Man's Body Recovery Effort Ends; Sinkhole 'Unstable'

Authorities have discontinued the rescue effort for a Florida man who was swallowed by a sinkhole when his home's foundation collapsed and said it is unlikely his body will ever be recovered."We feel we have done everything we can," Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrell said at a news conference this afternoon. "At this point, it's not possible to recover the body."Merell...

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Obama to refocus attention on immigration, gun control

President Obama signaled Friday a desire to refocus his attention on second-term priorities, such as immigration and gun control, after weeks of fruitless wrangling with Republicans over his fiscal agenda. “What I want to try to do is make sure that we’re constantly focused . . . on how are we helping American families succeed,” Obama said at a news conference after failing to strike a...

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3 dead in new Bangladesh war crimes protests: police

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh: Bangladesh police on Saturday opened fire at Islamists protesting the conviction for war crimes of one of their leaders, killing three people outside the port city of Chittagong.The deaths brought the total number killed since a war crimes tribunal delivered its first verdict on January 21 to at least 56, according to police figures.The number includes 40 who have...

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Rajnath lauds Modi as most popular CM

NEW DELHI: Amid calls for a larger role for him, Narendra Modi on Saturday won singular praise from BJP president Rajnath Singh for being the "most popular" chief minister having registered "never before" three consecutive electoral wins for the party in Gujarat. The BJP national council meeting began here with Singh exhorting the delegates to give a standing ovation to Modi and garlanding him....

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Black Hole Spins at Nearly the Speed of Light

A superfast black hole nearly 60 million light-years away appears to be pushing the ultimate speed limit of the universe, a new study says.For the first time, astronomers have managed to measure the rate of spin of a supermassive black hole—and it's been clocked at 84 percent of the speed of light, or the maximum allowed by the law of physics."The most exciting part of this finding is...

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Obama Signs Order to Begin Sequester Cuts

President Obama and congressional leaders today failed to reach a breakthrough to avert a sweeping package of automatic spending cuts, setting into motion $85 billion of across-the-board belt-tightening that neither had wanted to see.President Obama officially initiated the cuts with an order to agencies Friday evening.He had met for just over an hour at the White House Friday...

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Sequester hits federal agencies. Now what for federal employees?

Now what? Congress has failed the country — again. Unable to avoid $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester, the process of slicing agency spending starts Friday.What does that mean for federal employees? What options do they have?Agencies will begin informing staff members of furloughs that could last up to 22 days through September, when the fiscal year...

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Bertelsmann buys out KKR in music rights business BMG

FRANKFURT: German media giant Bertelsmann said Friday it has agreed to buy out the US investment fund KKR in their jointly-owned music rights management company BMG for an undisclosed sum.Bertelsmann said in a statement it will acquire the 51-percent stake that KKR has held in BMG since 2009, finally bringing the unit back under full ownership.BMG was originally set up in 2008 and KKR...

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Home minister Shinde 'deeply shocked' at Bhandara rapes

NEW DELHI: Expressing shock at the kidnapping, gang-rape and killing of three minor sisters in Maharashtra last month, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday said police in the state was making every effort to nab the perpetrators."I am deeply shocked that three minor girls from same family were brutally murdered after being sexually abused and their bodies thrown in a well in a village in Maharashtra's...

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Scarred Duckbill Dinosaur Escaped T. Rex Attack

A scar on the face of a duckbill dinosaur received after a close encounter with a Tyrannosaurus rex is the first clear case of a healed dinosaur wound, scientists say.The finding, detailed in the current issue of the journal Cretaceous Research, also reveals that the healing properties of dinosaur skin were likely very similar to that of modern reptiles.The lucky dinosaur was an adult...

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