US police seek clues in school shooting

NEWTOWN, Connecticut: US police indicated on Saturday they are homing in on the mystery of what triggered the massacre of 20 children and six adults at a school by a young lone gunman.Police have yet to make public the identities of the dead or almost any of the details of what happened inside Sandy Hook Elementary School just after classes started Friday.The motives of the shooter, identified...

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Rs 600/month enough to feed family of 5: Sheila Dikshit

NEW DELHI: They listened to chief minister Sheila Dikshit in silence but couldn't hide their disbelief. Speaking on the occasion of the launch of Delhi government's cash-for-food programme, Annshree Yojana, on Saturday, Dikshit argued that Rs 600 - the cash subsidy - was adequate for buying the monthly "dal, roti and chawal" for a poor family of around five. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was on...

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Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants

ALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered...

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20 Children Killed at Conn. Grade School, 7 Adults

Twenty childlren died today when a heavily armed man invaded a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, killing his mother and spraying the school with bullets.The gunman was killed inside of the school.Lt. Paul Vance said 18 children died in the school and two more died later in a hospital. Six adults were also slain, bringing the total to 26.In addition to the casualties at the...

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U.S., rebels urge gloomy Moscow to help oust Assad

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's rebel leadership and the United States seized on Russian pessimism over President Bashar al-Assad's future to urge Moscow to help push its ally into ceding power and end the battles closing in around his capital. "We want to commend the Russian government for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime's days are numbered," the U.S. State...

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Oil prices advance on China data

NEW YORK: Oil prices rose Friday, lifted by upbeat Chinese manufacturing data and a weaker US dollar.New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery, rose 84 cents from Thursday to settle at US$86.73 a barrel.Brent North Sea crude for January leaped US$1.24 to close at US$109.15 a barrel in London trade."January Brent crude oil expires today, with late book...

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Direct cash transfer scheme will help deserving beneficiaries: Government

NEW DELHI: Union minister V Narayansamy on Friday said that the direct cash transfer scheme would ensure that central government schemes would reach deserving parties. Minister of state in the PMO Narayansamy said, "As a minister, when I visited some of the states, I found that whatever central government schemes are implemented in those states, it was not satisfactory. In fact, even in Parliament...

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APNewsBreak: Texas cancer probe draws NCI scrutiny

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The National Cancer Institute confirmed Friday that federal officials are taking a closer look at a troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas that is under a criminal investigation over a lucrative taxpayer-funded grant awarded by the state agency.The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has coveted status as an NCI-approved funding entity — an exclusive...

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Sandy Aid: Millions for Space Center, Forests

A man walks past destroyed homes on the Rockaway Peninsula in the Queens borough of New York, Nov. 27, 2012. A proposal in Congress would provide $60 billion in relief. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)The Obama administration’s $60-billion emergency aid package for victims of superstorm Sandy is now caught in the crossfire over the “fiscal cliff,” with some critics questioning why millions of dollars are...

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Russia says Syrian rebels might win

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels are gaining ground and might win, Russia's Middle East envoy said on Thursday, in the starkest such admission from a major ally of President Bashar al-Assad in 20 months of conflict. "One must look the facts in the face," Russia's state-run RIA quoted Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. "Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled...

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