Football: Benteke rampant as Aston Villa curb Liverpool's revival

LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom: Christian Benteke scored twice and made another goal as Aston Villa checked Liverpool's recent resurgence with a 3-1 win at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.Liverpool were bidding for a fourth consecutive win in all competitions but failed to convert a string of first-half chances and were punished when goals from Benteke and Andreas Weimann put Villa...

Read More..

Jundal is an Indian operative: Rehman Malik

NEW DELHI: A day after he offended his hosts by seeking to draw a comparison between Babri demolition and Mumbai terror attack, Rehman Malik was at it again on Saturday. The visiting interior minister festered India's 26/11 wound by saying that Abu Jundal, who had coordinated the terror strikes of Ajmal Kasab and nine other Laskhar terrorists from the Karachi control room, worked for an Indian...

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

Read More..

Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: Quiet, Bright, Troubled

Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed 20 kids and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school Friday, was very bright, say neighbors and former classmates, but he was also socially awkward and deeply troubled."[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said family friend Barbara Frey. A relative told ABC News that Adam was "obviously not well."READ full ABC News coverage...

Read More..

I'll answer crime questions in neutral country: McAfee

MIAMI: Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee said in a TV interview Friday that he was willing to answer questions about the murder of his neighbor in Belize in a neutral country.McAfee, who insists he is innocent, also admitted that he was worth "less than" US$5 million -- a day after saying he was broke -- though it was unclear how he would access that money."I've said in any neutral...

Read More..

Turban pride restores as Sikhs wins school turban ban case against France in UN

AMRITSAR: The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has ruled that France's ban on the wearing of "conspicuous" religious symbols in schools - introduced in a law adopted in March 2004 - violated a Sikh student's right to manifest his religion, protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). "The UNHRC has made our nine year wait for justice worthwhile, since the French...

Read More..

More Than 20, Mostly Kids, Killed at Grade School

More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News.The massacre involved two gunmen at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today.State Police...

Read More..

Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s 2012 Christmas card: Fiscal cliff, Gretzky in heaven

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen — your Rep. Loretta Sanchez Christmas card for 2012! (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez) Over the past decade, the California Democrat’s wacky holiday greetings have drawn a cult following. “I’ve seen them being sold on eBay,” the congresswoman told us. (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez) Nice topical theme this...

Read More..

Golf: US 2014 Ryder Cup captain Watson wants Tiger on team

NEW YORK: Eight-time major golf champion Tom Watson, named on Thursday to be captain of the 2014 US Ryder Cup squad by the PGA of America, said that he sees Tiger Woods being on that team.Citing the 14-time major champion's hunger for victory, Watson said a healthy Woods would be a certainty on the 12-man US lineup by virtue of a captain's selection even if he is unable to qualify on points."I...

Read More..

Killing of fishermen: Italy summons Indian ambassador

ROME: Italy has summoned India's ambassador to insist that India's Supreme Court issue a decision soon concerning two Italian naval guards detained since February for the deaths of two Indian fishermen mistaken for pirates. Italy maintains the shooting occurred in international waters and that as a result, Rome should have jurisdiction. India claims the ship was in Indian territorial waters. The...

Read More..

Hubble Discovers Oldest Known Galaxy

The Hubble space telescope has discovered seven primitive galaxies formed in the earliest days of the cosmos, including one believed to be the oldest ever detected.The discovery, announced Wednesday, is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign to determine how and when galaxies first assembled following the Big Bang."This 'cosmic dawn' was not a single, dramatic event," said astrophysicist...

Read More..

Fiscal Cliff Talks' Latest Victim? Sandy Relief

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner just can't seem to break through an impasse in their "fiscal cliff" talks, increasing pessimism about a deal by Christmas and now threatening to sidetrack billions in federal aid for victims of superstorm Sandy.After weeks of public posturing and private negotiations, both sides remain firmly dug in with their opposing positions...

Read More..

Talks to avert ‘fiscal cliff’ show no progress

Talks to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” appeared on the verge of an impasse Wednesday morning after late-night attempts to prevent negotiations from breaking down yielded no significant progress. President Obama’s chief negotiator, Rob Nabors, rushed to the Capitol late Tuesday to meet with top aides to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) hours after a phone call between the two...

Read More..

UN court sentences Srebrenica commander to life for genocide

THE HAGUE: The UN's Yugoslav war crimes court found Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir guilty of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, and sentenced him to life in jail."The majority of the court finds you guilty" of crimes including genocide, judge Christoph Flugge told the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the...

Read More..

Ravi Shankar harnessed folk tunes with equal felicity

NEW DELHI: Perhaps the finest novel written by Hindi-Urdu literary genius Munshi Premchand, Godan, was miserably adapted to the big screen by film director Trilok Jetley in 1963. Despite having proven performers like Raj Kumar and Kamini Kaushal in lead roles, the movie sank without a trace. But the film had at least one endearing footnote: a bunch of folksy compositions flavoured with the salt...

Read More..

Best Space Pictures of 2012: Editor's Picks

Photograph courtesy Tunç Tezel, APOY/Royal ObservatoryThis image of the Milky Way's vast star fields hanging over a valley of human-made light was recognized in the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by the U.K.’s Royal Observatory Greenwich.To get the shot, photographer Tunç Tezel trekked to Uludag National Park near his hometown of Bursa, Turkey. He intended to watch the moon...

Read More..

Oregon Mall Shooting Hero Gets Customer to Safety

A store employee at the Clackamas Town Center mall used his knowledge of the shopping complex to hustle a customer out of the building during Tuesday's shooting rampage and then twice went back inside to guide other shoppers to exits and safety.Allan Fonseca, who works at Lancome counter in Macy's and was waiting on Jocelyn Lay when they heard shots fired about 3:30 p.m. Thinking...

Read More..

Mass protest as Michigan curbs union rights

CHICAGO: Thousands of protesters descended on Michigan's state capitol Tuesday as lawmakers prepared to pass union-curbing "right-to-work" legislation in a state seen as the heart of the labor movement.The measure would weaken unions by allowing workers who get the same wages and benefits as union members to decline to pay any union dues.Democratic lawmakers begged their Republican colleagues...

Read More..

Dharna planned at Jantar Mantar against cash transfer plan

NEW DELHI: Over 1,000 people from 12 states are set to converge at Jantar Mantar in the Capital on Thursday to protest against the UID-driven cash transfer program and demand a more inclusive National Food Security Bill. The protest is being organised by The Right To Food Campaign, a grassroots organisations' network. The Right To Food Campaign has earlier criticized the categorization of beneficiaries...

Read More..

U.K. Dash for Shale Gas a Test for Global Fracking

Thomas K. Grose in London The starting gun has sounded for the United Kingdom's "dash for gas," as the media here have dubbed it.As early as this week, a moratorium on shale gas production is expected to be lifted. And plans to streamline and speed the regulatory process through a new Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil were unveiled last week in the annual autumn budget statement by...

Read More..

Video of Columbus Circle Killer Released

The hunt for New York's Columbus Circle killer took on a new impetus today as police released surveillance video showing the killer moments before he calmly walked up to Brandon Lincoln Woodard and put one bullet from a silver colored handgun into the back of the Los Angeles man's head in full view of holiday shoppers.The video confirms the details of the hit man's calculated...

Read More..

Football: Police hunt for Ferdinand coin throw culprit

LONDON: Police said on Monday that they were working to track down the person responsible for throwing a coin at Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand during Sunday's Manchester derby.Ferdinand was left with blood streaming down his face from a cut above his eye after being struck by a coin as he celebrated Robin van Persie's injury-time winner in United's 3-2 victory at Manchester City.Greater...

Read More..

No idea why Hazare changed stand, Kejriwal says

MUMBAI: After Anna Hazare said he would not vote for the newly-launched Aam Aadmi Party, its leader Arvind Kejriwal was today at a loss to explain what had made the anti-corruption crusader change his mind. "Earlier, he had supported our party. But I don't know what happened in two days. He did not remain with us. If we have erred, we are ready to rectify our mistakes," Kejriwal said. He was talking...

Read More..

Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

Read More..

Royal Hoax: DJs 'Shattered' After Nurse's Suicide

The two Australian radio DJs who prank-called the London hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated last week said they were "shattered" and "gutted" after the nurse who answered their call apparently killed herself.Shock jocks Mel Greig, 30, and Michael Christian, 25, cried as they spoke to Australia's Channel 9 overnight in their first public interview since Jacintha...

Read More..

Nobel-winners vow Europe will emerge stronger from crisis

OSLO: The three European Union leaders in Norway to collect the Nobel peace prize moved Sunday to defuse criticism of the 2012 award, vowing the crisis-hit bloc would emerge strong and remain on a course of peace."Europe is going through a difficult period," EU president Herman Van Rompuy told a packed news conference on the eve of the awards ceremony."We are working hard, jointly as a...

Read More..

India misguided, paranoid over China: Guha

Shreya Roy Chowdhury, TNN Dec 8, 2012, 06.12AM ISTMUMBAI: A good half-hour into the discussion on 'India, China and the World', historian Ramachandra Guha issued a disclaimer—all the three members on the panel had been to China only once. "We should learn their language, promote quality research, and have a panel on China driven by Chinese scholars," he said. And that was the general tenor of the...

Read More..

Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

Read More..

Cowboys Players Were Like 'Brothers'

Dallas Cowboys players Joshua Price-Brent and Jerry Brown Jr., had a brotherly bond that began when they were teammates at the University of Illinois and carried on when they were both signed, in different years, to the NFL franchise.But in an instant, the lives of the young, successful men who were living out their NFL dreams were altered.Irving police suspect Price-Brent,...

Read More..