with more than half the supposed $10 billion fortune still missing, the man in charge of the search said.With Marcos' widow and children back in positions of political power, and the government tightening its belt, the cost of the pursuit has become prohibitive, said...

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Global rights bodies slam India for 'weak' rape laws

NEW DELHI: The Indian government has come under attack from global human rights bodies for its inadequate laws against sexual violence or treatment of survivors.Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, "The government needs to act now to prevent sexual assault, aggressively investigate and prosecute perpetrators, and ensure the dignified treatment of survivors."The US embassy,...

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Clinton's blood clot an uncommon complication

The kind of blood clot in the skull that doctors say Hillary Rodham Clinton has is relatively uncommon but can occur after an injury like the fall and concussion the secretary of state was diagnosed with earlier this month.Doctors said Monday that an MRI scan revealed a clot in a vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind Clinton's right ear.The clot did not lead to a stroke or neurological...

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Hillary Clinton Hospitalized With Blood Clot

(MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)By DANA HUGHES and DEAN SCHABNERSecretary Hillary Clinton was hospitalized today after a doctors doing a follow-up exam discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago.She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours, Deputy...

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Chavez suffers new post-surgery complications

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is suffering more complications linked to a respiratory infection that hit him after his fourth cancer operation in Cuba, his vice president said in a somber broadcast on Sunday. Vice President Nicolas Maduro flew to Cuba to visit Chavez in the hospital as supporters' fears grew for the ailing 58-year-old socialist leader, who has not...

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Electricity tariffs to be lowered

SINGAPORE: Electricity tariffs will be reduced by an average 3.7 per cent from January to March 2013. SP Services attributed the reduction to lower costs of electricity generation, largely due to lower fuel prices compared to the previous quarter.Non-fuel costs of power generation have also been adjusted.The average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will...

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Castrate all rapists, says Zubin Mehta

BEIJING: World famous composer of Indian origin, Zubin Mehta, called for castration of all accused in the Delhi gang-rape case and others found committing the rape in India. He expressed excitement about the protests against the gang-rape of Nirbhaya and expects positive changes to come out of it. "I am fuming, but I see a very healthy sign of public objection, public demonstration. I hope it will...

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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...

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Woman Charged With Murder in NYC Subway Push

A woman who allegedly told New York City police she pushed a man onto the subway tracks because she hated Hindus and Muslims has been charged with murder as a hate crime.Erica Menendez, 31, allegedly told police that she "pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up."Menendez...

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Italy upbeat at end of 2012 after year of market tension

ROME: Italy is ending 2012 on an upbeat note, with renewed financial market confidence and optimism among analysts that the worst of the financial crisis is over, despite expectations of political uncertainty in the run-up to a general election in February.The Treasury's borrowing rates were slightly higher at short, medium and long-term debt auctions last week, but were well below levels...

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July blasts in Valley a terror strike: Cops

SRINAGAR: The Jammu & Kashmir police have claimed that two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed in an encounter on Friday in Pulwama were responsible for a blast on a bus that had killed four tourists in Anantnag in July. The claim contradicts their statement that ruled out a terror angle to the blast then and had said that an LPG cylinder inside the bus had exploded and killed the four women from...

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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...

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Epic Journey: Did Moses' Exodus Really Happen?

In the Bible, he is called Moses. In the Koran, he is the prophet Musa.Religious scholars have long questioned whether of the story of a prophet leading God's chosen people in a great exodus out of Egypt and the freedom it brought them afterwards was real, but the similarities between a pharaoh's ancient hymn and a psalm of David might hold the link to his existence.Tune in...

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India gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman whose gang rape in New Delhi triggered violent protests died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, bringing a security lockdown in Delhi and recognition from India's prime minister that social change is needed. The Indian capital braced for a new wave of protests, closing metro stations and banning vehicles from the city centre...

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Indian gang-rape victim's body to be flown back later Saturday

SINGAPORE: The body of an Indian woman who died in a Singapore hospital after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi will be flown back on a chartered plane later Saturday, India's ambassador said."The requisite formalities (including the issue of the death certificate) for sending the body to India are being completed," Indian High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan told reporters, hours after the...

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Delhi gang rape victim dies: Cerebral edema or swelling of the brain proved fatal

NEW DELHI: A swollen brain finally got better of the fighting spirit of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim Nirbhaya (a name given to her by TOI) as she succumbed to her injuries at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital at 2:15am (IST) on Saturday.Cerebral edema - serious swelling of the brain, which resulted from the cardiac arrest on Tuesday night when Nirbhaya was still in India, along with severe...

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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...

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Gen. 'Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf Dead at 78

H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the retired general credited with leading U.S.-allied forces to a victory in the first Gulf War, died today at age 78.The man who Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today called "one of the great military giants of the 20th century" died in Tampa, Fla., where he lived in retirement, the Associated Press reported.Schwarzkopf, called "Stormin' Norman" because...

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CAR appeals for French help against rebels, Paris balks

BANGUI (Reuters) - The president of the Central African Republic appealed on Thursday for France and the United States to help push back rebels threatening his government and the capital, but Paris said its troops were only ready to protect French nationals. The exchanges came as regional African leaders tried to broker a ceasefire deal and as rebels said they had temporarily halted their...

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Abbas warns of disbanding PA if no peace talks

JERUSALEM: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned that he would disband his Palestinian Authority if there was no Israeli movement towards renewing peace talks after Israel's elections on January 22.Abbas, in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, said that if such a situation arose he would hand full responsibility for the occupied West Bank to the Israeli government."If there...

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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...

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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...

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Toyota Agrees to $1B Settlement in Acceleration Case

Toyota has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to customers to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged its vehicles accelerated dangerously and without warning, according to statements by the carmaker and the plaintiffs' attorney.The deal, which still needs approval by a federal judge in California, includes a $250 million fund to be paid to Toyota owners who sold their cars at...

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Exchange of unused expired parking coupons

SINGAPORE: Motorists are reminded that parking coupons valid up to Monday, 31 December can no longer be used from 1 January.The Housing & Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said those with unused, expired coupons can exchange them for new ones from 2 January. They can do so at all HDB branches and service centres, and the URA Customer Service Centre at...

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