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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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