Cash scheme will influence polls, says CEC

CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Chief election commissioner V C Sampath on Tuesday expressed his disapproval over the Centre's decision to go ahead with the direct cash transfer scheme when assembly elections were round-the-corner in Gujarat. Himachal Pradesh, the other state that went to polls, is yet to know the result, and model code of conduct is still in force. Sampath, who was in Chennai to review the...

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Study: Drug coverage to vary under health law

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study says basic prescription drug coverage could vary dramatically from state to state under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.That's because states get to set benefits for private health plans that will be offered starting in 2014 through new insurance exchanges.The study out Tuesday from the market analysis firm Avalere Health found that some states will require...

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Alaska Serial Killer Buried Murder Kits Across US

Israel Keyes, the Alaskan man whoconfessed to seven murders before killing himself in a jail cell, told police that he traveled the country to find victims and buried caches of weapons, money and tools for disposing of bodies to use in future crimes.The FBI also released an ominous list of 35 trips Keyes made around the U.S., Mexico and Canada over the last eight years.Keyes,...

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Israel says will stick with settlement plan despite condemnation

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel rejected concerted criticism from the United States and Europe on Monday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand settlement building after the United Nations' de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood. Washington urged Israel to reconsider its plan to erect 3,000 more homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying the move...

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Football: Lionel Lewis calls it a day

SINGAPORE: He was Singapore's safest pair of hands for almost a decade and, despite retiring from international football last year with 73 caps, Lionel Lewis was playing well enough to warrant consideration for a recall to the national squad for the current ASEAN Football Federation Championship.But a persistent ankle injury put paid to the possibility of that happening, and now Lewis...

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Zee editors denied bail for 2nd time in a week

NEW DELHI: For the second time in less than a week, a trial court on Monday dismissed the bail applications of the two Zee group editors arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 100 crore from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm. Metropolitan magistrate Rajinder Singh on Monday dismissed the bail pleas, saying Zee News head Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia had not given...

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Fossil fuel subsidies in focus at climate talks

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Hassan al-Kubaisi considers it a gift from above that drivers in oil- and gas-rich Qatar only have to pay $1 per gallon at the pump."Thank God that our country is an oil producer and the price of gasoline is one of the lowest," al-Kubaisi said, filling up his Toyota Land Cruiser at a gas station in Doha. "God has given us a blessing."To those looking for a global response to climate...

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Kate Middleton Is Pregnant, in Hospital

Kate Middleton is pregnant.The most eagerly awaited pregnancy was announced today by St. James Palace on behalf of Middleton and her husband Prince William.The child, whether boy or girl, will eventually be heir to the British throne according to new legislation awaiting final approval.The duchess was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital today in central London with hyperemesis...

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Islamist protest shuts down Egypt's top court

CAIRO (Reuters) - Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Mursi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict between some of the country's top judges and the head of state. The Supreme Constitutional Court said it would not convene until its judges could operate without "psychological and material pressure", saying protesters...

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French minister says 'no confidence' in steel tycoon Mittal

PARIS: A French minister cast doubt Sunday on whether the world's top steelmaker ArcelorMittal would keep its end of the bargain after a compromise deal on a key plant that Paris had threatened to nationalise.The dispute over the closure of blast furnaces at the Florange plant risked damaging France's image among investors, after a virulent attack by a minister on the company owned by...

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