After ‘fiscal cliff,’ Obama finishes recharging on Hawaiian holiday

HONOLULU — The place where President Obama vacations each winter is farther from Washington than almost any other place in the United States. So, it is not terribly surprising that less than 45 minutes after Congress passed a bill averting the “fiscal cliff” on Jan. 1, Obama was racing back here. The president’s vacation with his family and friends had already been cut short by the protracted,...

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Kirin to sell its Tokyo HQs to reduce debts

TOKYO: Japanese beverage giant Kirin has decided to sell its Tokyo headquarters in order to reduce debts as it aggressively buys foreign firms in a bid to expand its global reach, a report said Sunday.Kirin Holdings and its main subsidiary Kirin Brewery Company will sell their headquarters buildings in Tokyo to raise an estimated 15 billion to 30 billion yen ($170 million to $340 million),...

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Keylong in Himachal Pradesh freezes at minus 10.4 degrees celsius

SHIMLA: Bone-chilling cold conditions swept across Himachal Pradesh on Sunday with Keylong freezing at a minus 10.4 degrees celsius, a meteorological official said. While state capital Shimla shivered at 0.9 degree celsius, the minimum temperature at tourist resort Manali was 3 degrees below the freezing point. Kalpa, around 250 km from here, recorded a low of minus 5 degrees Celsius, whereas Dharamsala...

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

Winner: PlacesPhotograph by Nenad SaljicA full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image...

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Gun Show Near Newtown Goes on Despite Anger

A little more than 40 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where last month 20 first graders and six staff members were massacred, gun dealers and collectors alike ignored calls to cancel a gun show, and gathered for business in Stamford, Conn.Four other gun shows with an hour of Newtown, Conn., recently cancelled their events in the wake of the shootings, when 20-year-old...

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Al Gore stands to gain about $70 million after selling Current TV to al-Jazeera

Al Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against global warming, may gross about $70 million from the sale of his Current TV network to al-Jazeera, the cable channel funded in part by oil-rich Qatar. Al-Jazeera will pay about $500 million for Current TV, including the stake held by Gore, 64, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The network is one...

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AHTC unable to verify accuracy of reasons for software sale

SINGAPORE: Chairman of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) Sylvia Lim has responded to the recent statement by Dr Teo Ho Pin - on the sale of the software formerly owned by the town councils managed by the People's Action Party (PAP) to Action Information Management Pte Ltd (AIM) in 2011, prior to the General Election.She said AHTC is not able to verify the accuracy of the reasons for...

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In US, juveniles now entitled to life imprisonment with parole for homicidal cases

MUMBAI: In the US, a minor arrested in a rape and murder case would have been tried in a regular criminal court and got sentenced to life in prison if convicted. Till about six months ago such a person would not even have been entitled to parole in over 20 states and be imprisoned till death. Many states provided for mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole even for juvenile offenders....

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

Winner: PlacesPhotograph by Nenad SaljicA full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image...

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Quadruple Amputee Gets Two New Hands on Life

It's the simplest thing, the grasp of one hand in another. But Lindsay Ess will never see it that way, because her hands once belonged to someone else.Growing up in Texas and Virginia, Lindsay, 29, was always one of the pretty girls. She went to college, did some modeling and started building a career in fashion, with an eye on producing fashion shows.Then she lost her hands...

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Federal agencies bracing for cuts after ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

The fiscal pact Congress reached hours into the new year will delay $109 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts for two months. But it will make a down payment on those reductions that will affect federal operations this year and next. The eleventh-hour agreement to avoid a “fiscal cliff” of higher taxes put off the major cuts known as a sequester until March 1,...

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CES show to see changing of guard in tech sector

WASHINGTON: The inexorable push for mobility in gadgets has reshaped the electronics industry, a shift that reflects a changing of the guard at the world's biggest consumer technology show.Gone from the 2013 International CES, to be held January 8-11 in Las Vegas, are giants such as Microsoft, and longtime tech stalwarts such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard are taking a back seat to firms...

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Alagiri furious over Karunanidhi's suggestion to hand over DMK's reign to Stalin

CHENNAI: DMK chief M Karunanidhi's older son and Union minister M K Alagiri on Friday reacted angrily to a suggestion by his father that younger son and party treasurer M K Stalin would take over the party affairs after him. When reporters quizzed him at the Chennai airport about media reports that Stalin would take over the party reins after his father, Alagiri said sarcastically, "The DMK is...

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Pictures We Love: Best of 2012

Photograph by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/APPowder-splattered, and powder-splattering, runners cross the finish line of The Color Run 5K in Irvine, California, on April 22. Each kilometer (0.6 mile) of the event features a color-pelting station dedicated to a single hue, culminating in the Pollock-esque riot at kilometer 5.The "magical color dust" is completely safe, organizers say, though...

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Ex-USC Player: Painkiller Injections Caused Heart Attack

Despite stated label risks of possible fatal heart attack, stroke or organ failure, college football players across the country are still being given injections of a powerful painkiller on game days so they can play while injured, an ABC News investigation has found.The drug, a generic version of Toradol, is recommended for the short-term treatment of post-operative pain in...

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Federal agencies bracing for cuts after ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

The fiscal pact Congress reached hours into the new year will delay $109 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts for two months. But it will make a down payment on those reductions that will affect federal operations this year and next. The eleventh-hour agreement to avoid a “fiscal cliff” of higher taxes put off the major cuts known as a sequester until March 1,...

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Delhi gang-rape suspects to be charged in court

NEW DELHI: Five men accused of gang-raping a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in a deadly crime that repulsed the nation are to be formally charged in court on Thursday.Police will lay out evidence against them of rape, kidnapping and murder after the woman died at the weekend from the horrific injuries inflicted on her during an ordeal that has galvanised disgust over...

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S Ramakrishnan takes over charge as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior scientist with four decades of experience in rocketry, S Ramakrishnan has assumed charge as Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre here. Ramakrishnan, who was director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) here, succeeds P S Veeraraghavan. A Padma Shri award recipient, Ramakrishnan is an expert in aerospace propulsion, launch vehicle systems and project...

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Pictures: Errant Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground Off Alaska, Prompts Massive Response

Photograph courtesy Jonathan Klingenberg, U.S. Coast GuardWaves lash at the sides of the Shell* drilling rig Kulluk, which ran aground off the rocky southern coast of Alaska on New Year's Eve in a violent storm.The rig, seen above Tuesday afternoon, was "stable," with no signs of spilled oil products, authorities said. But continued high winds and savage seas hampered efforts to secure the vessel...

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Obama Signs 'Fiscal Cliff' Bill With Autopen

Jan 3, 2013 12:53am Charles Dharapak/AP PhotoHONOLULU, Hawaii — President Obama has signed the “fiscal cliff” legislation into law via autopen from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family.The bill to avert the “fiscal cliff” arrived at the White House late this afternoon and it was immediately processed, according to a senior White House official. A copy was...

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Delhi gang-rapists tried to run victim over

NEW DELHI: A gang of rapists who assaulted and murdered a woman on a bus in New Delhi last month tried to run her over with the vehicle after the attack, reports said Wednesday, citing a grisly police account of the incident.Her boyfriend, who was beaten up and thrown off the bus after the girl had been repeatedly raped, managed to pull her to safety just in time, police are set to allege...

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Naming anti-rape law after girl will be an honour: Family

BALLIA, UP: A day after Union minister Shashi Tharoor favoured naming the revised anti-rape law after the Delhi gang-rape victim, her family members on Wednesday said they have no objection to it and the move would be an honour to the girl. The family members of the 23-year-old girl said that "if her name is made public for this purpose, they have no objection to it". Talking to the father and...

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Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

Happy TrailsPhotograph by Alex Cherney, TWANAmateur astronomer Alex Cherney captured these star trails as they blazed above Lake Tyrrell, a salt lake in Victoria, Australia in...

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Obama Hails 'Cliff' Deal, Warns of Next Fiscal Fight

Minutes after the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" and preserve Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans making less than $400,000 per year, President Obama praised party leaders and wasted little time turning to the next fiscal fight."This is one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy for everybody," Obama said.Obama...

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