Delhi high court dismisses plea challenging Sachin Tendulkar's Rajya Sabha nomination

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging the nomination of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha. A division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw dismissed the petition, filed by Ram Gopal Singh Sisodia, a former Delhi legislator, claiming that Tendulkar did not possess "special knowledge and practical experience," a criterion...

Read More..

Race Is On to Find Life Under Antarctic Ice

A hundred years ago, two teams of explorers set out to be the first people ever to reach the South Pole. The race between Roald Amundsen of Norway and Robert Falcon Scott of Britain became the stuff of triumph, tragedy, and legend. (See rare pictures of Scott's expedition.)Today, another Antarctic drama is underway that has a similar daring and intensity—but very different stakes.Three...

Read More..

Newtown Settles In for Prayerful, Somber Christmas

Residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., gather every year under an enormous tree in the middle of town to sing carols and light the tree. The tree is lit this year, too, but the scene beneath it is starkly different.The tree looms over hundreds of teddy bears and toys, but they are for children who will never receive them. The ornaments are adorned with names and jarringly recent birth...

Read More..

Gun-control legislation: The difference between 1994 and today

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may be the most outspoken elected official advocating for enhanced gun safety laws, but the New York public servant who has hands-on experience in Washington getting such legislation passed is promoting the use of smart phones to hail cabs in Manhattan. In a prior life, New York’s taxi and limousine commissioner, David Yassky, played a major role in writing the...

Read More..

S. Korea presidential rivals in final push for votes

SEOUL: The two rivals for South Korea's presidency made a final pitch to voters Tuesday -- the eve of an election that looks set to go down to the wire and could produce the country's first female leader.The eventual winner of Wednesday's ballot will face numerous foreign and domestic challenges, including a pugnacious North Korea, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of...

Read More..

India lost $123 billion in black money in a decade

WASHINGTON: The Indian economy suffered $1.6 billion in illicit financial outflows in 2010, capping-off a decade in which it experienced black money losses of $123 billion, according to a new report. India is ranked as the decade's 8th largest victim of illicit capital flight behind China, Mexico, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Philippines, and Nigeria, respectively in the report by Global...

Read More..

GRAIL Mission Goes Out With a Bang

Jane J. Lee On Friday, December 14, NASA sent their latest moon mission into a death spiral. Rocket burns nudged GRAIL probes Ebb and Flow into a new orbit designed to crash them into the side of a mountain near the moon's north pole today at around 2:28 p.m. Pacific standard time. NASA named the crash site after late astronaut Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.Although the mountain...

Read More..

Conn. Kids Laid to Rest: 'Our Hearts Are With You'

Visibly shaken attendees exiting the funeral today for 6-year-old Noah Pozner, one of 20 children killed in the Connecticut school massacre last week, said they were touched by a story that summed up the first-grader best.His mother, Veronique, would often tell him how much she loved him and he'd respond: "Not as much as I [love] you," said a New York man who attended the funeral...

Read More..

Obama in Newtown, Conn.: ‘You’re not alone in your grief’ over school massacre

NEWTOWN, Conn. — President Obama offered words of solace to a heartbroken and inconsolable community Sunday, meeting with loved ones of the dead from Sandy Hook Elementary School and lamenting at a nationally televised memorial service that the United States has failed in its duty “to keep our children, all of them,” safe from harm. “Whatever measure of comfort we can provide, we will...

Read More..

Incoming Japan PM pledges no compromise on islands

TOKYO - Incoming Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe came out fighting Monday after his sweeping election victory, saying there can be no compromise on the sovereignty of islands at the centre of a dispute with China.Abe, whose conservative Liberal Democratic Party secured a comfortable win in national polls Sunday, acknowledged Japan's relationship with China was important but stuck to...

Read More..