Palestinians Win Statehood Status at U.N.

The U.N. General Assembly voted today to approve Palestinians' request to be upgraded to a "non-member observer state," defying opposition by the U.S. and Israel.Before the vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the General Assembly that it "is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine."Of the 193 countries in the General Assembly 138 voted to recognize...

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FCC chief’s successors-in-waiting

(Marvin Joseph - The Washington Post) Rumors have been flying for many months over Julius Genachowski’s successor at the Federal Communications Commission. He hasn’t officially announced a departure, but industry experts are floating several contenders to replace him:Blair Levin, who had worked on Obama’s transition team, was a senior adviser to Genachowski and helped craft the...

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No progress in cliff talks leave dollar-euro flat

NEW YORK: The dollar traded flat against the euro Wednesday after a slight push higher mid-session, as talks continued in Washington on averting the economy-crunching fiscal cliff.At 2200 GMT, the euro bought $1.2939, a hair off the level at the same time Tuesday.Just hours earlier, the euro fell to $1.2881 before rebounding, the swings apparently related to perceptions over whether the...

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Indira Gandhi lent Indian politics the dynastic shift: Ramachandra Guha

BANGALORE: The Congress led by Indira Gandhi fostered a generation of hero worship and dynasty politics after 1969. This inspired many others like Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who started off with noble intentions to fight against caste discriminations, to do the same and has led to a centralization of politics in present India, said Ramachandra Guha, on Wednesday. He was speaking during the launch of...

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Black Hole Blast Biggest Ever Recorded

Astronomers have witnessed a record-breaking blast of gas and dust flowing out of a monster black hole more than 11.5 billion light-years away.The supermassive gravity well, with a mass of one to three billion suns, lurks at the core of a quasar—a class of extremely bright and energetic galaxies—dubbed SDSS J1106 1939. (See "Black Hole Blasts Superheated Early Universe.")"We discovered...

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Dos, Don'ts of Powerball Office Pools

Powerball fever is sweeping the nation.The Powerball jackpot is at a record high of $550 million. And with the winnings so high, everyone is rushing to buy a ticket in the hope that they'll be the lucky winner.A popular means of lotto ticket purchasing is an office pool -- in which a group of colleagues pools their money, buys a slate of tickets together and promises to share the...

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Keeping the financial regulators on their toes

When members of Congress need factual information and insights into the effectiveness of the financial laws put in place after the 2008 economic crisis, they regularly turn to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Orice Williams Brown. Initially as director and now as managing director of the GAO’s financial markets and community investment section, Brown and her staff have issued...

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Euro sags after new Greek debt deal sealed

NEW YORK: The euro fell against the dollar Tuesday following a week of gains after the European Union and IMF reached agreement on recasting Greece's bailout to avert a looming default.But the dollar's gains were limited by signs that negotiations in Washington over the looming fiscal cliff, remained divided on key issues.At 2200 GMT the euro was at $1.2938, down from $1.2971 at the same...

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Mamata to decide on voting over FDI

KOLKATA: With the Congress likely to garner a majority in Parliament over the FDI issue, the Trinamool Congress is yet to carve out its strategy in Parliament, in case Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allows the debate under rule 184. Trinamool leaders have left it to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to decide whether the party will stage a walkout along with parties such as Samajwadi Party and Bahujan...

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Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation IndiaA young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian...

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