'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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Obama vows action after online guns petitions

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Friday vowed to take action to stop gun violence in response to online petitions signed by more than 400,000 people after last week's elementary school massacre."In the days since the heartbreaking tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, hundreds of thousands of you, from all 50 states, signed petitions asking us to take serious steps to address the epidemic...

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Will continue to oppose promotion quota bill: Mulayam Singh Yadav

LUCKNOW: Justifying the ruckus created by the Samajwadi Party (SP) MPs when constitutional amendment bill providing scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST) reservation in promotions in government jobs was tabled in the Lok Sabha, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday said that his party will not allow passage of the bill, even if its MPs are disqualified or it leads to fall of the government....

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.But since then, Big Pharma has been...

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1 Week Later: Moment of Silence at Sandy Hook

Incessant rain and a dreary morning failed to keep onlookers away from a moment-of-silence memorial in Newtown, Conn., to pay their respects to the 26 people who were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.Officials scheduled the event to recognize victims of the massacre that began at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 14, when gunman Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook elementary and launched...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels thrust into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday, activists said, pursuing a string of territorial gains to help cut army supply lines and cement a foothold in the capital Damascus to the south. They have made a series of advances across the country, seizing several military installations and more heavy weaponry, hardening the threat...

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Third quarter US growth revised up to 3.1%

WASHINGTON: The US economy grew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said Thursday.Gross domestic product growth in the July-September period was revised upward from prior estimates of 2.7 percent and 2.0 percent, the department said.The higher figure reflects upward revisions to consumer spending, exports and government outlays, and...

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Pak for permanent solution of Kashmir issue: Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan wants a "sustained and result-oriented" engagement with India to find a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue that could usher in peace and stability in the region, President Asif Ali Zardari told a visiting Hurriyat delegation today. "Pakistan firmly believes in a meaningful, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India that could lead to a permanent solution...

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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