Guided tours on Istana Open House days

SINGAPORE: For the first time, a guided tour will be held at the Istana to promote a deeper understanding of the national monument - a collaboration between the Preservation of Monuments Board and the Istana of Singapore.The first tour will be offered on Monday at the Istana's Lunar New Year Open House.Whether it's a painting inspired by a tropical plantation or a decorated ceiling, there's...

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Afzal Guru hanged: 8 injured in Kashmir during protests

SRINAGAR: At least eight people were injured, two seriously, as violence erupted in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday against Afzal Guru's hanging.A group of protesters started marching in north Kashmir's Doabgah village near Sopore town, the ancestral village of Afzal Guru, after they got news of his hanging. Police sources said the protesters defied the curfew and attacked security forces with stones....

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull

Solar DragonImage courtesy SDO/NASAResembling a dragon's tail, remnants of a solar filament strain to escape the sun's gravity in an image released this week by NASA's Solar Dynamics...

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Blizzard Drops 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast on Saturday, dumping more than 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to 650,000 homes and businesses.More than 28 inches of snow had fallen on central Connecticut by early Saturday, and areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched...

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Berlusconi fraud trial delayed until after election

ROME: An Italian court on Friday ruled to postpone Silvio Berlusconi's appeal against a tax fraud conviction until after the election on February 24-25 following a request from lawyers for the scandal-tainted former premier.Prosecutors will present their final arguments against the business tycoon at a hearing on March 1 and the final verdict is expected on March 23.Berlusconi, who is...

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Govt attacks CAG Vinod Rai for criticizing it on foreign soil

CHENNAI: Slamming the CAG for criticizing the government on foreign soil, information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari on Friday said constitutional authorities should circumscribe by lakshman rekha propriety. "... it is most unfortunate that C and AG rather than validating the integrity of his numbers (on 2G presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore) chooses to criticize the Government on foreign...

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Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within...

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in hopes of catching suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again, as laid out in his rambling online manifesto.Police late Thursday night alerted the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding...

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Top Clinton aide headed to Georgetown University

Melanne Verveer (Mandel Ngan - AFP/GETTY IMAGES) Team Hillary is decamping from Foggy Bottom. Melanne Verveer, one of the former secretary of state’s closest pals and her chief of staff in the Clinton White House years, is leaving Friday to run Georgetown University’s new Institute on Women, Peace and Security.President Obama appointed Verveer in 2009 to be the first-ever ambassador-at-...

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WP's call to freeze foreign manpower growth will hurt S'poreans: Tan Chuan-Jin

SINGAPORE: Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has said that the opposition Workers' Party's proposal for a zero-foreign manpower growth in this decade, when put in practice, will hurt Singaporeans.Speaking in Parliament on Thursday on the Population White Paper, Mr Tan noted that in fact, the strategies outlined in the paper has opted for slower growth and a significant reduction in...

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DMK leader Kushboo's house in Chennai attacked by party workers

CHENNAI: Actor-turned politician Kushboo's house was attacked by her own partymen after a Tamil magazine, which carried her remarks about party's heir-apparent and DMK treasurer MK Stalin, hit the stands on Thursday.The Chennai police said about 25 DMK youth wing cadres gathered in front of Kushboo's residence in Santhome in the city and raised slogans against her. Later they threw stones at her...

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Humans Swap DNA More Readily Than They Swap Stories

Jane J. Lee Once upon a time, someone in 14th-century Europe told a tale of two girls—a kind one who was rewarded for her manners and willingness to work hard, and an unkind girl who was punished for her greed and selfishness.This version was part of a long line of variations that eventually spread throughout Europe, finding their way into the Brothers Grimm fairytales as Frau Holle, and...

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Chris Christie's Struggle and the Politics of Weight

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's weight is back in the spotlight this week. On Monday he joined in on the fat jokes with David Letterman, even munching on a doughnut; on Tuesday he seriously addressed his struggles at a press conference.The usually tough-talking 50-year-old Republican openly acknowledged that he may have good health right now, but his "doctor continues to warn...

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Asian markets mostly higher following Wall Street advance

HONG KONG : Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday following big losses in the previous session, with Tokyo surging as the yen tumbled after Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa said he will step down early.Traders also took a lead from Wall Street and Europe, where encouraging economic data offset concerns over political uncertainty in Spain and Italy.Tokyo soared 3.37 percent, or 416.83...

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Women don't feel safe in Delhi: Sheila

NEW DELHI: Women do not feel safe in Delhi, chief minister Sheila Dikshit admitted Wednesday. "Women don't feel safe in Delhi. Fears have risen. I'm shocked to learn about the Lajpat Nagar attempted rape case. It's a big setback for us," she said referring to the rape bid on a 19-year-old woman Tuesday. The Class IX student fought off the rape bid in her own house by an electricity contractor, who...

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The Real Richard III

It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues...

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's...

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks. In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director...

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Parliament debates WP's proposals on labour participation

SINGAPORE: A considerable amount of time was spent debating the Workers' Party's (WP) proposals put forward on Monday by its party chairman Sylvia Lim.The opposition party had proposed that the growth of foreign worker numbers can be reined in by increasing the labour force participation rate of Singaporeans.Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency Chen...

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Delhi gang-rape case: Victim's friend testifies before court

NEW DELHI: The companion of a medical student who died after being gang-raped identified on Tuesday the bus on which the attack took place as he testified in the trial of five adults accused of her murder.The 28-year-old, confined to a wheelchair as a result of injuries sustained in the attack, confirmed that a white bus was the vehicle on which the deadly assault took place on December 16, his father...

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility."Terrestrial...

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Boy Safe, Abductor Killed After Standoff

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was...

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Singaporean photographer nabbed in Japan for alleged obscenity

TOKYO - Tokyo-based Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee was arrested Monday on suspicion of obscenity after selling books containing pictures of male genitals at a gallery in Tokyo, police said.The 41-year-old photographer, known for his pictures of Japanese pop stars including Ayumi Hamasaki, Yumi Matsutoya and Kumi Koda, was arrested along with two Japanese publishing firm employees.The...

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Rehman Malik orders probe by FIA into death of Indian prisoner in Pakistan

AMRITSAR: Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik has ordered an inquiry into the death of Indian prisoner Chamel Singh.Singh, 40, had died under mysterious circumstances in Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, Lahore.While talking to TOI on Monday, UK based right activist Jes Uppal informed that she had asked about the death of Singh to Malik on Twitter and in response to her query Malik tweeted that "I...

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, APThe magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg...

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Ravens Defeat 49ers in Historic, Unusual Super Bowl

The Baltimore Ravens emerged Super Bowl champions after one of the strangest and most incredible Super Bowl games in recent memory.It's the second championship for the Ravens, who pulled out a 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome in New Orleans.The Super Bowl is the biggest spectacle in American sports, and each year becomes the most watched television event...

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