Dec
31

Fiscal Cliffhanger: Tax Deal 'Within Sight,' Not Done

President Obama said an 11th-hour agreement to avert year-end tax hikes on 98 percent of Americans is "within sight" but not yet complete with just hours to go before the nation reaches the so-called fiscal cliff."There are still issues left to resolve but we're hopeful Congress can get it done," Obama said at a midday White House news conference. "But it's not done."Congressional...
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State Department made "grievous mistake" over Benghazi: Senate report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the U.S. mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on Monday. A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the U.S. mission and a nearby...
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Oil prices rise on US cliff deal hopes

NEW YORK: Oil prices surged higher on Monday after US politicians signaled a last-minute compromise deal was in view to avert driving the economy over a fiscal cliff toward recession.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, gained $1.02 from Friday to close at $91.82 a barrel.Brent North Sea crude for February settled at $111.11 a barrel, up 49 cents.Over the...
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80 witnesses in chargesheet

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police files around 500 chargesheets in rape cases every year, but the first one of 2013 will be their most elaborate ever. With the world's attention now on the Nirbhaya rape and torture case, police cannot afford to go wrong and the 1,000-page document is likely to include statements of close to 80 witnesses, besides crucial forensic reports. The statements of the 23-year-old victim...
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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.But since then, Big Pharma has been...
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Dec
30

Cliffhanger: 'Major Setback' For Budget Talks

With less than two days remaining for Congress to reach a budget agreement that would avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," ABC News has learned that negotiations have reached a "major setback."According to Democratic sources the row was sparked when the GOP offered a proposal that included a new method of calculating entitlement benefits with inflation. Called the "chained consumer...
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Body of India rape victim cremated in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The body of a woman, whose gang rape provoked protests and rare national debate about violence against women in India, arrived back in New Delhi on Sunday and was cremated at a private ceremony. Scuffles broke out in central Delhi between police and protesters who say the government is doing too little to protect women. But the 2,000-strong rally was confined to...
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Nobel medicine laureate Levi-Montalcini dies aged 103

ROME: Nobel medicine laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini, a neurologist and developmental biologist, died on Sunday at her home in Rome aged 103.She was the oldest living Nobel laureate at the time of her death.Levi-Montalcini shared the prize with colleague Stanley Cohen in 1986 for their ground-breaking discovery of growth factors.The Nobel committee cited the pair for advancing "our knowledge...
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Don’t let Nirbhaya’s fire die

NEW DELHI: Her funeral was conducted in near-secrecy and amid tight security, but all of India mourned as the mortal remains of 23-year-old Nirbhaya were cremated at Dwarka early on Sunday morning. The bubbly girl who was the pride and joy of her family could not live to fulfill her fond dreams. But as the protesters who congregated at Jan tar Mantar a few hours later clearly demonstrated, the memory...
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Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...
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