Many 2011 federal budget cuts had little real-world effect

Late on the night of April 8, 2011, Washington’s leaders announced that they’d just done something extraordinary. They had agreed to cut the federal budget — and cut it big. “The largest annual spending cut in our history,” President Obama called it in a televised speech. To prevent a government shutdown, the parties had agreed to slash $37.8 billion: more than the budgets of the Labor...

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Year of the Snake welcomes first baby

SINGAPORE: The Chinese Year of the Water Snake welcomed its first baby in Singapore at the stroke of midnight Saturday.The 2.78-kilogramme bundle of joy is the first born to proud parents Koh Su Ming and Zhang Jing Jing.The baby boy made his appearance a week earlier than expected.An exhausted Madam Zhang said the labour lasted for 10 hours.As the first child born in the Year of the Snake,...

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Afzal Guru hanging: Kashmir under curfew for second day

SRINAGAR: Curfew continued in Kashmir for the second day today following hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru in Delhi's Tihar jail. The restrictions on the movement of people in the Valley were tightened this morning as there were many violations of the curfew yesterday, official sources said. At least 36 people, including 23 policemen, were injured in clashes between protesters...

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Mars Rover Curiosity Completes First Full Drill

For the first time in history, humans have drilled a hole into rock on Mars and are collecting the powdered results for analysis, NASA announced Saturday.After weeks of intensive planning, the Mars rover Curiosity undertook its first full drill on Friday, with NASA receiving images on Saturday showing that the procedure was a success.Curiosity drilled a hole that is a modest 2.5 inches...

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LAPD Reopens Case of Suspected Cop-Killer's Firing

The Los Angeles Police Department announced today it will reopen the case of the firing of Christopher Dorner, but said the decision was not made to "appease" the fugitive former cop suspected of killing three people.Dorner, a fired and disgruntled former Los Angeles police officer, said in the so-called "manifesto" he released that he was targeting LAPD officials and their...

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Nursing is a profession, not a job just anybody can do: doctor

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Director of Medical Services in the Ministry of Health has paid tribute to the role of nurses in Singapore's healthcare system.Writing on the Health Ministry's Facebook page, Professor K Satkunanantham said he had to write the post as a doctor and as the Director of Medical Services, because of the events that unfolded over the last couple of days.He stressed that...

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President rejected Afzal Guru's mercy petition on Feb 3: Union home secretary

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 3, leading to his hanging on Saturday, Union home secretary R K Singh said. "The President rejected Afzal Guru's mercy petition on February 3 and after that we followed the jail manual and his hanging took place today," he told reporters. Asked about Afzal's burial, the home...

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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...

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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...

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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....

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Part of Circle Line to close on 17 March, shuttle service to be provided

SINGAPORE: The stretch between the Mountbatten and Dakota stations on the Circle Line (CCL) will not be operational on Sunday 17 March, from 5.30am to 10am. This is to allow engineers to continue doing cable replacement works. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT said train services between Mountbatten and Paya Lebar stations will run as a shuttle service during that period. During...

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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...

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Cop Shooting Rampage: Manhunt on Mountain

The truck owned and driven by suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner during his alleged rampage through the Los Angeles area was found deserted and in flames on the side of Bear Mountain, Calif., this afternoon -- with tracks in the snow leading away from the vehicle.The San Bernadino Sheriff's Department confirmed the truck was Dorner's, but said at a news conference this...

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In the Loop: Interior pick could watch, but not deliver, a State of the Union address

The nomination announcement Wednesday afternoon of Sally Jewell, chief executive of outdoor company REI, to be secretary of the interior would put her eighth in the line of presidential succession should anything happen to President Obama, Vice President Biden, House and Senate leaders and the top four Cabinet officials at State, Treasury, Defense and Justice. Except for one problem: She...

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Tunisia pledges new govt after opposition leader's killing

TUNIS: Tunisia's premier has pledged to form a government of technocrats ahead of new elections, after the murder of opposition leader Chokri Belaid sparked deadly protests and attacks on the ruling party's offices.Furious demonstrators built barricades in central Tunis on Wednesday and clashed with police, and four opposition groups including Belaid's Popular Front bloc said they were...

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French president to negotiate $12bn Rafale jet deal in India next week

BANGALORE: France's Dassault Aviation hopes to conclude its $12-billion deal to sell Rafale jets to India this year, with negotiations set to be taken up by President Francois Hollande next week. "The ideal would be to sign it in 2013," Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier told AFP in an interview about the world's biggest defence deal at India's air show in Bangalore."It's not that surprising...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Walking School Bus to ensure safe, enjoyable route for kids

SINGAPORE: Some pre-school children will be walking to and from school, in what's called the Walking School Bus.They'll take a safe and enjoyable route, accompanied by adults.The walk can be an informal affair or a structured arrangement with meeting points, a timetable and a schedule.Children from PCF Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru in Kim Tian Road are the first to try out the Walking School...

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PM assured me all help, Narendra Modi says after meeting Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here at 7RCR on Wednesday and sought parity on the gas pricing issue.This was his first meeting with the Prime Minister after winning the last assembly elections in the state.Later talking to reporters, Modi said he had very fruitful talks with the Prime Minister on a range of issues concerning the state.The...

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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...

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