GRAIL Mission Goes Out With a Bang

Jane J. Lee On Friday, December 14, NASA sent their latest moon mission into a death spiral. Rocket burns nudged GRAIL probes Ebb and Flow into a new orbit designed to crash them into the side of a mountain near the moon's north pole today at around 2:28 p.m. Pacific standard time. NASA named the crash site after late astronaut Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.Although the mountain...

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Siblings of Sandy Hook Victims Face Survivor's Guilt

Six-year-old Arielle Pozner was in a classroom at Sandy Hook school when Adam Lanza burst into the school with his rifle and handguns. Her twin brother, Noah, was in a classroom down the hall.Noah Pozner was killed by Lanza, along with 19 other children at the school, and six adults. Arielle and other students' siblings survived."That's going to be incredibly difficult to cope...

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New private home sales in November fall to lowest level in 2012

SINGAPORE: The number of new private homes sold in November fell to the lowest level in 2012.Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), 1,087 units were sold in November -- 44.2 percent less than in October.It is also the second straight month of decline.October saw 25.7 percent less homes moved in at 1,948 units.Analysts attribute the decline to fewer property launches last month.Savills'...

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Exit polls: Narendra Modi to sweep Gujarat, Congress ahead in Himachal

AHMEDABAD: Voting has ended for the Gujarat assembly elections 2012 on Sunday with millions casting their ballot at 23, 318 polling booths at Kutch, north and central Gujarat in the second and final phase of the elections. Elections in the second phase were held in 95 of the 182 constituencies. The initial exit poll results coming from surveys, incumbant chief minister Narendra Modi is all set...

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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

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Newtown Victims: 'Hero' Teacher, Principal, 20 Kids

Twenty bright first graders with their entire lives ahead of them were gunned down on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Along with the students, the lives of six school staffers, including a devoted teacher and a proud principal, were lost. Click through to see the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Noah Pozner and his twin sister celebrated their sixth...

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Disputed islands are Japan's: Shinzo Abe

TOKYO: Shinzo Abe, who piloted his Liberal Democratic Party to victory in Sunday's election, said there is no doubt about Japan's ownership of islands at the centre of a dispute with China."China is challenging the fact that (the islands) are Japan's inherent territory," said Abe, who is expected to become prime minister. "Our objective is to stop the challenge. We don't intend to worsen...

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West Bengal opposes direct cash transfer

KOLKATA: After Odisha and Tripura, West Bengal has opposed the Centre's direct cash transfer to bank accounts of beneficiaries claiming it would lead to breakdown of the existing public distribution system and closure of the Food Corporation of India. "The basic objective of the public distribution system to arrest hunger among the poor will be defeated if the beneficiaries are provided cash instead...

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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

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School Safety Questioned After Conn. Shooting

Along with fire drills, schools have been conducting lockdown drills -- often known as active shooter drills -- since the Columbine massacre in 1999.But safety officials do not agree yet on what teachers and students should do when a homicidal gunman invades their school.At Sandy Hook Elementary School, teachers, staff and students had been drilled on how to handle such a situation."We...

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