History of gun control is cautionary tale for those seeking regulations after Conn. shooting

At 3 a.m. on July 2, 1993, Steve Sposato sat down in his darkened living room to write, by hand, a letter to the president of the United States. His life had just been shattered. Hours earlier, in the afternoon, a deranged man armed with semi-automatic weapons went on a rampage, slaughtering eight people at an office building in downtown San Francisco. The gunman’s motive would remain...

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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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Village in Veerappan country says no to caste in marriages

COIMBATORE: The only access to Kalithimbam, a village inside the Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary in western Tamil Nadu, from the nearby Thalavadi town in Erode district is a dirt track that runs through a green patch frequented by elephants and tigers. Few people other than members of the Oorali tribe, who lives here, would risk the walk until a decade ago, since sandalwood smuggler Veerappan...

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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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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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DGCA violates own rule on pilots

NEW DELHI: In a gross violation of its own rules, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has senior management pilots from airlines working for it as seconded flight operations inspectors (FOIs). This makes a mockery of a civil aviation requirement of the DGCA (Section 8, Series A, Part III, 6.1) which states that an FOI "shall have no management responsibilities in his airline nor in...

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The Healing Power of Dogs

One boy confided in the gentle-faced golden retriever about exactly what happened in his classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School that day—which his parents said was more than he'd been able to share with them. A little girl who hadn't spoken since the shootings finally started talking to her mother again after petting one of the "comfort dogs." Groups of teenagers began to open up and...

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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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Nitish will have a keen eye on Modi’s rise

NEW DELHI: With "Modi-for-PM" chants growing, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar must be closely watching BJP leadership's response to the pressure from within to anoint the resurgent Gujarat chief minister as the party's prime ministerial choice. Nitish has made it clear that he will walk out of the NDA if the BJP declares Modi to be its choice for the coveted job and, according to sources, is...

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Manhunt Heats Up for Two Escaped Bank Robbers

The manhunt for two bank robbers who escaped from a downtown Chicago prison this week intensified overnight, with police chasing multiple leads as new footage shows the men getting into a taxi minutes after their brazen escape.Investigators say surveillance cameras captured Joseph "Jose" Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38, getting into a taxi minutes after their early Tuesday...

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