Stymied by a GOP House, Obama looks ahead to 2014 to cement his legacy

President Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years. “What I can’t do is force Congress to do the right thing,” Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday...

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Romney says 2012 race was 'roller coaster'

WASHINGTON: In his first interview since losing his 2012 White House bid, Mitt Romney likened his experience as a presidential candidate to an unpredictable and bumpy roller coaster ride."We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs. But the ride ends," Romney said, according to advance excerpts of the interview set to air on "Fox News Sunday.""And then you get off....

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Battle lost in Moga, it's war of words in Congress

CHANDIGARH: With the poll campaign cacophony and din of celebrations over, both the winning and losing parties in Moga are busy citing weak links in the chain and fixing accountability. For Congress, the uneasy silence that settled over the party after its latest defeat has been shattered by a war of words breaking out between Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Captain Amarinder Singh and...

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We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.

In the story of how the dog came in from the cold and onto our sofas, we tend to give ourselves a little too much credit. The most common assumption is that some hunter-gatherer with a soft spot for cuteness found some wolf puppies and adopted them. Over time, these tamed wolves would have shown their prowess at hunting, so humans kept them around the campfire until they evolved into dogs....

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US Seeks to Confirm Report of Terror Leader's Death

American military and intelligence officials said today they are attempting to confirm a report from the Chadian military of the death of al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of the deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas facility in January.If the new report is confirmed, Belmokhtar's death would be a significant victory against a growing al Qaeda threat in...

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Obama to visit Russia in September

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will visit Saint Petersburg for September's G20 summit and will also hold a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in June.The White House made the announcement Friday after the leaders spoke by phone to discuss the Syria crisis amid testy relations between Russia and the United States, which have deteriorated since...

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Army to banish Bofors bogey, adopt indigenous, US routes

NEW DELHI: With defence minister AK Antony pushing for greater indigenization in the defence production sector to avoid scams, the Army is now pinning its hopes on two "prototypes" of artillery guns developed by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to boost its long-range, high-volume firepower. Even as the force eagerly awaits the "user-trials" of these 155mm/45-calibre field guns in June, it's also...

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Black Hole Spins at Nearly the Speed of Light

A superfast black hole nearly 60 million light-years away appears to be pushing the ultimate speed limit of the universe, a new study says.For the first time, astronomers have managed to measure the rate of spin of a supermassive black hole—and it's been clocked at 84 percent of the speed of light, or the maximum allowed by the law of physics."The most exciting part of this finding is...

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Sequester Could Cut Blue Angels, Medicare Payments

Mar 1, 2013 2:28pm (Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Starting today, The Note will track how automatic budget cuts associated with the so-called sequester are hurting Americans at home. This story of the effects on one community is part of that series.If nothing is done to avert “sequester” cuts, air-show fans can wave bye-bye to the Blue Angels.The Navy’s demonstration...

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Senate postpones deliberation of gun bills

Senators working on legislation to curb gun violence postponed consideration of the measures for at least a week Thursday, a move that gives a bipartisan group working on a plan to expand the nation’s gun background check system more time to reach an agreement. The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to reconvene March 7 to begin considering bills sponsored by Democrats to revamp the background...

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