In tax fight, ‘small business’ is a term with many meanings

Small businesses, like the family-owned diner and the Main Street hardware store, are iconic images of America’s entrepreneurial spirit. Now, as President Obama and lawmakers seek to negotiate a deal on taxes and federal spending to avert a year-end budget crisis, both political parties and a range of outside advocates are claiming they best represent the interests of small business. But...

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CIA chief decries torture in Osama bin Laden hunt movie

WASHINGTON: Acting CIA director Michael Morell said that "Zero Dark Thirty," the Hollywood take on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, exaggerates the importance of information obtained by harsh interrogations.The movie by Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow tells the story of the decade-long search after September 11, 2001 that climaxed in last year's dramatic and deadly raid in...

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No change in Modi visa policy: US

AHMEDABAD: Observing that Gujarat remains an important state for its investment, the United States on Saturday, said it would continue to engage with the state across a broad range of issues including trade, investment, university linkages and peopleto-people exchanges. However, it refrained from making any comment on the Assembly elections in the state, terming it domestic Indian politics, and also...

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Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter InstituteMounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to."You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations,"...

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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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Strong 6.8 quake strikes off Vanuatu: USGS

SYDNEY: A strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no immediate tsunami warning was issued.The quake struck at a depth of more than 200 kilometres around 2230 GMT Friday some 130 kilometres north of Santo, USGS said."It's quite deep ... so there's no tsunami," said David Jepsen, a seismologist...

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Enormous impact of Food Security Bill on farm sector: Panel

NEW DELHI: The National Food Security Bill (NFSB), in its present form, throws up major operational and financial challenges and would have enormous ramifications on the cereal economy, markets and the farm sector, a government paper has said. The discussion paper by the commission for agricultural costs and prices (CACP) said the long-term feasibility of the strategy under NFSB needed to be...

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Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter InstituteMounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to."You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations,"...

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Obama Says He Is 'Ready and Willing' to Get Deal

President Barack Obama says he is "ready and willing" to get a big package done to deal with the "fiscal cliff" and says there's no reason not to protect middle-class Americans from tax increases. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Fiscal Cliff: Boehner Doesn't Have Votes for Plan B Watch Video Next...

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Dollar steady as investors await fiscal cliff sign

WASHINGTON: The dollar lost a little bit of ground against the euro and was largely flat against the yen in quiet trade on Thursday as investors awaited a clear sign from US "fiscal cliff" talks.The euro stood at $1.3241 towards 2200 GMT, up from $1.3226 late Wednesday. It also rose against the Japanese yen, reaching 111.72 yen compared to 111.59 yen a day earlier.The dollar held steady...

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