Obama urges a move away from narrow focus on politics of austerity

Just about every argument in Washington since the 2010 midterm elections, which returned control of the House to Republicans, has centered on reducing the federal deficit. On Tuesday night, President Obama leaned into his second term by declaring that a single-minded focus on deficit reduction would jeopardize the nation’s future. And he sounded an urgent call to rebuild. Reelected by...

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Tennis: Nadal out of Brazil Open doubles over knee fear

SAO PAULO: Rafael Nadal will not play his scheduled doubles match at the Brazil Open Wednesday because of "knee overuse", organisers said.But they added that the Spanish star intends to play his opening singles match Thursday against Brazilian Joao Souza.World number five Nadal had been scheduled to team up with Argentina's David Nalbandian in a second-round encounter against Argentine...

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When loves turns into hate

Once, love was all about getting romantic. Now, it's about getting back. The number of cases of possessive lovers hacking mail accounts and spamming their ex-partners have soared. "Creating fake profiles and indiscriminate sending of mails for harassment are complaints that we often encounter," admits a senior police officer in Bangalore, the country's IT capital which regularly sees such cases....

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Are Honeybees Losing Their Way?

A single honeybee visits hundreds, sometimes thousands, of flowers a day in search of nectar and pollen. Then it must find its way back to the hive, navigating distances up to five miles (eight kilometers), and perform a "waggle dance" to tell the other bees where the flowers are.A new study shows that long-term exposure to a combination of certain pesticides might impair the bee's ability...

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Ship Stranded: Love Boat to Horror Honeymoon

A Texas couple's fantasy wedding quickly turned into a nightmare honeymoon when the fire-damaged Carnival Cruise ship carrying them became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.Rob Mowlam, 37, and Stephanie Stevenson, 27, of Nederland, Texas, got married on the Carnival Triumph on Saturday. The four-day cruise was meant to be back to shore on Monday, but was left disabled by an engine...

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17 gunmen dead in Thai military base attack

  BANGKOK, Thailand: Scores of heavily-armed gunmen stormed a military base in unrest-plagued southern Thailand, an army spokesman said on Wednesday, in a major assault that left at least 17 militants dead."Some 100 fully armed militants stormed the base, where there were 60 marines," Colonel Pramote Promin, southern army spokesman, told AFP. He said the attack, one of the most ambitious...

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'I have emerged stronger after blast'

PUNE: AmrapaliChavan, who suffered severe burns in the German Bakery blast, says the incident made her mentally and physically strong."I have become a strong woman now. It taught me some bitter lessons as well as some rewarding ones. The realisation that I am a fighter and have a strong will power dawned upon me after I fought back. I did so because I wanted to live. I have also realised that people...

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Where Will Pope Benedict XVI Retire?

Someone with a suspicious mind and deep knowledge of Vatican trivia might have guessed that something was going on months ago. Last November, a community of cloistered nuns vacated the  Mater Ecclesiae monastery, located inside Vatican Gardens, two years before they were expected to do so.The monastery has since been closed for renovation.On Monday, in the press conference that followed...

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Gauging the probability of success for Obama’s agenda post-State of the Union

LAS VEGAS — UPS worker Don Clark hobbled on injured knees to see President Obama come to his warehouse last year to tout the main ideas in the annual State of the Union address — clean energy, tax fairness, a manufacturing revival and a stronger economy. A year later, Clark still believes in Obama, but feels frustrated by the president’s struggle to get enough support for his agenda. “It’s...

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IBM puts supercomputer to work on cancer

WASHINGTON: IBM is putting its Watson supercomputer to work fighting cancer, in what is described as the first commercial program of its kind to use "big data" to help patients with the disease.The US computing giant last week unveiled its initiative with health insurer WellPoint and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.The supercomputer, which gained fame by defeating two...

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