30 December 2016

Benefits of Indian cash overhaul elusive as deadline passes

Indians stand in a queue outside a bank in New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 30. 2016. India yanked most of its currency bills from circulation without warning, delivering a jolt to the country's high-performing economy and leaving countless citizens scrambling for cash. Still, as Friday's deadline for depositing old 500- and 1,000-rupee notes draws to a close, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has called the demonetization drive a great success in drawing out tax dodgers and eliminating graft.
Fifty days ago, India yanked most of its currency from circulation without warning, jolting the economy and leaving most citizens scrambling for cash. As the deadline for exchanging the devalued 500- and 1,000-rupee notes for new ones hit on Friday, many Indians were still stuck waiting in long bank lines.
Empty ATMs and ever-changing rules prevented people from withdrawing money, and many small, cash-reliant businesses from cinemas to neighborhood grocery stores suffered huge losses or went under.

Benefits of Indian cash overhaul elusive as deadline passes

In this Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016 photo, an Indian woman, who had come to deposit money, argues with a bank officer in New Delhi, India. On Nov. 8, India yanked most of its currency bills from circulation without warning, delivering a jolt to the country’s high-performing economy and leaving countless citizens scrambling for cash. Still, as Friday’s deadline for depositing old 500- and 1,000-rupee notes draws to a close, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has called the demonetization drive a great success in drawing out tax dodgers and eliminating graft.
Fifty days ago, India yanked most of its currency from circulation without warning, jolting the economy and leaving most citizens scrambling for cash. As the deadline for exchanging the devalued 500- and 1,000-rupee notes for new ones hits Friday, many Indians are still stuck waiting in long bank lines.
Empty ATMs and ever-changing rules are preventing people from withdrawing money, and many small, cash-reliant businesses from cinemas to neighborhood grocery stores are suffering huge losses or going under.

27 December 2016

Vera Rubin, who did pioneering work on dark matter, dies

In this image taken in the 1970s and provided by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Vera Rubin uses a measuring engine. Rubin, a pioneering astronomer who helped find powerful evidence of dark matter died Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. She was 88.
Vera Rubin, a pioneering astronomer who helped find powerful evidence of dark matter, has died, her son said Monday.

She was 88.
Allan Rubin, a professor of geosciences at Princeton University, said his mother died Sunday night of natural causes. He said the Philadelphia native had been living in the Princeton area.
Vera Rubin found that galaxies don't quite rotate the way they were predicted, and that lent support to the theory that some other force was at work, namely dark matter.

Cheetah numbers decline as African habitat shrinks

In this Aug. 22, 2012 photo, a cheetah is photographed in the Tamboti Game Resrve, near Lephalale, South Africa. Amid population declines for many wildlife species in Africa, conservationists are sounding alarm bells for the cheetah, the fastest animal on land, where there are an estimated 7,100 cheetahs remaining across Africa and in a small area in Iran.
Amid population declines for many wildlife species in Africa, conservationists are sounding alarm bells for the cheetah, the fastest animal on land.
An estimated 7,100 cheetahs remain in the wild across Africa and in a small area of Iran, and human encroachment has pushed the wide-ranging predator out of 91 percent of its historic habitat, according to a study published on Monday.

26 December 2016

Israel: humbled Netanyahu places hopes in Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, arrives for a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016.
The Israeli government's furious reaction to the U.N. Security Council's adoption of a resolution opposing Jewish settlements in occupied territory underscores its fundamental and bitter dispute with the international community about the future of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that there is nothing wrong with his controversial policy of building Jewish towns in occupied areas that the Palestinians, with overwhelming world support, claim for their state. But Friday's U.N. rebuke was a stark reminder that the rest of the world considers it a crime. The embattled leader is now placing his hopes in the incoming administration of Donald Trump, which is shaping up as the first major player to embrace Israel's nationalist right and its West Bank settlements.

25 December 2016

Sri Lanka claims world's tallest artificial Christmas tree

A Sri Lankan family takes photographs standing near an enormous artificial Christmas tree as others gather around it in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016. Sri Lanka has unveiled a towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record for the tallest artificial Christmas tree.
Sri Lanka unveiled a towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record despite constructions delays and a shorter-than-planned finished product.
The 73-meter (238-foot) artificial tree in capital Colombo is 18 meters (59 feet) taller than the current record holder, organizers said. The tree's steel-and-wire frame is covered with a plastic net decorated with more than 1 million natural pine cones painted red, gold, green and silver, 600,000 LED bulbs and topped by a 6-meter (20-foot)-tall shining star.

Thousands of faithful celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem

A Christian worshipper prays after lighting a candle on Christmas Eve at the Church of the Nativity, built atop the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, in the West Bank City of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016.
Thousands of pilgrims and tourists from around the world together with local Christians gathered in the biblical town of Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas Eve in the traditional birthplace of Jesus, with spirits lifted by a slowdown in recent violence and cool, clear weather.
Security was tight in Bethlehem after recent deadly attacks on Christian targets in neighboring Egypt and Jordan by Islamic extremists.

23 December 2016

Deutsche, Credit Suisse to compensate consumers post-crisis

This Aug. 1, 2014 file photo shows a logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse in Zurich, Switzerland. Credit Suisse says Friday, Dec. 23, 2016 it has reached a settlement totaling nearly US dollar 5.3 billion with U.S. authorities in connection with its mortgage-backed securities business during the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
Nine years after the collapse of the U.S. housing market sent shockwaves through the global economy, two European banks have agreed to offer American homeowners and borrowers billions of dollars' worth of help under a settlement related to the sale of risky securities that helped spark the 2008 crisis.
Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse said Friday they agreed to the tentative settlements with the U.S. Justice Department over their dealings in mortgage-backed bonds.

22 December 2016

Death toll in alcohol poisoning in Russia climbs to 72

Local health officials in Russia's Siberia say the number of people who have died from drinking a bath lotion that contained methanol has climbed to 72.

The health ministry in the Irkutsk region said on its website Thursday that another 33 were still in hospital while six others have been discharged.

9 December 2016

CBI arrests former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi

The CBI on Friday arrested former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief S.P. Tyagi on charges of corruption in its ongoing probe into the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal.
S.P. Tyagi was taken into custody from Delhi along with his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie Tyagi and a Delhi-based lawyer, Gautam Khaitan.

7 December 2016

Isro launches PSLV C36 remote sensing satellite

The Indian Space Research Organisation launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C36 Resource Sat-2A at 10.25 am on Wednesday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Resource Sat-2A is a remote sensing satellite developed by the space agency. The 1,235 kg Resource Sat-2A was placed on the 817-km polar sun synchronous orbit 18 minutes after it took off.  

6 December 2016

Thousands mourn beloved leader Jayalalithaa in south India

Hundreds of thousands of people thronged the southern Indian city of Chennai on Tuesday to honor their late beloved leader, Jayaram Jayalalithaa, a former film actress and popular politician.

Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, died overnight following a heart attack a day earlier.

Indian actress-turned-politician Jayaram Jayalalithaa dies

Supporters of Indian southern state of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hold her photograph as they pray for her health at a temple in Mumbai, India, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. Thousands of Jayalalitha supporters and well wishers across India prayed for her speedy recovery after she was readmitted to the hospital in Cheanni following a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening.
Jayaram Jayalalithaa, the hugely popular south Indian actress who later turned to politics and became the highest elected official in the state of Tamil Nadu, died Monday. She was 68.

The Apollo Hospital in the southern Indian city of Chennai said Jayalalithaa died at 11:30 p.m. local time Monday after undergoing surgery following a heart attack on Sunday night.

Known by her followers as "Amma," which means "Mother" in the Tamil language, Jayalalithaa inspired intense loyalty among film fans and political supporters alike.