Colorado town in the thick of fracking dispute

Longmont, COLORADO: The US oil and gas industry is condemning a move by one Colorado town to impose its own ban on the practice of hydraulic fracturing.Voters in Longmont have chosen to outlaw the controversial practice within city limits, but drillers and the state government said the city has overstepped its bounds.Space for large houses with mountain views -- one of the reasons the...

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Philippines set to quit Marcos wealth chase

MANILA: The Philippines is to wind down a near-30-year hunt for the embezzled wealth of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, with more than half the supposed $10 billion fortune still missing, the man in charge of the search said.With Marcos' widow and children back in positions of political power, and the government tightening its belt, the cost of the pursuit has become prohibitive, said...

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Electricity tariffs to be lowered

SINGAPORE: Electricity tariffs will be reduced by an average 3.7 per cent from January to March 2013. SP Services attributed the reduction to lower costs of electricity generation, largely due to lower fuel prices compared to the previous quarter.Non-fuel costs of power generation have also been adjusted.The average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will...

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Indian gang-rape victim's body to be flown back later Saturday

SINGAPORE: The body of an Indian woman who died in a Singapore hospital after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi will be flown back on a chartered plane later Saturday, India's ambassador said."The requisite formalities for sending the body to India are being completed," Indian High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan told reporters, hours after the woman died of multiple organ failure at the Singapore...

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Abbas warns of disbanding PA if no peace talks

JERUSALEM: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned that he would disband his Palestinian Authority if there was no Israeli movement towards renewing peace talks after Israel's elections on January 22.Abbas, in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, said that if such a situation arose he would hand full responsibility for the occupied West Bank to the Israeli government."If there...

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Exchange of unused expired parking coupons

SINGAPORE: Motorists are reminded that parking coupons valid up to Monday, 31 December can no longer be used from 1 January.The Housing & Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said those with unused, expired coupons can exchange them for new ones from 2 January. They can do so at all HDB branches and service centres, and the URA Customer Service Centre at...

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Real growth in household incomes over past 5 years despite higher inflation: MOF

SINGAPORE: Singapore's economic growth slowed significantly this year, as subdued external demand affected most sectors of the economy.But findings from the Ministry of Finance's second issue of the Singapore Public Sector Outcomes Review (SPOR) showed that there has been real growth in household incomes over the past five years despite higher inflation.Median monthly household incomes...

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Yen ticks up in Asia after easing-sparked tumble

TOKYO: The yen edged higher in Asian trade on Tuesday after tumbling on speculation that the Bank of Japan would launch more easing measures in the face of political demands for policy action.The dollar bought 84.74 yen in Tokyo morning trade, a shade lower than 84.82 yen in New York Monday afternoon, after climbing to 85 yen, a level last breached in April 2011.The euro fetched 111.69...

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Antarctic ice sheet warming faster than thought: study

PARIS: The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, whose melt may be responsible for 10 percent of the sea-level rise caused by climate change, is warming twice as quickly as previously thought, a study said Sunday.A re-analysis of temperature records from 1958 to 2010 revealed an increase of 2.4 degrees Celsius (36.3 degrees Fahrenheit) over the period -- three times the average global rise.The increase...

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Japan's incoming PM to send envoy to China: report

TOKYO: Japan's incoming prime minister will send a special envoy to China on a fence-mending trip, a report said Saturday, after he announced plans to dispatch an emissary on a similar mission to South Korea.Ties between Japan and China have become increasingly strained over a disputed island chain - the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus -- with neither side willing...

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More employers offering work-life arrangements

SINGAPORE: More employers in Singapore are offering work-life arrangements, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). In 2012, 41 per cent of establishments offered at least one form of work-life arrangement to their employees, up from 38 percent in 2011. Working part-time was the most common work-life arrangement offered by 33 per cent of establishments. At a...

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Benghazi inquiry slams "grossly inadequate" security

WASHINGTON: A long-awaited inquiry into a deadly militant attack on the US mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi late Tuesday slammed State Department security arrangements there as "grossly inadequate".But the months-long probe also found there had been "no immediate, specific" intelligence about a threat against the mission, which was overrun by dozens of heavily armed militants on...

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Asian markets mostly higher on US fiscal hopes

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday, taking a lead from Wall Street as dealers grow confident US lawmakers will reach an agreement to avert the fiscal cliff.Continued weakness of the yen helped send Japanese shares surging for a second straight session as Shinzo Abe prepares to take over as prime minister, vowing to press a more aggressive policy of monetary easing.Tokyo rose...

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Mind-controlled hand offers hope for the paralysed

PARIS: Pentagon-backed scientists on Monday announced they had created a robot hand that was the most advanced brain-controlled prosthetic limb ever made.The mind-powered prosthesis is a breakthrough, the team of neurologists and bio-engineers reported in The Lancet.With further development "individuals with long-term paralysis could recover the natural and intuitive command signals for...

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Body found in Singapore River

SINGAPORE: A man was found dead in the Singapore River along Clarke Quay early Sunday morning. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call at about 1.30am.Someone was spotted jumping into the river near Block A.SCDF officers arrived about four minutes later and conducted a search around the area.Diving at a depth of about 3 metres, rescuers retrieved the body of a...

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"Private" memorials for Ravi Shankar in US, India

LOS ANGELES: Private memorials will be held in India and California for legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, a publicist said, after his death earlier this week.Concerts to celebrate the 92-year-old's life will be held next year in New York and London, he added, giving no further details about funeral or other arrangements."Memorial services will be held near his homes in Southern...

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N Korea holds mass rally, vows more rocket launches

SEOUL: Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans held a mass rally on Friday to celebrate the nuclear-armed state's rocket launch, as its youthful leader vowed new launches.Days before his first anniversary in charge of the isolated country, Kim Jong-Un upheld North Korea's "unshakable stand" that the rocket programme will continue despite UN condemnation and calls for new sanctions.The huge...

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Asian markets mostly up after Fed move

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets mostly rose Thursday as the US Federal Reserve announced fresh monetary easing and said it would not lift interest rates until unemployment was under control.However, the gains were capped after the central bank's chief Ben Bernanke said the looming fiscal cliff of huge tax hikes and deep spending cuts was already hitting the economy.The yen continued its...

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US stocks finish solidly higher

NEW YORK: US stocks finished solidly higher Tuesday, with gains in Apple, Google and Intel boosting the tech-rich Nasdaq.Also helping were gains in Europe's markets on the back of a surge in German investor sentiment, to a seven-month high, and a successful Spanish debt auction that saw borrowing costs drop sharply.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.56 points (0.60 percent) to 13,248.44,...

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US stocks edge up amid hopes for 'cliff' deal

NEW YORK: US stocks ended slightly higher Monday amid hopes that a political deal over the looming fiscal cliff was in the works.Markets showed little effect from the fresh turmoil in the eurozone, after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he would resign in the coming days and Silvio Berlusconi threatened a comeback on an anti-austerity platform.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose...

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