FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

NEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest.BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working...

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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

Into the Sea Photograph by Hugh Gentry, ReutersA spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into...

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Police: KC Chiefs Player Killed Girlfriend, Self

Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said."We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman...

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Euro pushes higher; yen falls after stimulus announced

NEW YORK: The euro surged against the dollar Friday, topping the $1.30 level before giving back most of the ground to end only slightly higher.At $1.2982 at around 2300 GMT, it was still the European currency's best level in five weeks, finishing up from $1.2978 late Thursday.There was little news to provoke any firm moves, and analysts said the euro could move lower next week as the Greek...

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Around 40% states still have more than 5% as stamp duty

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) audit into Centre's urban renewal programme - Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) -- has shown that 40% of states and Union Territories have failed to rationalize stamp duty to 5% for property registration. The defaulting states include Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala and Chhattisgarh. High stamp duty discourages...

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Pictures: Bakken Shale Oil Boom Transforms North Dakota

Photograph by Jim Urquhart, ReutersHis overalls caked in mud, roughneck Brian Waldner wrestles with pipe as North Dakota's new horizon unfolds around him. (Related: "Oil Train Revival: Booming North Dakota Relies on Rail to Deliver Its Crude")North Dakota, once a sleepy backwater of the petroleum industry, this year surpassed Alaska as the number two oil producer in the United States. The gush of...

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3 Dead After Attack at Wyo. Community College

Three people are dead after an attack at Casper College, a Wyoming community college, that may have involved a type of bow and arrow.The college was shut down Friday morning after the attack."Emergency Alert: All classes and activities are cancelled today," read a message posted on the school's website.Initial calls came in just after 9 a.m. reporting a "traumatic injury" on...

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Euro benefits from US 'fiscal cliff' hopes

NEW YORK: The euro rose against the dollar Thursday, boosted by hopes that US politicians will find a compromise to avoid the year-end "fiscal cliff" that could jolt the economy into recession.With investors' appetite for risk whetted, the euro bought $1.2978 at 2200 GMT, up from $1.2939 at the same time Wednesday.The European unit rose against the Japanese currency, to 106.58 yen from...

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CPM accuses Congress of allowing disruption in Parliament

NEW DELHI: The CPM on Thursday accused the Congress of allowing disruption of both Houses of Parliament so that it could marshal the numbers in case of a vote on FDI in multi-brand retail. The Lok Sabha was disrupted for four days and Rajya Sabha for five consecutive days as the opposition, including the BJP and Left parties, demanded a discussion and vote on the issue. "The government has agreed...

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Pictures: Inside the World's Most Powerful Laser

Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNLLooking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand...

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