Senate GOP proposes much smaller Sandy aid package

WASHINGTONSenate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas. The GOP alternative bill would provide more than enough money to pay for immediate recovery efforts through the spring. Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with...

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days."If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference."I...

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2013 Smart Guide: New maps to rein in cosmic inflation

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year" We're about to get a better grasp of one of the biggest ideas in the universe: inflation. The first maps of the cosmos from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite are due...

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UBS to pay $1.5B in fines for rate manipulation

Updated 4:30 a.m. GENEVA Switzerland's UBS AG agreed Wednesday to pay some $1.5 billion in fines to international regulators following a probe into the rigging of a key global interest rate. In admitting to fraud, Switzerland's largest bank became the second bank, after Britain's Barclays PLC, to settle over the rate-rigging scandal. The fine, which will be paid to authorities in the U.S., Britain...

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Newtown Settles In for Prayerful, Somber Christmas

Residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., gather every year under an enormous tree in the middle of town to sing carols and light the tree. The tree is lit this year, too, but the scene beneath it is starkly different.The tree looms over hundreds of teddy bears and toys, but they are for children who will never receive them. The ornaments are adorned with names and jarringly recent birth...

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App for quizzing your way to being a mastermind

Software that harnesses principles of cognitive science aims to turn you into a grade-A student YOU are walking down the street when your phone buzzes. "What is the capital of Maryland?" it asks you. You know the answer but you can't quite grasp it until all of a sudden you remember: "Annapolis". The question...

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Changi Airport's aircraft handling capacity to be increased 40%

SINGAPORE - The authorities are gearing up to increase Changi Airport's aircraft handling capacity as there is scope for Changi Airport to handle about 40 per cent more aircraft movements than the 302,000 aircraft movements handled last year. The airport's air traffic potential of about 430,000 annual aircraft movements is based on findings from a terminal airspace consultancy study commissioned...

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Watch Dallas Mavericks try to sing

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Obama moves on taxes in latest "cliff" counter-proposal

President Obama gave up Monday on his demand for higher taxes on households earning $250,000 and upped it to $400,000 while embracing smaller cost-of-living Social Security raises in a counter-proposal to House Speaker John Boehner meant to narrow differences and forge a pre-Christmas "fiscal cliff" deal. Mr. Obama and Boehner met for nearly an hour in the Oval Office on Monday and sources familiar...

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Conn. Kids Laid to Rest: 'Our Hearts Are With You'

Visibly shaken attendees exiting the funeral today for 6-year-old Noah Pozner, one of 20 children killed in the Connecticut school massacre last week, said they were touched by a story that summed up the first-grader best.His mother, Veronique, would often tell him how much she loved him and he'd respond: "Not as much as I [love] you," said a New York man who attended the funeral...

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