USA
US Supreme Court says human DNA cannot be patented
Human genes may not be patented, but artificially copied DNA can be claimed as intellectual property, the US Supreme Court has ruled
unanimously. The court quashed patents held by a Utah-based firm on two ... More

USA
US Spy Chief, Clapper defends Prism and phone surveillance
US Spy Chief, James Clapper has strongly defended government surveillance programmes after revelations of phone records being collected and internet servers being tapped. He said disclosure of a secret court document on ph ... More

USA
Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism sees ‘marked resurgence’:US Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism overseas underwent ‘a marked resurgence’ in 2012, reaching levels not seen in 20 years, the US State Department charged on Thursday in its annual report on tren ... More

USA
Obama in heated exchanges with Code Pink anti-war protester
The woman who interrupted President Barack Obama’s speech on counterterrorism policy on Thursday is well-known around Washington as a perennial protester on national security issues. Medea Benjamin, ... More

USA
Obama: US preserve diplomatic, military options on Syria President Barack Obama said he reserved the right to resort to both diplomatic and military options to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but insisted that US action alone would not be enough to resolve the Syrian crisis. Taking a cautious l ... More

USA
Huge cyber bank theft spans 27 countries
In one of the biggest ever bank heists, a global cyber crime ring stole USD 45 million from two Middle Eastern banks by hacking into credit card processing firms and withdrawing money from ATMs in 27 countries, US prosecutors said on Thursday. The US Justice
Department accused ei ... More

USA
At Texas fertiliser plant, a history of theft, tampering The Texas fertiliser plant that exploded two weeks ago, killing 14 people and injuring about 200, was a repeat target of theft by intruders who tampered with tanks and caused the release of toxic chemicals, police records reviewed by Reuters show. Police respond ... More

USA
US suspects Syria used chemical weapons, wants proof
The White House said the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad had probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country’s civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed defin ... More

USA
Elvis impersonator charged over poison letter sent to Obama Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges on Thursday against a Mississippi man, who worked as an Elvis impersonator, for threatening to harm President Barack Obama by sending him a letter that initially tested positive for the ... More

USA
US agency says N Korea has nuclear weapon but seen unlikelyA US government agency said North Korea has a nuclear weapon it can mount on a missile, adding an ominous dimension to tensions on the Korean peninsula as US Secretary of State, John
Kerry arrived for talks in Seoul on Friday. However, the assessment b ... More

USA
Obama budget to offer programme cuts : official
President Barack Obama will offer cuts to social security and other entitlement programmes in a budget proposal aimed at swaying Republicans to compromise on a deficit-reduction deal, a senior administration official said. Under a p ... More

USA
Obama makes impassioned plea for gun control legislation
President Barack Obama attempted on Thursday to inject fresh momentum into efforts to pass gun-control legislation, pleading with US
lawmakers not to forget those shot to death in Newtown, Connecticut three months a ... More

USA
Obama to shore up ally Jordan on last stop in Mideast President Barack Obama flies to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah, a key US Middle East ally, that are expected to focus on the civil war in neighboring Syria and the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace diplomacy. Obama will head to Amman after the final day ... More

USA
US lawmakers sound alarm on Japan joining trade talks
Four dozen Democratic lawmakers on Thursday expressed concern about Japan joining free trade talks with the United States and urged President Barack Obama to maintain US tariffs on Japanese autos and trucks if ... More

USA

Senate panel backs crackdown on clandestine gun sales
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday backed President Barack Obama’s call to crack down on the clandestine trafficking of firearms, marking the first votes in Congress on gun-control since a school ma ... More

USA
US stare down start of steep ‘automatic’ budget cuts
The US government hurtled toward making deep spending cuts that threaten to hinder the nation’s economic recovery, after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on an alternative deficit-reduction plan. Locked in during a bout of deficit-r ... More

USA: Republicans block vote on Obama’s defence nominee, Hagel
Republican lawmakers succeeded in delaying a Senate vote on confirming President Barack Obama’s choice of Chuck Hagel as defence secretary, but another vote was planned for later in the month and Obama said he expected his nominee to b ... More

AUSTRALIA
Australian aircraft engineers claim that three mishaps in three days to Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft highlight the need for Qantas, a buyer of the planes, to retain a large maintenance workforce. Boeing has joined airlines, including Qatar Airways, in backing the  pe ... More

USA: House chooses Boehner as
speaker again despite dissent
Despite a rocky few weeks during the ‘fiscal cliff’ fight, John Boehner won re-election as speaker of the House of Representatives on Thursday and will again lead Republicans as they take on the White House over federal spending. Boehner defeated House Democra ... More

USA
Florida fossils dealer admits
dinosaur smuggling
A Florida fossils dealer has
admitted smuggling dinosaur bones into the US, including
those of a 70-million-year-old
Tyrannosaurus bataar from Mogolia. A court in New York heard that Eric Prokopi sold the skeleton at auction in May ... More

USA
US Marine convicted of urinating on corpses of Taliban insurgents A US Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban
insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said on Thursday. His sentence was a reduction in rank and forfeiture of USD 500 ... More

USA
Susan Rice ends bid to succeed Hillary Clinton

UN Ambassador Susan Rice has withdrawn her name for consideration to succeed Hillary Clinton as US secretary of state, the White House says. In a letter to the president, Rice said her confirmation process would be ‘disruptive and costly’, NBC News said. Rice has been ... More

USA
Romney campaign had $ 25.7 mln left after US election Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign had USD 25.7 million left in the bank days after the election that ended months of relentless fundraising in the most expensive race in US history, new campaign finance disclosures showed on Thursday. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, def ... More

USA
Al Qaeda battle in Afghanistan to stretch for years: US Al Qaeda fighters are still trying to make inroads into Afghanistan, US Defence
Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, cautioning that battling the group would be a core US mission there for years to
come. Panetta made the comments as the United ... More

USA
Boehner comments show tough road ahead for ‘fiscal cliff’ talks
New comments from top Republican Lawmaker John Boehner slamming health care reforms illustrate how hard it will be for Washington to reach a deficit reduction deal when talks resume next week, analysts said on Thursday. Pr ... More