North Korea urged to drop rocket launch plan

MOSCOW/BEIJING (Reuters) - Russia and China urged North Korea on Monday not to go ahead with a plan for its second rocket launch of 2012, with Moscow saying the launch would violate restrictions imposed by the U.N. Security Council. North Korea's state news agency on Saturday announced the decision to launch another space satellite and reportedly told neighbors it would take a similar...

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SMRT says no further adjustments of pay for China bus drivers

SINGAPORE: SMRT will not make further adjustments to the salaries of its drivers from China, despite an illegal strike last week over pay and living conditions.But it will look into the possibility of allowing its drivers to encash their unused leave.This was the decision communicated to drivers by SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek at a townhall meeting on Monday morning.Describing what has been a...

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

ANI Dec 1, 2012, 03.28PM ISTNEW 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...

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Asperger's dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term "Asperger's disorder" is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But "dyslexia" and other learning disorders remain.The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation's psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.Full details...

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Boehner on Fiscal Cliff Talks: 'You Can't Be Serious'

President Obama and his White House team appear to have drawn a line in the sand in talks with House Republicans on the "fiscal cliff."Tax rates on the wealthy are going up, the only question is how much?"Those rates are going to have to go up," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner flatly stated on ABC's "This Week." "There's no responsible way we can govern this country at a time...

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Family tells of escape from Japan fire tunnel

OTSUKI, Japan: A man who fled with his wife and children from a collapsed Japanese tunnel in which at least five people died spoke Sunday of how he had been unable to get anyone out of a crushed and burning vehicle.Tomohiro Suzuki said the nearly five-kilometre (three mile)-long tunnel, passing through hills near Mount Fuji, had been the scene of confusion as cars drove the wrong way to...

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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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Wikileaks Case: Guards Deny Intimidating Manning

(Brendan Smialkowski/AFP/Getty Images)Bradley Manning’s former guards testified today that they did not intimidate the man accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified cables to the anti-secrets website Wikileaks during  a Jan. 18, 2011 incident that resulted in Manning being placed on a temporary suicide risk watch.Manning’s attorneys cite the event as a key reason why his pre-trial...

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Islamists to rally behind Mursi as Egypt's rifts widen

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamists planned rallies across Egypt on Saturday in support of President Mohamed Mursi, who has rushed through a constitution to try to quench opposition fury over his newly expanded powers. Mursi was due to ratify the constitution, hastily approved by an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly on Friday, later in the day and to set a date for a referendum on it within...

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UMNO confident of wrestling lost seats

KUALA LUMPUR - The Federal Territory Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) are confident of wresting the six seats that were lost to the opposition in the last general election.Deputy chairman of the Federal Territory Umno Liaison Body Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said he was also confident that besides defending the existing seats, BN would increase the number of seats in the 13th...

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