Italy's Berlusconi announces fresh run for PM

ROME: Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday ended weeks of speculation by announcing he would run again for the job of prime minister, the post he was forced out of last year."I am running to win," the leader of the right-wing populist People of Freedom (PDL) party told journalists in Milanello, near the northern city of Milan.He had called a meeting of the PDL for Sunday and had opened talks...

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India misguided, paranoid over China: Guha

MUMBAI: 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 debate—that the Indian attitude to China was influenced...

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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...

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Australian DJs Behind Prank Call Under Fire

An outpouring of anger is being directed today at the two Australian radio hosts after the death of a nurse who was caught in the DJs' prank call to hospital where Kate Middleton was treated earlier this week.Lord Glenarthur, the chairman of King Edward VII's Hospital - the U.K. hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was receiving treatment, condemned the prank in a letter...

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Football: All options open for Euro 2020: Platini

NYON, Switzerland: UEFA president Michel Platini on Friday said that he was open to all options for the European championships in 2020, a day after the ruling body said that the tournament would be held across the continent."It's a blank page at the moment," said the former France captain. "I can't tell you where we're going to go. We haven't yet gone into the details. It's a one-off decision."Platini...

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India asks Nepal to prevent terror groups from using its soil for infiltration

NEW DELHI: With several former militants from Jammu & Kashmir recently using Nepal to enter India from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), New Delhi has asked Kathmandu to strengthen its screening process since intelligence inputs suggest that ISI-backed terror groups are trying to push active terrorists in the guise of ex-ultras. In the recently concluded meet between the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB)...

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Space Pictures This Week: Lunar Gravity, Venusian Volcano

Cassiopeia’s BubbleImage courtesy T.A. Rector, UAA/WIYN/NOAO/NSFA new camera called the One Degree Imager, located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, is responsible...

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Nurse Duped by 'Queen's' Prank Call Found Dead

The hospital receptionist who was hoaxed by a prank call from a DJ claiming to be the queen asking about Kate Middleton has been found dead."It is with very deep sadness that we confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff," the hospital said in a statement released today.The nurse was identified as Jacintha Saldanha. The hospital said that Saldanha worked at the...

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IMF says Bangladesh loan program on track

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said Bangladesh was making progress with reforms under an IMF loan program and may be eligible for the second aid payment.An IMF mission to Dhaka met with senior Bangladeshi officials in the first review of the country's performance under a $987 million Extended Credit Facility granted in April.Bangladesh's performance under the loan...

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Shinde called all-party meet on Telangana to know views afresh: Ghulam Nabi Azad

HYDERABAD: Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has convened all-party meeting on Telangana on December 28 as he has recently taken over and wants to know the views of the parties on the issue, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said.Azad, the union health minister and in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, recalled that the central government earlier held two all-party meetings on the issue."Since...

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High-Voltage DC Breakthrough Could Boost Renewable Energy

Patrick J. Kiger Thomas Edison championed direct current, or DC, as a better mode for delivering electricity than alternating current, or AC. But the inventor of the light bulb lost the War of the Currents. Despite Edison's sometimes flamboyant efforts—at one point he electrocuted a Coney Island zoo elephant in an attempt to show the technology's hazards—AC is the primary way that electricity...

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Deadly, or Just Misused? Feds Sue Nap Nanny

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is taking action against the makers of a portable baby recliner called the Nap Nanny after five infant deaths linked to the product.The commission filed a complaint Wednesday to force the manufacturer, Baby Matters LLC, to pull its product off store shelves and offer full refunds to their customers. In addition to the five deaths, the commission...

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Rubio, Ryan look to the future during award dinner speeches

Two high-profile Republican members of Congress who stand at the forefront of the effort to rebuild the party after a stinging presidential defeat delivered speeches Tuesday night aimed at turning the page with a fresh emphasis on inclusion and a renewed focus on growing the middle class. “Nothing represents how special America is more than our middle class. And our challenge and our opportunity...

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Football: West Ham recommended for Olympic Stadium move

LONDON: West Ham United took an important step towards moving into London's Olympic Stadium after being granted 'first bidder' status by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) on Wednesday.The Premier League team are competing with third-tier football club Leyton Orient, a football business college and a Formula One racing group to become permanent tenants of the east London...

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Airlines asked to display the range of fares for each route

MUMBAI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked domestic airlines to display tariff, slab wise on each route they operate so as to bring transparency in pricing and the consumer will have an idea of the highest and lowest fares on offer for a particular route. For the sake of transparency, the DGCA has asked scheduled domestic airlines to display established tariff route-wise...

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Scientific Results From Challenger Deep

Jane J. Lee The spotlight is shining once again on the deepest ecosystems in the ocean—Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (map) and the New Britain Trench near Papua New Guinea. At a presentation today at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco, attendees got a glimpse into these mysterious ecosystems nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers) down, the former visited by filmmaker...

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Fiscal Cliff: Can Savings Be Found Without Sacrifice?

How does one come up with $4 trillion in revenue and spending cuts?That's the question members of Congress, the Obama administration and fiscal experts around the country are grappling with as "fiscal cliff" talks continue to stall.The fiscal cliff is a combination of the soon-to-expire Bush tax cuts coupled with a series of deep budgetary cuts to defense and domestic programs-...

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Iran claims US drone captured

TEHRAN: Iran claimed on Tuesday to have captured a small US drone that penetrated its airspace over Gulf waters, but the US Navy in the region denied any of its unmanned spy planes were missing.The naval arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on the Guards website Sepahnews.com that "the unmanned US drone patrolling Persian Gulf waters, performing reconnaissance and...

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India made progress due to its secular system: Markandey Katju

MANGALORE: Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju today said though the country has different religions, languages and culture, it achieved progress because of its secular and diversified system. At the time of partition, there was a great pressure on our political leadership to declare India as a Hindu state, but our leadership resisted it and the country remained as a secular state,...

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Pictures We Love: Best of November

Photograph by Qais Usyan, AFP/Getty ImagesThe family of a five-year-old Afghan girl, victim of an alleged rape by a 22-year-old man, sits at her hospital bedside in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, on November 12. News agencies reported that the assailant, a neighbor, was later detained by police.(Read about the continued struggle of women in Afghanistan in National Geographic magazine.)Why We Love It...

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Insiders Reveal 2012 Election Secrets

Pete Souza/White HouseThe 2012 election cycle came full circle last week when representatives from the Obama and Romney campaigns, as well as top advisers to many of the GOP primary candidates and several influential outside groups, gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government for a 2012 debrief — finally answering some of the lingering questions about the race.On neutral ground in Cambridge,...

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Petition posted to White House Web site seeks Death Star construction

(Associated Press) Savvy politicians know there’s much to be gained by giving the people what they want. And at least some Americans want... a Star Wars-style Death Star.A petition posted to the White House Web site — the administration created a forum that allows people to post petitions and promises a response to those that garner more than 25,000 digital signatures — is seeking...

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Rugby: England, Wales, Australia in 'group of death' for 2015 World Cup

LONDON: England, Wales and Australia were all drawn together in a potential 'group of death' when the draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England was made on Monday.The trio all found themselves in Pool A at a draw conducted at London's Tate Modern gallery.This means one of the sport's traditional powers will be knocked out before the quarter-finals, with only the top two teams from each...

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NRHM scam: CBI files chargesheet against Pradeep Shukla

GHAZIABAD: The CBI today filed chargesheet against senior IAS officer Pradeep Shukla in connection with alleged irregularities in upgrading of 89 district hospitals in the state, under National Rural Health Mission scheme, causing a loss of Rs 16 crore to the exchequer. The agency had received sanction to prosecute Shukla, the then family welfare secretary, on November 30 from the Centre after...

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