North Korea's new leader burnishes credentials with rocket

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to its opponents. The rocket, which North Korea says put a weather satellite into orbit, has been labeled by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a test of technology that could one day deliver...

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Workers' Party ready to offer voters a choice again

SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP), which contested the 2011 general election in the Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC), said it is ready to offer voters a choice again in a by-election.In a statement released on Wednesday, the WP said it has noted the announcement that the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Michael Palmer, has resigned from the People's Action Party and, by virtue of...

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Lok Sabha adjourned over coal blocks allocation

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2pm after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) members disrupted proceedings demanding action on alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks. BSP members had approached the Speaker Meira Kumar's podium to raise the issue during question hour earlier, in what appears to be a pressure tactic on the government to get the bill on reservations in job promotions...

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DA investigating Texas' troubled $3B cancer agency

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Turmoil surrounding an unprecedented $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas worsened Tuesday when its executive director offered his resignation and the state's chief public corruption prosecutor announced an investigation into the beleaguered agency.No specific criminal allegations are driving the latest probe into the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, said...

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Gunman 'Tentatively' Identified in Oregon Shooting

A masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two individuals before killing himself, has been "tentatively" identified by police, though they have not yet released his name.The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask, black clothing, and a bullet proof vest, tore through the mall around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, entering...

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Unknown attackers fire at Cairo protesters, nine hurt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Nine people were hurt when unknown attackers fired at protesters camping at Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Tuesday, according to witnesses and Egyptian media, as opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Mursi's plans to vote on a new constitution geared up for a day of street demonstrations. Police cars surrounded the square, the first time they had appeared...

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Japan researchers invent solar-cell fabric

TOKYO: Clothes that could literally light up your life were unveiled Tuesday by Japanese researchers who said their solar-cell fabric would eventually let wearers harvest energy on the go.The new fabric is made of wafer-thin solar cells woven together that could see people powering up their mobile phones and other electronics with their sweater or trousers.But its creators conceded there...

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Leh freezes at minus 12.4 degrees Celsius

SRINAGAR: The temperature dipped to a bone-chilling minus 12.4 degrees Celsius in Leh town on Tuesday as the mercury dipped below freezing point across the Kashmir Valley as well. The local weather office forecast moderate to heavy snowfall in the Valley between December 13 and 15. "Moderate to rather heavy snowfall is likely to occur in the Valley and the hills of the Jammu region on 13th, 14th...

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New tests could hamper food outbreak detection

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's about to get faster and easier to diagnose food poisoning, but that progress for individual patients comes with a downside: It could hurt the nation's ability to spot and solve dangerous outbreaks.Next-generation tests that promise to shave a few days off the time needed to tell whether E. coli, salmonella or other foodborne bacteria caused a patient's illness could reach medical...

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SEAL Killed in Rescue Mission Identified

The Pentagon has identified Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque as the Navy SEAL who died of injuries sustained in the successful rescue of an American doctor from the Taliban over the weekend.Checque, who hailed from Monroeville, Pa., died of "combat related injuries," according to a Pentagon release. Though the release only said Checque was assigned to "an East Coast-based...

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