Asian markets mixed ahead of Greece meeting

HONG KONG: Asian markets were mixed on Monday as investors awaited the outcome of a meeting later in the day aimed at finalising a bailout deal for Greece, amid a simmering budgetary impasse in Washington.Tokyo rose 0.24 percent, or 22.14 points, to 9,388.94, Sydney gained 0.25 percent, or 11.2 points, to close at 4,424.2 but Seoul ended 0.15 percent, or 2.82 points, lower at 1,908.51.Hong...

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Logjam on FDI in Parliament: No consensus at all-party meet

NEW DELHI: NEW DELHI: An all-party meeting over the issue of FDI in multi-brand retail on Monday failed to break the Parliament logjam with the government appealing to opposition parties to reconsider their demand for a debate under rules that stipulate voting and the latter remaining adamant.After an over two-hour-long meeting held in the Parliament House, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath...

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GOP Starting to Rebel Against No-Tax-Hikes Pledge

With the fiscal cliff looming for the United States, some Republican members of Congress said today they are ready to break a long standing pledge not to raise taxes."The only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece. And Republicans should put revenue on the table," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on ABC's "This Week."Read more of the discussion...

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Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions. The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the...

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BMW collides into van at Buona Vista, no injuries reported

SINGAPORE: A black BMW collided into a van at the signalised junction of Holland Road and North Buona Vista Road on Saturday morning. A member of the public, Grace Lee, sent video footage of the accident to Channel NewsAsia.The footage was filmed from a dashboard camera in a taxi driven by her husband. When the traffic light turned green, the van in front of the taxi went ahead. Shortly...

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Aam Aadmi Party reflects intellectual bankruptcy of Kejriwal: Digvijaya Singh

BHUBANESWAR: Ridiculing Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Sunday accused the activist-turned-politician of adopting Congress party's theme to name his political outfit."It reflects the intellectual bankruptcy of Kejriwal," Singh told reporters in Bhubaneswar, while replying a question on the use of word "Aam Aadmi"."Let Mr Kejriwal first get elected as an...

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk...

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After Sandy, World Hopes to Hear New US Voice on Climate Change

During a year with a monster storm and scorching heat waves, Americans have experienced the kind of freakish weather that many scientists say will occur more often on a warming planet.And as a re-elected president talks about global warming again, climate activists are cautiously optimistic that the U.S. will be more than a disinterested bystander when the U.N. climate talks resume...

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Clashes in Cairo after Mursi seizes new powers

CAIRO (Reuters) - Angry youths hurled rocks at security forces and burned a police truck as thousands gathered in central Cairo to protest at Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's decision to grab sweeping new powers. Police fired tear gas near Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak at the height of the Arab Spring. Thousands demanded that Mursi should quit...

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Pakistani Taliban claim blast near Shiite procession

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for a bomb blast near a Shiite Muslim procession in northwest Pakistan that killed seven people."We carried out the attack against the Shiite community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location after the explosion on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa...

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