Subway Push Murder Suspect Implicated Self: Police













A suspect believed to be responsible for throwing a man into the path of an oncoming New York City subway train who was taken into custody today has made statements implicating himself, police said.


According to Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne, the suspect has been questioned by police since at least early afternoon and while the suspect is in police custody, he has not been officially charged.


Police are continuing to question the suspect and more lineups have been scheduled for tomorrow, Browne said.


Police have not released the suspect's name but began questioning him Tuesday afternoon about the death of Ki-Suck Han, 58, of Queens, N.Y.


Han was tossed onto the subway track at 49th Street and Seventh Avenue around 12:30 p.m. Monday after Han confronted a mumbling man who was alarming other passengers on the train platform. Han tried to scramble back onto the platform, but was crushed by an oncoming train.


The suspect fled the station, prompting a police dragnet for a man described by witnesses and see on surveillance video as a 6-foot-tall, 200-pound black man wearing dreadlocks in his hair.


Witnesses tried to revive the victim after he was hit and provided descriptions of the suspect to police.


Dr. Laura Kaplan, medical resident at Beth Israel Medical Center who was standing on the platform during the incident rushed to give Han aid after he was hit, she said in a statement released by her medical practice today.






New York Police Department













Bystanders Pull Mom, Son From Subway Tracks Watch Video







"A security guard and I performed 3-4 minutes of chest compressions. I hope the family may find some comfort in knowing about the kindness of these good Samaritans, as they endure this terrible loss," Kaplan said.


"I would like the family to know that many people in the station tried to help Mr. Han by alerting the subway personnel," she said.


Kaplan said she wanted to console the family of Han, who she called "a brave man trying to protect other passengers that he did not know."


The suspect had reportedly been mumbling to himself and disturbing other passengers, according to ABC News affiliate WABC. Police told WABC that the suspect could be mentally disturbed.


The suspect could be heard arguing with Han just moments before he hurled Han onto the track bed, according to surveillance video released by the police. The suspect is heard telling the victim to stand in line and "wait for the R train."


A freelance photographer for the New York Post was on the platform and said he ran towards the train flashing his camera hoping to alert the train to stop in time, but the train caught Han against the shoulder deep platform wall.


The photographer, R. Umar Abbasi, caught an eerie photo of Han with his head and arms above the platform and staring at the oncoming train.


Han was treated by EMS workers on the platform for traumatic arrest and rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Fire Department of New York.


"I just heard people yelling. The train came to an abrupt stop about three-quarters into the station and that's when I heard a man was hit by a train," Patrick Gomez told ABC News affiliate WABC.


Police set up a command post outside the train station Monday night searching nearby surveillance cameras to try and get a clear image of the suspect, reports WABC. They said Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing.


Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.



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AARP lobbies against Medicare changes that could hurt its bottom line



AARP, the highly influential lobby for older Americans, is fiercely opposing any Medicare or Social Security cuts and emphasizes that it is fighting for the good of its members. But the proposals for changing Medicare also could affect AARP’s bottom line.

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Islamic finance to surpass trillion-dollar mark in 2012: Tharman






JOHOR BAHRU: Islamic finance is poised to expand over the next 10 to 15 years after surpassing the trillion-dollar mark in 2012, said Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the World Islamic Economic Forum in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Mr Tharman, who is also Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister, said that he was optimistic about the potential for the sector after it chalked-up growth of about 19 per cent a year since 2006.

This has lifted total Shariah-compliant assets to nearly US$1.3 trillion in 2012.

However there is considerable scope for development since Islamic finance now forms less than 1 per cent of the global financial industry, said Mr Tharman.

Even in Muslim countries, Islamic finance constitutes less than 5 per cent of their financial sector, he added.

The minister also noted that Islamic financial institutions have mainly escaped significant damage from the global financial crisis.

"They are well-placed to grow at a time when many of the global banks, especially the European banks, are deleveraging or focusing on consolidating their balance sheets," said Mr Tharman.

He adds that Islamic finance has the potential to diversify into new growth areas such as trade and infrastructure financing in Asia and emerging markets.

This will allow Islamic banks to reduce their exposure to the real estate sector and take advantage of the stronger growth potential of the emerging market economies.

Another factor that can boost the growth potential of Islamic finance is its focus on transparency, price certainty and the risk-sharing framework.

Mr Tharman says Islamic finance can ride this wave of demand for simpler and more basic investments.

Yet, he also pointed out several challenges in the industry that need to be overcome to ensure continued growth.

Among them is the need to reduce fragmentation in Islamic finance markets due to differences in accepted standards of Shariah compliance.

"This has hampered the flow of liquidity between jurisdictions and is in part why there are presently no Islamic equivalents to the international monetary and bond markets."

The minister also touched on the need to manage capital flows in Asia and emerging market economies.

Excessive capital inflows can cause volatility, and it would be "wise to strengthen our policy toolkits in Asia, so that we can deal with unpredictable and often excessive capital flows," said Mr Tharman.

One of the policy responses should be included in a policy maker's toolkit is to curtail volatility in the exchange rate in the short term, he said.

Mr Tharman also pointed to macro-prudential policies such as property cooling measures to discourage speculative demand for residential properties.

"These targeted administrative and prudential measures are not conventional macroeconomic tools. But they are likely to remain part of our policy toolkit, at least for the foreseeable future."

The Finance Minister has also called for greater depth in Asia's capital markets, especially the corporate bond market.

"Broader and deeper capital markets will allow investors to invest for the long term while hedging risks," Mr Tharman said.

- CNA/jc



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Terrorist attacks soar, India among most affected nations: Study

NEW YORK: The number of terrorist attacks each year has more than quadrupled in the decade since September 11, 2001, a study released on Tuesday said, with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan the most affected.

The number of annual deaths in attacks, however, peaked in 2007 -- the height of the Iraq conflict -- and has been falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in 2011, 25 percent down on 2007. That figure included dead suicide bombers and other attackers.

Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property damage.

The Global Terrorism Index - published on Tuesday by the US- and Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace think tank - ranked countries based on data from the Global Terrorism Database run by a consortium based at the University of Maryland, a commonly used reference by security researchers.

The US military interventions pursued as part of the West's anti-al-Qaida "war on terror", the researchers suggested, may have simply made matters worse - while whether they made the US homeland safer was impossible to prove.

Iraqis account for third of terrorism deaths

"After 9/11, terrorist activity fell back to pre-2000 levels until after the Iraq invasion, and has since escalated dramatically," Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, told Reuters in an e-mail interview.

"Iraq accounts for about a third of all terrorist deaths over the last decade, and Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan account for over 50 percent of fatalities."

The study says terrorism incidents numbered 982 in 2002, causing 3,823 deaths, rising to 4,564 terrorist incidents globally in 2011, resulting in 7,473 deaths.

The researchers used the University of Maryland definition of "terrorism": "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation".

It did not include casualties from government-backed action such as aerial bombing or other killings.

The study said its methodology allowed researchers the scope to exclude actions that could be seen as insurgency, hate crime or organised crime and incidents about which insufficient information was available.

The upswing in attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan only occurred after the Iraq war, the study showed, coming at largely the same time as heightened US-backed military campaigns there by NATO and the Pakistani government respectively.

Syria, Yemen worsening

The findings suggested foreign powers should think twice before intervening militarily, Killelea said, even in countries such as Syria, already seeing widespread bloodshed. Unless the conflict was brought to a swift end, terror attacks might actually increase, he said.

The greatest deterioration in 2011 took place in Syria and Yemen, the report said. Yemen has seen a dramatic upsurge in al Qaeda-linked activity in recent years, while Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have increasingly turned to suicide attacks and bombings.

Of the 158 countries surveyed, only 31 had not experienced a single event classified as a "terrorist act" since 2001, the report said. Even when the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington were taken into account, North America remained the least-affected region over the period studied.

Western Europeans were 19 times more likely to die in a terrorist attack than North Americans, the report said. Aside from the United States - whose rating improved sharply over the decade as the casualties of 2001 were no longer factored in - the greatest improvements were seen in Algeria and Colombia.

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Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds


NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has detected several simple carbon-based organic compounds on Mars, but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet.

Speaking at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, Curiosity mission leaders also said that the compound perchlorate—identified previously in polar Mars—appeared to also be present in Gale Crater, the site of Curiosity's exploration.

The possible discovery of organics—or carbon-based compounds bonded to hydrogen, also called hydrocarbons—could have major implications for the mission's search for more complex organic material.

It would not necessarily mean that life exists now or ever existed on Mars, but it makes the possibility of Martian life—especially long ago when the planet was wetter and warmer—somewhat greater, since available carbon is considered to be so important to all known biology.

(See "Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Proof of Flowing Water—A First.")

The announcements came after several weeks of frenzied speculation about a "major discovery" by Curiosity on Mars. But project scientist John Grotzinger said that it remains too early to know whether Martian organics have been definitely discovered or if they're byproducts of contamination brought from Earth.

"When this data first came in, and then was confirmed in a second sample, we did have a hooting and hollering moment," he said.

"The enthusiasm we had was perhaps misunderstood. We're doing science at the pace of science, but news travels at a different speed."

Organics Detected Before on Mars

The organic compounds discovered—different combinations of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine—are the same or similar to chlorinated organics detected in the mid-1970s by the Viking landers.

(Related: "Life on Mars Found by NASA's Viking Mission?")

At the time, the substances were written off as contamination brought from Earth, but now scientists know more about how the compounds could be formed on Mars. The big question remains whether the carbon found in the compounds is of Martian or Earthly origin.

Paul Mahaffy, the principal investigator of the instrument that may have found the simple organics—the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)—said that while the findings were not "definitive," they were significant and would require a great deal of further study.

Mahaffy also said the discovery came as a surprise, since the soil sample involved was hardly a prime target in the organics search. In fact, the soil was scooped primarily to clean out the rover's mobile laboratory and soil-delivery systems.

Called Rocknest, the site is a collection of rocks with rippled sand around them—an environment not considered particularly promising for discovery. The Curiosity team has always thought it had a much better chance of finding the organics in clays and sulfate minerals known to be present at the base of Mount Sharp, located in the Gale Crater, where the rover will head early next year.

(See the Mars rover Curiosity's first color pictures.)

The rover has been at Rocknest for a month and has scooped sand and soil five times. It was the first site where virtually all the instruments on Curiosity were used, Grotzinger said, and all of them proved to be working well.

They also worked well in unison—with one instrument giving the surprising signal that the minerals in the soil were not all crystalline, which led to the intensive examination of the non-crystalline portion to see if it contained any organics.

Rover Team "Very Confident"

The simple organics detected by SAM were in the chloromethane family, which contains compounds that are sometimes used to clean electronic equipment. Because it was plausible that Viking could have brought the compounds to Mars as contamination, that conclusion was broadly accepted.

But in 2010, Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center and Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico published an influential paper describing how dichloromethane can be a byproduct of the heating of other organic material in the presence of the compound perchlorate.

They conducted the experiment because NASA's Phoenix mission had discovered large amounts of perchlorate in the northern polar soil of Mars, and it seems plausible that it would exist elsewhere on the planet.

"In terms of the SAM results, there are two important conclusions," said McKay, a scientist on the SAM team.

"The first is confirming the perchlorate story—that it's most likely there and seems to react at high temperatures with organic material to form the dichloromethane and other simple organics."

"The second is that we'll have to either find organics without perchlorates nearby, or find a way to get around that perchlorate wall that keeps us from identifying organics," he said.

Another SAM researcher, Danny Glavin of Goddard, said his team is "very confident" about the reported detection of the hydrocarbons, and that they were produced in the rover's ovens. He said it is clear that the chlorine in the compounds is from Mars, but less clear about the carbon.

"We will figure out what's going on here," he said. "We have the instruments and we have the people. And whatever the final conclusions, we will have learned important things about Mars that we can use in the months ahead."

Author of the National Geographic e-book Mars Landing 2012, Marc Kaufman has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including the past 12 as a science and space writer, foreign correspondent, and editor for the Washington Post. He is also author of First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, published in 2011, and has spoken extensively to crowds across the United States and abroad about astrobiology. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife, Lynn Litterine.


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Kate's Illness Sometimes Linked to Twins













Hyperemesis gravidarum, the reason newly pregnant Kate Middleton is in the hospital, is a rare but acute morning sickness that results in weight loss and accounts for about 2 percent of all morning sickness, doctors say.


The condition is sometimes associated with women having twins, experts said.


Women diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum have lost 5 percent of their pre-pregnancy weight, or 10 pounds, said Dr. Ashley Roman, a professor and OB/GYN at New York University Langone Medical Center.


It poses little danger to the tiny heir, doctors said.


"It's traditionally thought that nausea and vomiting is a sign of a healthy pregnancy," Roman said


Dr. Nancy Cossler, an OB/GYN at University Hospitals in Ohio said the condition does not cause loss of pregnancy or birth defects, but it can be a torture to endure.


"The biggest problem with this is how it interferes with your life," Cossler said. "Constantly feeling sick and puking is difficult."


Click here to read about other women with hyperemesis gravidarum.


Hyperemesis gravidarum is thought to be caused by higher levels of the pregnancy hormone, hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, Cossler said. Extra hCG can often be brought on by carrying more than one fetus, she said.






Chris Jackson/AFP/Getty Images











Kate Middleton Pregnant, Admitted to Hospital Watch Video









Kate Middleton, Prince William Expecting Their First Child Watch Video









Prince William and Kate Middleton's Big News Watch Video





In other words, it could be a sign that Middleton is carrying twins. Although there's very little data on twins and hyperemesis gravidarum, one study showed that women carrying twins had a 7.5 percent higher risk of experiencing the acute morning sickness, Roman said.


The extreme morning sickness is usually diagnosed about nine weeks into the pregnancy, and in most cases resolves itself by 16 or 20 weeks, Roman said. In rare cases, it can last the whole pregnancy.


"As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period of rest thereafter," a statement from St. James Palace said. Prince William is at the hospital with Middleton, according to the Britain's Press Association.


Click here for photos of Kate through the years.


Roman said doctors prescribe vitamins and ginger capsules at first. If that doesn't stop the vomiting, they will prescribe antihistamines and stronger anti-nausea medications.


Women with hyperemesis gravidarum are also treated with fluids, said Dr. Jessica Young, an OB/GYN at Vanderbilt University. But if left untreated, a pregnant woman who is severely dehydrated for a long period of time could die, "just like any person," Young said.


In extreme cases in which the woman is losing weight and unable to eat, doctors will treat her with intravenous nutrition, Young said.


Hospital stays can vary, and women will often have to be admitted more than once before the condition passes, doctors said.


Hyperemesis gravidarum is somewhat mysterious because some expectant mothers have acute morning sickness during only one of their pregnancies, but have no morning sickness for subsequent pregnancies.


There is a chance that higher levels of hCG, which likely caused Middleton's nausea, could be a sign of a molar pregnancy instead of twins, Cossler said. This would mean Middleton is carrying only a benign growth in her uterus instead of a fetus, or she is carrying a fetus with abnormal DNA and a benign growth. Neither is considered a viable pregnancy.


However, Cossler said molar pregnancies become apparent early on, and doctors would already know whether Middleton had one.


"They would not have released this information," Cossler said of the birth announcement. "I'm certain that they have already eliminated both of those [types of molar pregnancies]."



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Retired military officers’ letter seeks to amend gun law to help battle suicides



Legislation added to the 2011 defense authorization bill at the urging of gun-rights advocates prohibits commanders from collecting any information about weapons privately owned by troops.

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Asian markets mixed China data offset by US worries






HONG KONG: Asian markets were mixed on Monday, after data showing Chinese manufacturing activity had picked up pace in November were tempered by concerns over US talks to avert the fiscal cliff.

Tokyo closed 0.13 per cent, or 12.17 points, higher at 9,458.18, Seoul ended up 0.37 per cent, or 7.12 points, to 1,940.02 and Sydney gained 0.57 per cent, or 25.5 points, to 4,531.5.

However, Hong Kong tumbled 1.19 per cent, or 262.54 points, to 21,767.85, while Shanghai closed down 1.03 per cent, or 20.35 points, at 1,959.77.

Beijing said Saturday that factory activity grew for the second month in a row in November, the latest figures showing the world's number two economy is emerging from its recent slowdown.

The country's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) reached 50.6, up from 50.2 in October and 49.8 in September and the highest since hitting 53.3 in April. Anything above 50 indicates expansion.

In a separate survey, HSBC said its PMI hit a 13-month high of 50.5 in November from 49.5 in October. The bank's PMI had been in negative territory for 12 months.

Chinese manufacturing has been hit by weaker demand in Europe and the United States, with economic growth hitting a more than three-year low of 7.4 per cent in the July-September quarter.

A more upbeat outlook for China filtered through to currency markets, where the euro continued its recent rise.

The single currency gained to US$1.3035 and 107.29 yen in late afternoon trade, from US$1.2982 and 107.07 yen in New York late Friday.

The US dollar eased to 82.30 yen from 82.48 yen in US trade.

The yen has weakened over the past few weeks as investors expect a win in December 16 polls for Shinzo Abe, the opposition leader who has pledged to carry out more aggressive monetary easing measures to jumpstart Japan's limp economy.

However, there are worries over the lack of progress US lawmakers are making in agreeing a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1 and which could tip the economy into recession.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner told the Fox News Sunday TV show that talks were going "nowhere".

He said he was "flabbergasted" when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama's point man for the talks, presented the White House's proposal, which included huge tax increases for the rich.

"I looked (at) him and said, 'You can't be serious,'" Boehner recounted, saying three of the seven weeks available had "been wasted with this nonsense".

"Right now, I would say -- we're nowhere, period. We're nowhere" towards reaching a compromise.

Oil prices were higher. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, gained 10 cents to US$89.01 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for January delivery added 19 cents to US$111.42.

Gold was at US$1,718.77 at 0810 GMT compared with US$1,728.37 late Friday.

Taipei rose 0.26 per cent, or 19.74 points, to 7,599.91. Hon Hai Precision gained 1.61 per cent to TW$94.7 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.81 per cent down at TW$97.9.

Manila rose 0.57 per cent, or 32.25 points, to 5,672.70.

Wellington was flat, falling 1.00 point to 4,049.09. Broadband provider Chorus slumped 14.4 per cent to NZ$2.91 after regulators flagged a cut to wholesale pricing, while Telecom was up 0.43 per cent at NZ$2.32.

- AFP/jc



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FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

ANI Dec 1, 2012, 03.28PM IST

NEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest.

BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working for international interests.

"The government feels that their responsibility is to safeguard the interest of international market mafias instead of national interest and for saving the interest of international market mafias, the government is ready to compromise with national interests. Now, the parliament will decide as to who is in support of international market mafias and who are supporting national interests," said Naqvi.

The government's decision to allow foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart had triggered protest not only from opposition parties but also from some of its allies.

BJP had sought debate on the issue of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, under the rule that entails voting after discussions.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), V Narayanaswamy said the government would answer all the queries raised by the opposition parties in the parliament and will explain the benefits of allowing FDI in retail sector.

The lower house of parliament has set December 04 and 05 as the date to vote and debate on FDI. The dates for the upper house are yet to be decided.

Narayanaswamy said the government is confident of becoming victorious in the debate.

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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea









































































































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