Iran fighting 'smart economic war': Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN: Iran is engaged in a "smart economic war" with Western powers whose sanctions against its nuclear programme are hurting some Iranians, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday."Targeted sanctions, which the enemies say are supposed to be crippling, have led to a drop in our oil" sales, Ahmadinejad said in a live interview on state television, referring to an oil embargo imposed...

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Prayers at Ajmer dargah for Delhi gang rape victim

AJMER: Representatives of all communities here on Saturday offered chadder and prayed for the 23-year-old Delhi gang rape victim at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. For the first time, the representatives asked for harsh punishments to the accused and also prayed for a better environment for every girl of the country.Special prayers were offered on the occasion by Gadhi Nashin Sayed Ibrahim...

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

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Urban Advocates Say New Gun Control Talk Overdue

For years, voices have cried in the urban wilderness: We need to talk about gun control.Yet the guns blazed on.It took a small-town slaughter for gun control to become a political priority. Now, decades' worth of big-city arguments against easy access to guns are finally being heard, because an unstable young man invaded an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., with a military-style...

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Egyptians vote on Islamist-inspired constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians voted on Saturday in the second round of a referendum expected to approve an Islamist-drafted constitution that lays foundations for transition to democracy but is criticized as divisive by the opposition. Counting began after voting, extended by four hours as queues formed at polling stations, closed at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). Last week's first round, which an...

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Deadly winter storm snarls US holiday travel

CHICAGO: A deadly winter storm blanketed a huge swath of the United States Friday, grounding flights, turning highways into ice rinks and knocking out power to tens of thousands preparing for the Christmas holiday.At least eight people in five states were killed by the dangerous road conditions since the storm formed near the Rocky Mountains and moved slowly eastward.The powerful system...

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CBI files chargesheet against ex-telecom secy and telecom firms

NEW DELHI: Nearly two years after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began probing spectrum allocation during the NDA regime, the agency on Friday filed a chargesheet in a case of corruption against telecom firms Airtel and Vodafone and former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh. The chargesheet claimed allocation of airwaves during late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's term as communications minister...

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Critics Slam NRA's Call for Armed School Guards

Gun control advocates slammed the National Rifle Association today for its proposal to create a force of armed security guards at schools across the country as a response to the Connecticut school shooting."It is beyond belief that following the Newtown tragedy, the National Rifle Association's leaders want to fill our communities with guns and arm more Americans," Sen. Frank...

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Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February. The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he...

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Former River Valley High principal linked to woman

SINGAPORE: Former River Valley High School Principal Mr Steven Koh Yong Chiah, 58, who is assisting investigations by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), has been linked to a woman in the educational services industry. According to Lianhe Wanbao, the woman is said to be running several businesses, most of them providing education-related services to schools, such as organising...

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