Indian gang rape victim dies; New Delhi braces for protests

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A woman whose gang rape sparked protests and a national debate about violence against women in India died of her injuries on Saturday, prompting a security lockdown in New Delhi and an acknowledgement from India's prime minister that social change is needed. Bracing for a new wave of protests, Indian authorities deployed thousands of policemen, closed 10...

Read More..

Pakistan expected to unblock YouTube

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is expected to unblock access to the popular video sharing website YouTube Saturday after taking measures to filter blasphemous material and pornography, a cabinet minister said.Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in September ordered the blocking of YouTube after the US-based website refused to heed the government's call to remove a controversial anti-Islam...

Read More..

Japan's PM seeks security ties with India, Australia: Report

TOKYO: Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to expand the Japan-US security partnership to India and Australia as it faces a bitter territorial row with China."The Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone," Abe, sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday, said in an interview with the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun published on Saturday."It's good to expand it to security cooperation among...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

CAR appeals for French help against rebels, Paris balks

BANGUI (Reuters) - The president of the Central African Republic appealed on Thursday for France and the United States to help push back rebels threatening his government and the capital, but Paris said its troops were only ready to protect French nationals. The exchanges came as regional African leaders tried to broker a ceasefire deal and as rebels said they had temporarily halted their...

Read More..

Corporate spending on festive dining mixed: industry players

SINGAPORE: It is the time of the year when year-end office parties and corporate functions are in full swing, but players in the food and beverage (F&B) industry are reporting mixed demand from corporate customers this festive season as companies keep an eye on their budgets. F&B players also had to cope with manpower shortage and rising costs.Uncertainty in the world of business...

Read More..

Shinde says decision on Telangana in one month; 'unhappy' TRS chief calls for shutdown on Saturday

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who chaired a meeting of Andhra political parties on the Telangana issue on Friday, has said a decision on formation of the separate state will be taken in a month."I have said earlier that this will be the last all-party meeting on this issue. I have complete faith in the people of Andhra Pradesh and that some solution will be found," Shinde...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

White House Says It Has No New Fiscal Cliff Plan

The White House said today it has no plans to offer new proposals to avoid the fiscal cliff which looms over the country's economy just five days from now, but will meet Friday with Congressional leaders in a last ditch effort to forge a deal.Republicans and Democrats made no conciliatory gestures in public today, despite the urgency.The White House said President Obama would...

Read More..

Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan policewoman suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at police headquarters in Kabul suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters on Wednesday. The woman was identified by authorities as Narges Rezaeimomenabad, a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of three who moved here from Iran 10 years ago and married...

Read More..

China's working adults still depend on parents for economic support

SHANGHAI: The growing number of young adults living off their parents is sparking concern in China.A study found that 30 per cent of working-age adults still depend on their parents for economic support.Experts worry this trend could become more pronounced with the second generation of children under the country's one-child policy.From pre-natal education, toddler care, pre-school, all...

Read More..

Narendra Modi slams Centre for 'lacking urgency' in tackling economic crises

NEW DELHI: Fresh from his electoral triumph, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hit out at the Centre's policies which "lack urgency or seriousness" in tackling economic crises and the "sense of pessimism" in the 12th Plan. "It seems that there is no urgency or seriousness in tackling economic crises facing the country. There has been a virtual lack of direction in the macroeconomic...

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

Read More..

Okla. Senator Could Prevent Gun Control Changes

If there's one person most likely to keep new gun-control measures from passing Congress swiftly, it's Sen. Tom Coburn.Conservatives revere the Oklahoma Republican for his fiscal hawkishness and regular reports on government waste. But he's also a staunch gun-rights advocate, and he's shown a willingness to obstruct even popular legislation, something in the Senate that a single...

Read More..

Spring Wish denied as suicide bomber brings down Afghan juice empire

KABUL (Reuters) - When a Taliban suicide bomber killed two people on the edge of the Afghan capital this month, there was another casualty - a global fruit juice business optimistically called "Spring Wish" which provided work for thousands of farmers across the country. Mustafa Sadiq's empire had been expanding healthily, bringing in badly needed foreign capital, before the attack inflicted...

Read More..

KKH to implement all recommendations by committee in baby mix-up case

SINGAPORE: A review committee has come up with 15 recommendations to prevent another baby mix-up at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).Two newborn babies were wrongly discharged to their mothers in an incident in November.The measures involve tightening processes regarding identification of newborns, ward operations, the discharge process, and implementing new technology.There will...

Read More..

Team Anna blames Arvind's party for disabling IAC mailing list

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption (IAC) has accused Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party (AAP) of disabling its mailing list for which they had earlier blamed "hackers affiliated to the government". "It is orchestrated by Team Arvind because we recently circulated some messages about Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers beating a cop to death. We also circulated another message about Kiran...

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

Read More..

Winter Storms Spawn Tornadoes Across South

A nasty Christmastime storm system spawned blizzard conditions in some states and at least 15 reported tornadoes in the South, damaging homes, taking out power lines and dangerously snarling holiday travel.Severe weather swept across the United States during the Christmas holiday, bringing tornadoes and intense thunderstorms to the Gulf Coast, while dumping heavy snow and freezing...

Read More..

U.N. General Assembly voices concern for Myanmar's Muslims

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly expressed serious concern on Monday over violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and called upon its government to address reports of human rights abuses by some authorities. The 193-nation General Assembly approved by consensus a non-binding resolution, which Myanmar said last month contained a "litany of sweeping...

Read More..

Egg attack mars Indonesia Christmas celebration

BEKASI, Indonesia: More than 200 Indonesian Muslims threw rotten eggs at Christians wanting to hold a Christmas mass near land outside Jakarta where they plan to build a church, police and a witness said.Some 100 Christian worshippers intended to hold a mass near empty land where they hope to build a church, about 30 kilometres east of the capital, in a project barred by district government...

Read More..

Constable's death: Delhi Police slap murder charges against 8

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police invoked murder charges against eight people, including a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, after the death of a constable who was severely beaten up by protesters at India Gate on Sunday. The eight persons were on Monday charged with attempt to murder, rioting and destruction of public property among other sections of IPC. However, following the death constable Subhash Chand...

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

Read More..

Newtown Christmas: 'We Know They'll Feel Loved'

As residents prepared to observe Christmas less than two weeks after a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at an elementary school, people sharing in the town's mourning brought offerings of cards, handmade snowflakes and sympathy.Tiny empty Christmas stockings with the victims' names on them hung from trees in the neighborhood where the children were shot. On Christmas...

Read More..