Agreement within reach on ‘fiscal cliff’ deal, officials say

President Obama and Senate leaders were on the verge of an agreement Friday that would let taxes rise on the wealthiest households while protecting the vast majority of Americans from historic tax hikes set to hit in January. The development marked a breakthrough after weeks of paralysis. After meeting with Obama at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority...

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Japan's PM seeks security ties with Australia, India

TOKYO: Japan's hawkish new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to expand the Japan-US security partnership to Australia and India as it faces a bitter territorial row with China, a newspaper reported Saturday."The Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone," Abe, sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday, said in an interview with the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun."It's good to expand it to...

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Telangana shutdown hits normal life

HYDERABAD: Normal life came to a standstill in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday in response to a day-long shutdown call by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to protest the central government's "delaying tactics" over separate statehood for the region. Public transport service was paralysed while shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in most...

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How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem...

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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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As ‘fiscal cliff’ deadline nears, OPM updates furlough guidelines

With talks on averting the “fiscal cliff” apparently stalled, the Office of Personnel Management posted new guidance to federal workers for administrative furloughs on its Web site Thursday afternoon. “We wanted to take some prudent steps to keep federal employees informed in case of an order for sequestration,” said Thomas Richards, OPM’s communications director. He added that the...

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Indian gang-rape victim fighting for her life

SINGAPORE: The condition of the Indian gang-rape victim continues to remain in an extremely critical condition.Dr Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said the patient is still receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.Dr Loh said the medical team's investigations on Thursday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, the patient had infection...

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Delhi gang-rape case: PM, Sonia say guilty will be punished

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have reiterated that the government is committed to punish the accused in the Delhi gang rape case at the earliest.Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi wished speedy recovery to the 23-year-old girl, who is battling for life in a hospital in Singapore."Our wish is that she recovers and comes back to us... and no time is lost...

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

Cento di questi giorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and some of them do. So do other people in various spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so named by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink that outlines these special areas on maps developed over more than a decade. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)In his...

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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."The men and women of the Department of Defense...

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