Congress, Obama set to resume "fiscal cliff" talks

WASHINGTON: Congress returns Monday from its week-long Thanksgiving holiday and resumes talks with President Barack Obama on averting a looming fiscal crisis that could send the entire US economy plunging into recession again.Officials in Washington are hoping to find a way to avoid what has been described as a year-end "fiscal cliff": a convergence of tax hikes and massive spending cuts,...

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Missile launch centre to come up in coastal Andhra

HYDERABAD: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to set up a missile launch site in the coastal town of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs.1,000 crore. DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat, who is also the scientific advisor to the defence minister, told reporters here Friday that they had asked the state government to allot 260 acres of land to set up the long-range...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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'Honey Trap' Professor Convicted of Drug Smuggling

A court in Argentina has convicted an Oxford educated University of North Carolina professor of attempting to smuggle four pounds of cocaine into the United States.Paul Frampton, a 68-year-old esteemed professor of physics and astronomy, says he thought he was flying to South America to meet with a bikini model but ended up getting caught in what they call a "honey trap."Frampton...

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Protests after "pharaoh" Mursi assumes powers in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's decision to assume sweeping powers caused fury amongst his opponents and prompted violent clashes in central Cairo and other cities on Friday. Police fired tear gas near Cairo's Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a "coup". There were...

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Football: Menezes sacked as Brazil coach

SAO PAULO: Mano Menezes was sensationally sacked as coach of five-time world champions Brazil on Friday, dealing a hammer blow to the misfiring hosts of the 2014 World Cup."I gave him the news myself," said Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) national squad director Andres Sanches."Nobody likes to receive news of these kind of things in any circumstances, but everyone in football knows...

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Ponty Chadha's 'task force' worked as parallel excise department

LUCKNOW: Ponty Chadha controlled his Rs 12,000-crore liquor empire in Uttar Pradesh through his 1,500-strong private 'task force' that ran parallel to the government's excise department and maintained its own network of intelligence gathering.The main job of the 'task force' was to protect the business interests of the group, plug holes and crack down on liquor smuggling, said sources. The force,...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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Black Friday Frenzy Brings Fights, Injuries

Black Friday, one of the most ballyhooed shopping days of the year, has also proven to be hazardous, with incidents including fights between frenzied shoppers and parking-lot robberies.Two people were run down Thanksgiving night in the parking lot of a Covington, Wash., Walmart by a man police suspected of being intoxicated.Shoppers Descend on Black Friday DealsThe 71-year-old...

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Gaza ceasefire holds but mistrust runs deep

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held firm on Thursday with scenes of joy among the ruins in Gaza over what Palestinians hailed as a victory, and both sides saying their fingers were still on the trigger. In the sudden calm, Palestinians who had been under Israeli bombs for eight days poured into Gaza streets for a celebratory rally, walking past wrecked...

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Egypt's Morsi assumes sweeping powers

CAIRO: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi assumed sweeping powers on Thursday, putting him on a collision course with the judiciary and raising questions about the country's democratic future.The move, just a day after Morsi took diplomatic centrestage in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, earnt him the same derisive monicker of "new phararoh" levelled...

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Akhilesh waives Rs 1,650 crore farm loans on dad Mulayam's birthday

LUCKNOW: A cash-strapped Uttar Pradesh government wrote off loans worth Rs 1,650 crore to farmers on Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's 74th birthday on Thursday, fulfilling an election promise that is bound to further deplete the state's already dwindling coffers. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said 7.2 lakh farmers, who've taken loans of up to Rs 50,000 from rural cooperative banks, will...

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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.It's the most detailed look yet at...

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Black Friday Deals Kick Off on 'Gray Thursday'

Black Friday is the Super Bowl of retail, but some of the nation's largest big-box stores can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to open their doors to shoppers eager to grab great deals the same day as their turkey dinners.Traditional Black Friday door-busting deals now start tonight, on what's been dubbed Gray Thursday. Major retail stores such as Kmart, Toys R Us, Walmart...

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Egypt announces Hamas-Israel ceasefire

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement agreed on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict around the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis. Announcing the ceasefire in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said it would come into force at 9 p.m. (15:00 EDT) - which would give 1.7 million...

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Football: Benitez named Chelsea 'interim' manager

LONDON: Chelsea announced Wednesday that Rafael Benitez had been appointed their interim first team-manager until the end of the season after the European champions sacked Roberto di Matteo.Di Matteo was fired after Tuesday's 3-0 defeat by Juventus in Turin left Chelsea facing elimination at the group stage of the Champions League.But within a matter of hours Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's...

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'Ajmal Kasab begged for mercy before execution'

PUNE: 'Allah qasam maaf karna, aisi galthi dobara nahi hogi' (I swear by Allah, please forgive me, such a mistake won't be repeated) were the last words uttered by terrorist Ajmal Kasab when he was being taken to the gallows at the Yerawada central prison here at 7.30 am on Wednesday. Sources said Kasab was speaking incoherently for a while until the lever was pulled.The sources said the entire procedure...

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US abortions fall 5 pct, biggest drop in a decade

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both...

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Jesse Jackson Jr. to Resign From Congress

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the embattled Illinois congressman who has been on medical leave from Capitol Hill for months undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder, resigned from Congress Wednesday. Aides to House Speaker John Boehner said they have received a letter of resignation from Jackson Jr.The news was first reported by ABC's Chicago affiliate WLS and two Chicago newspapers.Jackson...

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Hamas says Gaza truce agreed; Israel, Egypt say no deal yet

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Hamas official said Egyptian mediators had clinched a truce with Israel on Tuesday that would go into effect within hours, but Egypt and Israel said a Gaza ceasefire deal was still up in the air after a week of fighting. "The talks are still continuing," an Egyptian official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. He said Cairo was hopeful of an agreement...

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Second Israeli killed by rocket fire from Gaza

JERUSALEM: An Israeli civilian was killed by rocket fire from Gaza on Tuesday, a defence ministry spokesman said, shortly after the army said a soldier died in a Palestinian rocket attack."Yes, I can confirm it," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP, saying the strike had killed Alayaan Salem al-Nabari, a Bedouin from the southern Negev desert.The spokesman said Nabari was "employed by...

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India ranks 131st in press freedom index; Internet 'partly free'

WASHINGTON: Just in case you did not know, India ranks 131st — between Burundi and Angola — in the 2012 press freedom index of Reporters without Borders. Freedom House puts India in the "party free" category in the 2012 Internet freedom rankings, below Argentina, South Africa, and Ukraine. So much for the world's largest democracy.India's bragging rights about being one of the world's thriving...

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make...

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Hopes Rise for Gaza Ceasefire

Hopes for a ceasefire between between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza rose today as Hamas declared that a ceasefire would be announced and Israel indicated that a deal was possible.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told ABC News the news would be announced at a press conference in Cairo where Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been trying to broker an end to the fighting.An...

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Israel says prefers diplomacy but ready to invade Gaza

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel bombed dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire. Mediator Egypt said a deal for a truce to end the fighting could be close. The leader of Hamas said it was up to Israel to end the new conflict it had...

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