Stymied by a GOP House, Obama looks ahead to 2014 to cement his legacy

President Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years. “What I can’t do is force Congress to do the right thing,” Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday...

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Football: Defeated Barcelona rage over Real 'favouritism'

MADRID: Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has claimed that Real Madrid tend to get the big decisions from referees after his side were denied a last minute penalty in their 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid.Sergio Ramos' header nine minutes from time proved to be the winner after Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi had exchanged goals in the first-half.But Pique and his teammates were left aggrieved...

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Three killed in blast at Posco site

KENDRAPADA: At least three persons were killed and two others injured in a bomb blast in Posco project area in Jagatsinghpur district on Saturday evening, police said. "A bomb went off at Patna village under Dhinkia panchayat. We have information about three deaths so far," Jagatsinghpur SP Satyabrata Bhoi told TOI over phone. Police were yet to identity the deceased till the filing of this report....

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We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.

In the story of how the dog came in from the cold and onto our sofas, we tend to give ourselves a little too much credit. The most common assumption is that some hunter-gatherer with a soft spot for cuteness found some wolf puppies and adopted them. Over time, these tamed wolves would have shown their prowess at hunting, so humans kept them around the campfire until they evolved into dogs....

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US Seeks to Confirm Report of Terror Leader's Death

American military and intelligence officials said today they are attempting to confirm a report from the Chadian military of the death of al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of the deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas facility in January.If the new report is confirmed, Belmokhtar's death would be a significant victory against a growing al Qaeda threat in...

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Obama to visit Russia in September

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will visit Saint Petersburg for September's G20 summit and will also hold a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in June.The White House made the announcement Friday after the leaders spoke by phone to discuss the Syria crisis amid testy relations between Russia and the United States, which have deteriorated since...

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India increases aid to Sri Lanka

CHENNAI: Even as the anti-Sri Lanka mood in Tamil Nadu is getting more belligerent, the Centre has increased its annual grant to the island nation in the Union Budget. The allocation has gone up to Rs 500 crore for 2013-2014 from Rs 290 crore last year. It was Rs 181.94 crore in 2011-2012. The Budget has allocated Rs 5,550 crore as aid for foreign governments and organizations.The grants for Sri...

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Black Hole Spins at Nearly the Speed of Light

A superfast black hole nearly 60 million light-years away appears to be pushing the ultimate speed limit of the universe, a new study says.For the first time, astronomers have managed to measure the rate of spin of a supermassive black hole—and it's been clocked at 84 percent of the speed of light, or the maximum allowed by the law of physics."The most exciting part of this finding is...

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Sequester Begins But Govt. Shutdown Looks Unlikely

Mar 1, 2013 4:13pm Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty ImagIt may not be readily obvious from the blizzard of news out there today on the “sequester,” but a government shutdown became significantly less likely today, even as the automatic budget cuts barreled ahead toward reality.What happened? Both sides – Republicans and Democrats – basically seem to have agreed that...

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Polls close in crucial British by-election

LONDON: Polls closed in the southern English town of Eastleigh on Thursday in a by-election for a new member of parliament in a tight contest that threatens serious repercussions for Britain's main parties.The election pits Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party against its junior coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, while the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) is hoping...

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