Obama: Don't Hold Middle-Class Tax Cuts Hostage

Dec 1, 2012 6:00am AP Photo/Charles DharapakPresident Obama is urging Congress to extend tax breaks for the middle class, saying it’s “unacceptable for some Republicans in Congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they refuse to let tax rates go up on the wealthiest Americans.”With the clock ticking toward the so-called “fiscal cliff,” Obama asked...

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Palestinians win de facto U.N. recognition of sovereign state

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long overdue "birth certificate." The U.N. victory for the Palestinians was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined...

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Bird flu kills 4,000 wild ducks in Russia

MOSCOW: Around 4,000 wild ducks have been found dead in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, officials said on Friday, blaming H5 bird flu for the mass deaths."This is the H5 virus, the strain is being confirmed," a spokeswoman for the Krasnodar region branch of Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor told AFP.The birds' remains were now being tested, she added.The dead birds have...

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Savita Halappanavar death case: NHRC and IHRC register case

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken up the case of Savita Halappanavar, who died in Ireland on October 28 after doctors refused to terminate her miscarriage pregnancy on the ground that Ireland is a Catholic Country. Acting on a complaint filed by Odisha based Organisation India Media Centre (IMC) the NHRC has a registered a case on the matter. Meanwhile Irish Human...

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Ukraine fights spreading HIV epidemic

BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — Andrei Mandrykin, an inmate at Prison No. 85 outside Kiev, has HIV. He looks ghostly and much older than his 35 years. But Mandrykin is better off than tens of thousands of his countrymen, because is he receiving treatment amid what the World Health Organization says is the worst AIDS epidemic in Europe.Ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, international organizations have urged...

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Fiscal Cliff Creeps Closer With Few Signs of Optimism

"Absurd" -- that's the word one top Republican Hill aide used to describe the plan that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner presented to GOP leaders yesterday to avoid the fiscal cliff.And an aide to House Speaker Boehner described the White House's offer as "completely unrealistic" and "a break with reality."Meanwhile, a top Democratic insider complained to ABC's Jonathan Karl...

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U.N. set to implicitly recognize Palestinian state, despite threats

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly is set to implicitly recognize a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government. A resolution that would lift the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state,"...

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Some contract manufacturers struggling despite demand for mobile devices: analysts

SINGAPORE : Apple and Samsung are riding high on the growing demand for mobile devices.Global shipments of smartphones and tablets are expected to reach some 680 million this year, according to Frost & Sullivan.Analysts have said the success of mobile devices may not necessarily benefit many contract manufacturers.Some are instead struggling to change their production lines from falling...

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BJP slams Prime Minister's Office for giving ‘clean chit’ to Vadra

NEW DELHI: BJP today hit out at the Prime Minister's Office for giving a "clean chit" to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in the land deals with realty major DLF in Haryana and sought to know how it arrived at this conclusion without conducting any probe. "Is it the Prime Minister's Office or a bailout office? We say this with full responsibility," BJP Chief spokesperson...

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons...

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