Missile launch centre to come up in coastal Andhra

HYDERABAD: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to set up a missile launch site in the coastal town of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs.1,000 crore. DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat, who is also the scientific advisor to the defence minister, told reporters here Friday that they had asked the state government to allot 260 acres of land to set up the long-range...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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'Honey Trap' Professor Convicted of Drug Smuggling

A court in Argentina has convicted an Oxford educated University of North Carolina professor of attempting to smuggle four pounds of cocaine into the United States.Paul Frampton, a 68-year-old esteemed professor of physics and astronomy, says he thought he was flying to South America to meet with a bikini model but ended up getting caught in what they call a "honey trap."Frampton...

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Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faces a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered calls for more protests following a day of violence across Egypt. Judges in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, threatened to go on strike until it was revoked, and there were calls for the "downfall of...

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Motor Racing: Hamilton on pole, Vettel strikes crucial blow

SAO PAULO: Lewis Hamilton oozed with pride on Saturday after making sure he will start his 110th and final race for McLaren from pole position in Sunday's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.On a tense afternoon, in changing weather conditions, Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button upstaged title fighters Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso by locking out the front row of the grid.Hamilton...

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India tests missile shield, DRDO says it will be operational by 2014

NEW DELHI: There were some big fireworks over the Bay of Bengal on Friday afternoon when India tested its experimental ballistic missile defence (BMD) system to intercept two "incoming hostile" missiles with interceptor missiles. Elated with the "bang-on accurate" test, the seventh time the BMD system has been tested successfully over the last six years, the Defence Research and Development Organization...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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Black Friday Frenzy Brings Fights, Injuries

Black Friday, one of the most ballyhooed shopping days of the year, has also proven to be hazardous, with incidents including fights between frenzied shoppers and parking-lot robberies.Two people were run down Thanksgiving night in the parking lot of a Covington, Wash., Walmart by a man police suspected of being intoxicated.Shoppers Descend on Black Friday DealsThe 71-year-old...

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Protests after "pharaoh" Mursi assumes powers in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's decision to assume sweeping powers caused fury amongst his opponents and prompted violent clashes in central Cairo and other cities on Friday. Police fired tear gas near Cairo's Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a "coup". There were...

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EU's trillion euro budget summit ends in failure

BRUSSELS: Talks on the European Union's trillion euro budget ended in deadlock Friday when leaders of the 27-nation bloc failed to overcome seemingly irreconcilable differences on spending.EU President Herman Van Rompuy insisted however that progress had been made in the two days of bitter bargaining. He forecast that a deal would be made when leaders meet again next year.Tensions between...

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BJP, Congress to jointly table select committee report on Lokpal in Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: In an apparent show of unanimity, the report of the select committee on Lokpal Bill, which has recommended delinking creation of Lokayuktas in states from the central bill, is scheduled to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Friday by Congress and BJP.According to the revised list of business of Rajya Sabha, leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley will table the report along with Shantaram...

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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.It's the most detailed look yet at...

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Black Friday Deals Kick Off on 'Gray Thursday'

Black Friday is the Super Bowl of retail, but some of the nation's largest big-box stores can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to open their doors to shoppers eager to grab great deals the same day as their turkey dinner.Traditional Black Friday door-busting deals now start tonight, on what's been dubbed Gray Thursday. Major retail stores such as Kmart, Toys R Us, Walmart...

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Gaza ceasefire holds but mistrust runs deep

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held firm on Thursday with scenes of joy among the ruins in Gaza over what Palestinians hailed as a victory, and both sides saying their fingers were still on the trigger. In the sudden calm, Palestinians who had been under Israeli bombs for eight days poured into Gaza streets for a celebratory rally, walking past wrecked...

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Britain defiant in trillion-euro EU budget battle

BRUSSELS: France and Germany called for compromise Thursday at an EU summit on the bloc's hotly disputed trillion-euro budget, after British Prime Minister David Cameron turned up in Brussels threatening to wield his veto."I have come to seek a compromise, not to set an ultimatum," said French President Francois Hollande, adding that "Europe is a compromise" and that no country "can come...

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Show mercy to Sarabjit: Justice Katju to Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju has once again appealed to the president and the prime minister of Pakistan to release Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who is on death row for over two decades. Katju's appeal came on a day when 26/11 attack convict Ajmal Kasab was hanged in Pune following rejection of his mercy plea by President Pranab Mukherjee. "You must have heard that...

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US abortions fall 5 pct, biggest drop in a decade

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both...

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Cease-Fire Reached in Israel/Hamas Conflict in Gaza

A cease-fire was reached today in the bloody clash between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian and American officials announced after a meeting between Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr appeared with Clinton at 12:30 p.m. ET to announce that a cease-fire would begin at 9 p.m. local time, or...

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Hamas and Israel agree to ceasefire

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt on the eighth day of intensive Israeli fire on the Gaza Strip and militant rocket attacks out of the enclave, Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said. First word of the truce came from a Palestinian official who has knowledge of the negotiations in Cairo, where U.S. Secretary of State...

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Deloitte denies HP claim on audit missteps

NEW YORK: The audit and consulting firm Deloitte on Wednesday rejected claims by US tech giant Hewlett-Packard that it missed "accounting improprieties" at the British firm Autonomy ahead of a takeover.Deloitte's comments came a day after HP reported a massive loss and blamed deliberate financial misstatements from the British software firm it bought in 2011.A statement from the London...

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India rejects OIC foreign ministers' references to Kashmir

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday rejected the "factually incorrect and misleading" references made by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu and Kashmir at its session of the council of foreign ministers in African nation Djibouti last week.Responding to a question on resolutions adopted during the 39th Session of the OIC foreign ministers in Djibouti Nov 15-17, an external affairs ministry...

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make...

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Hopes Rise for Gaza Ceasefire

Hopes for a ceasefire between between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza rose today as Hamas declared that a ceasefire would be announced and Israel indicated that a deal was possible.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told ABC News the news would be announced at a press conference in Cairo where Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been trying to broker an end to the fighting.An...

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Hamas says Gaza truce agreed, Israel says no deal yet

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Hamas official said on Tuesday Egypt had brokered a Gaza ceasefire deal that would go into effect within hours, but a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "we're not there yet". "An agreement for calm has been reached. It will be declared at 9 o'clock (1900 GMT) and go into effect at midnight (2200 GMT)," Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters...

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