Obama’s pick for CIA could affect drone program

President Obama began his first term with a dramatic change of course for the CIA, issuing orders on his second day in office to close the agency’s secret prisons and ban harsh interrogation techniques. As Obama approaches a second term with an unexpected opening for CIA director, agency officials are watching to see whether the president’s pick signals even a modest adjustment in the...

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Spain's ETA ready to disband if certain conditions met

MADRID: Spain's armed Basque separatist group ETA said Saturday it was ready to discuss disbanding and to negotiate with France and Spain if certain conditions are met, in a statement published on a Basque news site.The group, which last year said it had abandoned violence after a four-decade campaign for an independent homeland that claimed more than 800 lives, said one outstanding issue...

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Kejriwal names party after aam admi, mocks Congress

NEW DELHI: With ambitious plans of systemic change while outfitting themselves as an alternative to "corrupt" political establishment, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan on Saturday launched themselves as a political party, calling it the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Although unveiled in the modest setting of a press conference, the AAP aims high, promising empowerment of the common man, decentralization...

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'Honey Trap' Professor Convicted of Drug Smuggling

A court in Argentina has convicted an Oxford educated University of North Carolina professor of attempting to smuggle four pounds of cocaine into the United States.Paul Frampton, a 68-year-old esteemed professor of physics and astronomy, says he thought he was flying to South America to meet with a bikini model but ended up getting caught in what they call a "honey trap."Frampton...

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Frenzied US shoppers swarm stores on Black Friday

NEW YORK: Frenzied shoppers across the United States joined the Black Friday rush for bargains, the kick-off to the crucial holiday shopping season being closely watched amid a lackluster economy.Television images showed berserk buyers charging through doors as stores opened up for Black Friday sales on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday.Some stores opened at midnight, while others...

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India tests missile shield, DRDO says it will be operational by 2014

NEW DELHI: There were some big fireworks over the Bay of Bengal on Friday afternoon when India tested its experimental ballistic missile defence (BMD) system to intercept two "incoming hostile" missiles with interceptor missiles. Elated with the "bang-on accurate" test, the seventh time the BMD system has been tested successfully over the last six years, the Defence Research and Development Organization...

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Black Friday Frenzy Brings Fights, Injuries

Two people were shot outside a Walmart in Florida today, one of a rash of fights, robberies and other incidents that have cropped up on one of the most ballyhooed shopping days of the year.The shooting took place at Walmart in Tallahasse about 12:30 p.m., said Dave Northway, public information officer for the Tallahassee Police Department.He said a scuffle outside the store...

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Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling. Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group...

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Homeless Arlington veteran finally settles into home after advocates’ year-long efforts

Ernie Maas could not help choking up as he took his first look around his new home Wednesday afternoon, a simple one-bedroom, federally subsidized apartment on North Glebe Road in Arlington County. Maas, 61, who served in the Navy for seven years during and after the Vietnam War, has been homeless for about two years, living much of that time under a bridge on Four Mile Run in Arlington....

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Police storm Japanese bank, arrest hostage-taker

TOKYO: Japanese police said Friday they had stormed a bank and arrested a man who took five people hostage, with local media reporting he had demanded Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet resign.In a televised news conference, a police spokesman said the hostage-taker, identified as Koji Nagakubo, was arrested on suspicion of taking the five captive.The hostages, including one released...

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