Tax fight sends GOP into chaos

The main thing that has held Republicans together philosophically is the belief in holding down taxes. Not one of them in Congress has voted for a significant increase in more than two decades. Now that very issue is tearing the GOP apart and making it an all-but-ungovernable majority for Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to lead in the House. Disarray is a word much overused in politics....

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Astra missile test-fired on 2nd consecutive day from Chandipur

BALASORE (ODISHA): A day after a perfect developmental trial of " Astra", India today again successfully test-fired its indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, 15 km from here.The sophisticated missile was test-fired from a launcher in launch pad-2 of the ITR at about 3.34 PM targeting a flying object being supported by a pilotless...

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Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter InstituteMounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to."You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations,"...

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Obama Still an 'Optimist' on Cliff Deal

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON D.C. – Ten days remain before the mandatory spending cuts and tax increases known as the “fiscal cliff” take effect, but President Obama said he is still a “hopeless optimist” that a federal budget deal can be reached before the year-end deadline that economists agree might plunge the country back into recession.“Even though Democrats and Republicans are...

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PM Lee "considering seriously" if by-election should be held for Punggol East

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he is considering seriously if a by-election should be held for the Punggol East single-member constituency, and if so, when to hold one.The parliamentary seat in Punggol East fell vacant following the resignation of the MP for the area Michael Palmer.Mr Lee was replying to questions from the Singapore media at the end of his visit to India...

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BJP activists protest Sanjay Nirupam's remarks against Smriti Irani

MUMBSI: BJP workers on Friday staged a protest against Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam for his reported derogatory remarks against TV actor and BJP member Smriti Irani.Activists of BJP's youth and women's wings took out a morcha and demanded an apology from Nirupam for his remarks against Irani, who is also a Member of Parliament.Around 300 BJP cadres participated in the procession which concluded at...

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Hollies Get Prickly for a Reason

With shiny evergreen leaves and bright red berries, holly trees are a naturally festive decoration seen throughout the Christmas season.They're famously sharp. But not all holly leaves are prickly, even on the same tree. And scientists now think they know how the plants are able to make sharper leaves, seemingly at will. (Watch a video about how Christmas trees are made.)A new study...

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NRA to Speak on Stopping Newtown Repeat

For the past week, leadership at the National Rifle Association has largely stayed away from the media, but this morning the group may weigh in on how to keep a deadly shooting massacre like last week's at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school from happening again.The NRA will hold a news conference in Washington, D.C., just before 11 a.m.Its leadership has held off on interviews...

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In the Loop’s presidential election contest winners

(Marlon Correa) The presidential popular vote counting is just about over — although Cook Political Report guru David Wasserman, who has President Obama at 50.97 percent of the vote now, says there are still some yet to be counted. But if we’re going to get t-shirts out to the winners of the In The Loop election contest (popular vote) in time for Christmas, we’ve got to stop...

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Football: Milan-Barca, Madrid-United top last-16 line-up

NYON: Ties between Barcelona and AC Milan and Manchester United and Real Madrid topped the bill in the draw for the Champions League last 16 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Thursday.Arsenal were drawn against last season's beaten finalists, Bayern Munich, while Celtic's reward for reaching the knockout phase is a rendezvous with Italian champions Juventus.Big-spending French...

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Perpetrators of rape should be made 'impotent', NCW chief Mamta Sharma says

NEW DELHI: Demanding enactment of stringent laws to deter people from committing crimes like rape, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday favoured capital punishment for perpetrators and even suggested that they should be made "impotent"."Capital punishment is very important. I suggest that they should be made impotent so they repent every day of their life. It is very important, unless...

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Detecting Rabid Bats Before They Bite

A picture is worth a thousand words—or in the case of bats, a rabies diagnosis. A new study reveals that rabid bats have cooler faces compared to uninfected colony-mates. And researchers are hopeful that thermal scans of bat faces could improve rabies surveillance in wild colonies, preventing outbreaks that introduce infections into other animals—including humans.Bats are a major reservoir...

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days."If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference."I...

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EPA administrator eyes ivory tower

(Kevin Wolf - AP) We’ve known that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jacksonhas been planning her exit from the Cabinet, and now we hear she’s exploring that well-worn path from government officialdom to academia. Jackson is talking to some university officials, we’re told, and her name is among those being floated as possible candidates for the presidency...

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Quake risk at Japan atomic recycling plant: experts

TOKYO: Japan's only reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel could sit on an active seismic fault vulnerable to a massive earthquake, experts warned Wednesday.If regulators agree they will have to order its closure and Japan would be without any recycling capacity of its own, a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.This would leave it dependent on other countries and...

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UP government to bear treatment cost of rape victim; offers jobs

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh would bear the medical expenses of the woman who was raped in a moving bus in New Delhi Sunday night and will give a government job to her, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said here Wednesday. In a statement, the chief minister said he was pained at the barbaric act and said the state government would not only bear her medical expenses but it would also give jobs to both the...

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Race Is On to Find Life Under Antarctic Ice

A hundred years ago, two teams of explorers set out to be the first people ever to reach the South Pole. The race between Roald Amundsen of Norway and Robert Falcon Scott of Britain became the stuff of triumph, tragedy, and legend. (See rare pictures of Scott's expedition.)Today, another Antarctic drama is underway that has a similar daring and intensity—but very different stakes.Three...

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Guns in Circulation Is Biggest Obstacle, Expert Says

Editor's Note: This post is part of a larger series by ABC News examining the complex legal, political and social issues in the gun control debate. The series is part of ABC's special coverage of the search for solutions in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.The Second Amendment of the Constitution reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary...

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Lawmakers’ trip to hit Thailand, Cambodia, China

Lawmakers might have time to to visit the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Heng Sinith - AP) Itching for a post-holiday getaway? A codel (shorthand, of course, for a congressional delegation trip) is leaving Jan. 5 for a week-plus jaunt to to exotic Southeast Asia. No word if there’s still room on the military and commercial jets that lawmakers will use, but if so, one...

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Thai woman's bid to bring in 3.4kg of Ice foiled

SINGAPORE: A 27-year-old Thai woman's bid to bring in approximately 3.4 kilograms (kg) of Ice was foiled by authorities on Monday.The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) successfully halted the attempt at the Changi Airport terminal 3 arrival hall.The estimated street value of the drugs found is about S$850,000.The 27-year-old had arrived...

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MPs seek death penalty for Delhi gang rape accused

NEW DELHI: The bus driver, who along with six others allegedly gang-raped a 23-year-old girl on Sunday evening, was today remanded to five days in police custody by a Delhi court.Ram Singh, who was the first person to be arrested last night, was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal who allowed the plea of Delhi Police for his custodial interrogation for facilitating the arrest...

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GRAIL Mission Goes Out With a Bang

Jane J. Lee On Friday, December 14, NASA sent their latest moon mission into a death spiral. Rocket burns nudged GRAIL probes Ebb and Flow into a new orbit designed to crash them into the side of a mountain near the moon's north pole today at around 2:28 p.m. Pacific standard time. NASA named the crash site after late astronaut Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.Although the mountain...

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Siblings of Sandy Hook Victims Face Survivor's Guilt

Six-year-old Arielle Pozner was in a classroom at Sandy Hook school when Adam Lanza burst into the school with his rifle and handguns. Her twin brother, Noah, was in a classroom down the hall.Noah Pozner was killed by Lanza, along with 19 other children at the school, and six adults. Arielle and other students' siblings survived."That's going to be incredibly difficult to cope...

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6.1-magnitude quake hits off central Indonesia

JAKARTA: A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Indonesia Monday, the US Geological Survey said, sending panicked people rushing into the streets but there was no tsunami alert.The quake struck at 0916 GMT more than 160 kilometres south-southeast of Gorontalo in central Indonesia's Sulawesi island at a depth of 18 kilometres.The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology...

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Extortion bid case: Two Zee editors get bail

NEW DELHI: After spending 20 days in jail, two Zee group editors were on Monday granted bail by a Delhi court in the case of alleged Rs 100 crore extortion bid from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm."Bail is granted to both the accused," Additional Sessions Judge Raj Rani Mitra said allowing the plea of Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business Editor Samir Ahluwalia who were arrested...

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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...

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'We Can't Tolerate This Anymore,' Obama Says

President Barack Obama said at an interfaith prayer service in this mourning community this evening that the country is "left with some hard questions" if it is to curb a rising trend in gun violence, such as the shooting spree Friday at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School.After consoling victims' families in classrooms at Newtown High School, the president said he would...

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Pakistan police battle militants after deadly airport raid

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Six people were killed on Sunday as police and troops battled militants armed with automatic weapons, grenades and mortars in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar, a day after a deadly Taliban raid on the city's airport.Fierce firing broke out after police acting on an intelligence report stormed a building near the airport, where a suicide and rocket attack on Saturday killed...

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Karnataka concerned over Savitha, Jacintha deaths: Former CM

MANGALORE: The state government has taken due note of back to back deaths of two women of Karnataka origin abroad- Savitha Halappanavar and Jacintha Saldanha— and urged the centre to ensure that Indian citizens abroad get due protection, abroad said DV Sadananda Gowda, former chief minister. Chief minister Jagadish Shettar has written letters to the PM and MEA due to the back to back deaths of...

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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...

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